Amerigo Vespucci (
March 9, 1454 -
February 22, 1512) was an
Italian merchant, explorer and
cartographer. He played a senior role in two voyages which explored the east coast of
South America between 1499 and 1502. On the second of these voyages he discovered that South America extended much further south than before known by the Europeans. This convinced him that this land was part of a new continent, a bold contention at a time when other European explorers crossing the Atlantic thought they were reaching Asia (the "
Indies"). Vespucci's voyages became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to him were published between 1502 and 1504. In 1507,
Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the new continent "
America" after Vespucci's first name, Amerigo. In an accompanying book, Waldseemüller published one of the Vespucci accounts, which led to criticism that Vespucci was trying to usurp
Christopher Columbus's glory. However, the rediscovery in the 18th century of other letters by Vespucci has led to the view that the early published accounts were fabrications, not by Vespucci, but by others.
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