Amerigo Vespucci

In 1454 Amerigo Vespucci's family was in Florence, Italy. As a young man he read carefully. He collected books and maps. He started working for a local banker and was sent to Spain in 1492 to look after his employer.

While he was in Spain, Vespucci began working on ships. He went on his first trip as a navigator in 1499. It took Amerigo 64 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean because of the light winds. Amerigo was the third son. He had two older brothers, Antonio and Girolomo. The youngest brother was Banardo. The parents were Stagio and Elizabeth Vespucci.

On May 19, 1501 Amerigo left from the ports sponsoring Spain on his third voyage. In 1503, on his journey that he led, the captain and crew explored the southeastern side of South America. They went along the coast. He went back to Spain in 1504 and told their story to mapmakers to put on the maps.

After the finding of the New World, a mapmaker suggested they call it America after Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci left a controversy when he did not make the voyage that started 1497. Vespucci's findings that were North America and South America were named after him and also in the late 1400s and early 1500s they would know that there was a New World out there. They didn't have to go on believing that Asia was just beyond the horizon and that in reality that there were two of the biggest continents in the way of their destination, Asia.