2. Explorer Amerigo Vespucci was born March 9,
1451, in Florence, Italy. On May 10, 1497, he
embarked on his first voyage. On his third and
most successful voyage, he discovered
present-day Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la
Plata. Believing he had discovered a new
continent, he called South America the New
World. In 1507, America was named after him.
He died of malaria in Seville, Spain, on
February 22, 1512. He was the first who first
demonstrated that Brazil and the West
Indies did not represent Asia's eastern
outskirts as initially conjectured
from Columbus’ voyages, but instead
constituted an entirely separate landmass
hitherto unknown to Afro-Eurasians.
Birth Place of Amerigo Vespucci
3. While in Spain, Amerigo Vespucci
began working on ships and ultimately
went on his first expedition as a
navigator in 1499. This expedition
reached the mouth of the Amazon
River and explored the coast of South
America. Vespucci was able to
calculate how far west he had traveled
by observing the conjunction of Mars
and the Moon.
On his second voyage in 1501, Amerigo
Vespucci sailed under the Portuguese
flag. After leaving Lisbon, it took
Vespucci 64 days to cross the Atlantic
Ocean due to light winds. His ships
followed the South American coast to
within 400 miles of the southern tip,
Tierra del Fuego.
4. In 1499 he sailed from Spain with
4 ships commanded by
Alonso de Ojeda who had
sailed with Columbus on his
second voyage. After 24
days they reached the
Northern coast of South
America. Ojeda and he went
their separate ways. Amerigo
headed south and became
the first European to see Brazil
and to explore the mouth of
the Amazon River. During the
return to Spain he stopped at
the Bahamas and took 200
Native Americans back to be
slaves.
5. Convinced there might be a
passage through the New World
to Asia, he sailed again in May
1501, this time in the service of
Portugal. On his second trip they
reached land near the eastern
tip of Brazil. Amerigo and his
crew went as far south as
Argentina. At the time there
were no accurate maps of the
world so nobody knew how big
around the world was, but he
estimated its size within 50 miles
of its actual size!
6. Amerigo returned to Portugal in June 1502.
Although his fleet had not explored the islands
off the coast of Asia, they had discovered a
continent between Europe and Asia previously
unknown to Europeans. His name was given to
North America and South America because he
was the first to recognize that it wasn't a part of
Asia. Amerigo claimed to have explored these
continents in 1497, and it led the mapmaker,
Martin Waldseemuller, to consider him, instead
of Columbus, as the man who discovered North
and South America. He suggested naming
these continents after him to honor Amerigo’s
expeditions.
7.
8.
9. 1454: Born in Ognissanti, Florence born - 9 March, 1451
1491: - 1492 He worked in Seville, Spain for the de Medici family where he
learnt about the voyages of exploration and the men who were searching for a
northwest passage to the Indies
1497: He was granted permission to undertake a voyage of discovery by King
Ferdinand of Spain
1497 10 May: The First Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci
1497 10 April: He reached the mainland of Guiana
1498 15 October: Amerigo Vespucci returned to Cadiz, Spain
1499 16 May: The Second Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci with Alonzo de Ojeda
set sail for Cape Verde.
They crossed the Equator and explored the coast of Guiana and Brazil. They
discovered Cape St. Augustine and the River Amazon
10. •1500: September Returned to Spain. He reported his findings to the de Medici family
1501: May 14 The Third Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci setting sail for Cape Verde
•1502: September 7 returned to Europe landing in Lisbon
•1503 June 10: The Fourth Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci, sailing with Gonzal Coelho when
he again set sail for Cape Verde and South America.
On the return journey he discovered Bahia and the island of South Georgia He established
a trading agency for brazil wood at Cape Frio - it was locatedexactly on the Tropic of
Capricorn
•1504 18 June: Amerigo Vespucci returned to Lisbon in Portugal
•1505 14 April: Vespucci becomes a naturalized Spaniard
•1505 Amerigo: Vespucci married Maria Cerezo
•1505 / 1507: Amerigo Vespucci made a fifth and sixth voyage with Juan de la Cosa
•1507: German mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller, printed the first map that used the name
America for the New World
•1508: August 6 Vespucci becomes Piloto Mayor (chief pilot) of Spain
•1512: Amerigo Vespucci died at Seville, 22 February, 1512
