Amerigo Vespucci and the Explorers of the "New World"

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Amerigo Vespucci was a navigator born in Florence, Italy. He began his career as a merchant in Seville, Spain supplying ships for voyages to the West Indies. But Amerigo yearned to sail himself and soon joined a crew to begin adventures of his own.

An excellent navigator, Vespucci was one of the first explorers to realize that the Americas were a separate continent from Asia. Columbus has discovered this area, but Vespucci was the first to announce that the land was actually a part of a “new world.” Amerigo Vespucci was appointed as Pilot Major of Spain by King Ferdinand 1508. He died in Spain of malaria in 1512. He was 58 years old.

The Americas were named after Amerigo in 1507 when a German mapmaker printed the first map showing the New World and labeling the southern continent as America. In 1538, Gerardus Mercator printed up a map showing both continents and labeled them North and South America. History was made!