AMERI GO VESPIJO'CI, a- naval astronomer, from whom America aecidentallyreeeived its name, was b. at Florence, Mar. 9, 1451. his father was a notary. The education of A. was intrusted to his uncle, Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, a monk and apparently a man of superior enlightenment. The youth made but indifferent progress in his Latin grammer, though he showed great aptitude and liking for natural philosophy, astronomy, and geog raphy—at that period, favorite objects of study, on account of their commercial import ance. It is not precisely ascertained when he first went to Spain. We find him there, how ever, in 1486, engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was at the head of a large Florentine firm in Seville in 1490, when Columbus was making preparations for a second voyage to the new world. The success of the great discoverer inflamed A. with a passion for dis covery, and lowing abandoned "business," he sailed from Cadiz on the 20th May, 1499, in the expedition commanded by admiral Hojeda, and, after a voyage of 37 days, arrived at that portion of the continent of America now called Cumana, explored the bay of Parma, lying between the isle of Trinidad and the mainland, and some hundreds of miles along the coast. He returned in the autumn of the same year, but commenced a second voyage. under admiral Pinzon in Dee., which resulted in the discovery of a crowd of small islands on the s. of the gulf of Mexico. Ile was now allured by promises Into the service of Emanuel, king of Portugal. and undertook two other voyages with Portuguese ships; the first on the 10th of May, 1501, and the second on the 10th of May, 1503. His purpose was to sail westward, in hopes of discovering a passage to Malacca, the extreme point of discovery in the e. He lost one of his ships; and it was only after encountering great perils that the other five found refuge in All Saints' bay, on the coast of Brazil. The monarch gave orders that some remains of the ship Victoria, in which A.
made his last voyage, should be suspended in the cathedral of Lisbon, but fulfilled none of the promises which he had made. A. consequently returned to Spain, and in the year 1505 succeeded in obtaining the (Alice of piloto-major. lie died at Seville on the 22d of Feb., 1512.
The character of A. V. has been covered with a great deal of unmerited obloquy. He has been accused of endeavoring to claim the honor of discoveries which lie never made, and has been commonly regarded as an unprincipled adventurer. Hum boldt, however, has successfully- vindicated him from such aspersions. lie had a very considerable knowledge of various branches of science, and it was on account of his superior attainments iu these that he wasSelected to accompany the expeditions as nava,l astronomer. He was a prompt and skillful inspector of the commissariat while under his control; vigorous, practical, and severe in his demands for increased knowledge on the part of the naval functionaries under him; an earnest navigator and close friend of Columbus in the last years of the great admiral's life. How America came to receive its name from him is not quite clear; but it is certain, from Humboldt's investigation, that A. himself had nothing to do with it. The name of the new world probably came from Germany. A selection from A.'s narrative of his American voyages found its way into that country. Martin Waldscemtlllcr of Freiburg in Baden translated it for a bookseller of St. Oiez in Lorraine. As the first account of the wonderful discovery, it was greedily devoured. Edition after edition was printed off, and, according to Humboldt, it was Waldscemmlller who proposed that the new world should be called America in honor of the author. Afterwaids, this name was generally employed by geographical writers, and even the Spaniards and Portuguese adopted it.