VESPUCIUS, AmEnlcus (it.
incriyo Vespucci) ( 1451-1512 A Florentine navigator. irons whom the Western continents received their name of America. He was born Alarch 9, 1451; entered the offices of the com mercial establishment of the Alediei in Florence, and between 1483 and 1492 occupied a position of responsibility with that house. In 1493 lie went to Spain and established himself as a merchant in Seville. In 1490 he took over the business of another Florentine merchant of Seville. who had been in the habit of furnishing supplies for the vessels engaged in the voyages to the West In dies. This brought Vespucius into direct touch with the affairs of the New World. In 1407 lie placed his business in other hands. and set out to see something of the New World for himself. Sailing in .flap, 1497, lie was absent eighteen months, probably exploring the South American coast, on the lookout for opportunities for com mercial profit. Instead of returning to Spain with the vessel on which lie had sailed, Ves pucius seems to have left it at some port at which lie met a fleet commanded by Alonso de Ojeda. with whom he made his second voyage, lasting fourteen months. Ile returned to Spain by July, 1500. Shortly after this he must have gone to Portugal, for on Nay 10, 1501, lie sailed on a Portuguese expedition which reached the South American mainland on Juno 11th, and re turned in September. 1502. In Nay. 1503, he sailed again with the Portuguese, returning Time 18. 1504. In February, 1505, lie was back in Seville, where he met Columbus, who described him, in a letter to his son. Diego Columbus, as "a. very worthy man who has always endeavored to be agreeable to me. . . . Ile is determined to do for me all lie eau." This letter is sufficient commentary on the assertion that the two ex plorers were rivals, or that Vespucius triol to securethe renown )n•operly belonging to Columbu., After a visit to the Court of Ferdinand. Vespucius became a citizen of Seville again and naturalized himself as a Spanish subject• in April, 1505. He spent Elie next. eighteen months in preparing an expedition for the llohweas. in co1iperation with V. 1. Pinzon (q.v.), which was eventually prrvented from sailing by Portuguese intrigues. In November, 15(17, VeSplleilni was to the Court :11 Burgos. where he was appointed Pilot-Alajor on March 22, 1508. lie then re paired to Seville, where he oceupied himself with the duties of his office, examining, pilots, eollect ing geographical and cartographical data, and supcswishn;s( the dispatch of expeditions to the New World. Ile died on February 22, 1512.
During his PortugUese sojourn at Lisbon, in September, 150J,..Veslaicius completed and dis patched to his old patrons, the Medici, an account of his four voyages. The original has unfortu nately dkappeared, and the abridged translations. which were printed at the time are so confused, and in places so incoherent, that it is impossible to decide from them, the only source of informa tion regarding those voyages, exactly where Vespnehis went, or what. he discovered. II is quite certain that he explored a large section of the roast of South America, and it is probable that on his first voyage lie landed on the Amer iVall mainland a few days before Cabot reached the shores of North America. A literal reading of his narrative would give an exploration from somewhere on the Guiana coast north westward for a thousand miles or more, reaching into the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. As there are physical difficulties against. this, Vespucius's supposed own statement, the cham pions of Vespneins have ascribed to him a Voy age around the Gulf of Mexico and up the United States coast as far as the Chesapeake, but the country described by Vespncius is clearly that Of northeastern South America, perhaps stretch ing south on his later voyages nearly to La Plata.
Vespneius's narrative was translated in 1507 by Waldseenffiller (q.v.), who printed it as an ap pendix to his Cosmographic Inslrnctio. in this work lie made a suggestion that inasmuch as Ves pucius had been the first to make known this new southern continent, it might be proper to name the new continent 'America.' The new name was given only to the newly discovered southern continent, with no thought of extending it over the islands of the West Indies. Wolisee miillee's suggestion was embodied in printed and manuscript maps, a few of which have survived to the present day. The name gradually became fixed in popular usage. The actual facts regard ing Vespucius are given in Harrisse, Discovcry of North America (London, 1892). Consult also Fiske, Discovery of America (New York, 1892). The details of Waldseemiiller's christening of America are given in Thatcher's Continent of America (New York, 1896),