Amerigo Vespucci

By: Venessa Yeung, Rishi Vaswani, and Zane Feder

Background Information

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian navigator

Born in Florence, Italy in 1454His uncle educated him and Amerigo

became connected with a company that equipped ships for long voyages; this is how he became so familiar with boats

He studied navigation as a youth

Born in Florence and died February 22,1512

Voyages

He made three known voyages to the New WorldDuring his first voyage, Vespucci travelled along

the coast of Venezuela and then north to the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola

Vespucci explored the southern coast of Brazil during his second and third explorations

His ships were San Antiago, Repetaga, Wegiz, and the Girmand

Purpose of Exploration

Amerigo was trying to locate a southern star or a group of stars

Vespucci’s purpose of exploration is to

make discoveries unlike some other explorers

who only seeked gold and profitSome historians say Vespucci went as

a navigator on expeditions

led by other explorers

Hardships Faced

In Amerigo’s second voyage when he was sailing for Portugal, he was far below the Portuguese territory and he needed to sail quickly because these waters belonged to Spain

During Vespucci’s second voyage it took sixty-four days to cross the Atlantic Ocean due to light winds

He had been forced by strong currents to turn back before he could locate the southern group of stars he was seeking.

Other Notable Occurrences

Vespucci was made Chief Royal Pilot of Spain in 1508He wrote popular books about his travels Claimed that he had explored the American mainland in 1497 and thought that he’d reached the “New World” , though scholars found a small amount of evidence supporting this claimHe met Columbus, perhaps as early as 1493

Historical Contributions

Vespucci was the first to realize that America was a new continent, instead of being part of Asia

America was named after Amerigo VespucciVespucci traveled south for 9 months and 27 days, giving

mapmakers about 3,300 new miles to add on to maps

Bibliography

Books:

Matthews, Rupert. Explorer. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co, 1991.Print. Owen, Ann-Maureen and Yealland, Jane. The Kids Book of Canadian

Exploration. Toronto: Kids Can Press Ltd, 2004.Print. Fritz, Jean. Around the World In A Hundred Years. USA: Scholastics Inc.

1994. Print.

Websites www.worldbookonline.com library.thinkquest.org

Images: nndb.com commons.wikimedia.org

Amerigo Vespucci was a very interesting guy to research about and we really enjoyed learning more about him.

Thank you!

QUIZ TIME!!!!!

ARE YOU READY!!

TRIVIA QUESTIONS

1.When was Amerigo Vespucci born and died?

2. What was Amerigo made in 1508?3. Where was Amerigo Vespucci born?4. What was Amerigo trying to look

for?5. Did Amerigo went to search for gold

or a new route to Asia?6. What was named after Amerigo

Vespucci?