Week 21 Essay

          This week I learned about many explorers of the Americas and early settlements everywhere. In this essay, I am going to be writing about one of the explorers I learned about. His name was Amerigo Vespucci.

          Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer during the 1400s and 1500s. He was born on March 9, 1454 in Florence, Italy. He was born into a rich family and got a good education. His family also had good relations with the Medici family, which helped him throughout his life. The Medici family was a very rich family during that time. They owned lots of banks and other businesses. Even though Vespucci did not go on any of his own journeys, his name became very famous throughout the world and he played a major role in history.

          As I said, Amerigo Vespucci did not go on any of his own missions, but he went on several of Christopher Columbus’s and other people’s voyages. Vespucci even met Columbus! He was actually convinced and inspired to go on trips to the New World by Christopher Columbus!

          Vespucci came to the New World, but instead of Columbus and many others, Amerigo believed that this new land was not Asia at all. He thought that it was its own continent. His theory turned out to be correct too.

          During this journey, Vespucci had a journal that he wrote in. He wrote of all his experiences in the New World and on his voyages. This paid off many years later.

          Just a few years before Vespucci died, which was on February 22, 1512, a cartographer and map maker gave Vespucci more of a title, as well as giving something else a title. The map maker’s name was Martin Waldseemuller. He named the New World: America (as in North and South America) after Amerigo Vespucci. He did this after studying Vespucci’s writings. Amerigo had experienced so much that he thought he should name this new world after the explorer.

          In conclusion, Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, who believed that the New World was its own continent, not Asia. He wrote of his experiences in the New World and on the way there. Even though he did not go on any of his own voyages, he still shaped history and made a name for himself, as well as two continents.