1. By Hailey Snyder Amerigo Vespucci

2. ❖ Vespucci was born March 18, 1454 in Florence, Italy.

3. ❖ As a young man he read widely and collected books and maps.

4. ❖ Vespucci was well - educated by his uncle. He became involved in trading goods as a businessman. This is how he got involved with boats.

5. ❖ On his first expedition,sailing to Spain in 1449 to 1500, Vespucci was a navigator under command of Alonso de Ojeda.

6. ❖ After they left Spain in 1449, they discovered the mouth of the Amazon and Orinoco River in South America.

7. ❖ Vespucci was the first explorer to figure out that North and South America weren’t a part of Asia. ❖ This is why his name was given to the Americas.

8. ❖ In honor of Vespucci, Martin Waldseemuller, a German mapmaker, printed the first map that used the name America.

9. ❖ In 1501, Vespucci was convinced there might be a passage through the “New World” to Asia.

10. ❖ In 1503 or 1504, Amerigo Vespucci published a pamphlet, in Latin, under the Latinized name of Albericas Vesputius, entitled Mundus Novus. The pamphlet stated his belief in a New World.

11. ❖ At age 58, Vespucci died from malaria on his third voyages to the “New World” in 1512.

12. Internet Sources ❖ http://library.thinkquest.org/4034/vespucci.html http://library.thinkquest.org/4034/vespucci.html ❖ http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/vespucci.htm http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/vespucci.htm ❖ http://bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/americo_vespucci.ht m http://bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/americo_vespucci.ht m ❖ http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexv.shtm l http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexv.shtm l ❖ http://geography.about.com/cs/historicalgeog/a/amerigo.h tm http://geography.about.com/cs/historicalgeog/a/amerigo.h tm