When did Américo Vespucio discover America?
On May 16 or 18, 1499, Americo Vespucci arrived in America. Although this continent was not really discovered by Américo Vespucio since throughout history documents and written testimonies have been found that confirm that the true discoverer of America was Christopher Columbus in the year 1492, only that he died with the thought of having discovered the Indies, instead of America, because Its objective was to find a route that would reach it and establish a maritime trade for the importation of species and luxury products so famous by the Europeans. Next, in this lesson from a TEACHER, we will explain to you when he discovered America Américo Vespucio and, also, we will tell you why there are those who can make the mistake of thinking that America was discovered by him and not by Columbus.
Index
- Américo Vespucio in Seville
- Heading to the New World
- America, the new name for the New World
Américo Vespucio in Seville.
Americo Vespucci was closely linked to the Medici lineage,
one of the most important families in Italy, specifically in Florence since they had both political and economic control over it, as they were also great merchants. In the year 1491 Américo Vespucio was sent by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici to Seville so that together with Giannotto Berardi he worked in one of the commercial houses that they had established in the town.A year later, in 1492, Christopher Columbus was signing the "Capitulations of Santa Fe"With the Catholic Monarchs ready to set sail for the Indies of which both Américo Vespucio and Giannotto Berardi They were participants since they were in charge of supplying the three ships with which Christopher Columbus would undertake his first travel.
You could say then that Between Américo Vespucio and Cristóbal Colón there were a series of commercial relations during these first trips and a possible friendship. After the triumphal return of this, it is known through written sources that Américo Vespucio was in the peninsula, so that he could be induced by everything that Christopher Columbus told about this famous travel.
The death of Berardi was key in this story since it was the moment when Vespucci, so attracted by the spirit of these adventures, decided to dedicate himself fully to sailing, demonstrating great cosmographic and nautical knowledge, carrying out his objective of undertaking that trip to the Indies himself in 1499 in company of Alonso de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa following the third route of Christopher Columbus, since by then he had already three trips to the supposed Indies.
In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will reveal a brief biography of Americo Vespucci.
Heading to the New World.
As we have already said about the first trip that we have information, and we say this because who say that Americo Vespucci actually made his first trip in 1497, it was the one carried out between May 16 or 18, it is not known exactly, of the year 1499, as appears in some of those stories by Vespucci.
This second trip was sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs and directed by Captain Alonso de Ojeda accompanied by Juan de la Cosa. All of them, together with a small crew, set sail from Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz). They were on the high seas for 24 days until they reached the mainland, a warm and exuberant land, through which they penetrated the mouth of the Orinoco River, advancing in southeastern direction, however, driven by a current they crossed the Gulf of Paria reaching the Island of Trinidad and the Island of Daisy flower.
Later they went to the Island of Curaçao, which they called the Giants and penetrating the Gulf of Maracaibo they found with a small palafittic town that reminded him of Venice and hence that later those lands took the name of Venezuela. The expedition continued until reaching the candle end undertaking his return to Spain and arriving there on September 8, 1500.
It was in this first exploration that the cartographers fixed the outline for the first time of the lands that had been inspected, among them was Juan de la Cosa responsible in a certain way for naming the toponymy of many of the discovered places.
In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover the causes and consequences of the discovery of America.
America, the new name for the New World.
There were two more trips to the New World that happened to the previously commenting or to the less that is how Américo Vespucio described it through six letters that he wrote to relate his travel; the first two trips were at the service of the Catholic kings while the other two remaining in the service of King Don Manuel I of Portugal, one was made in 1501 and another in 1503, in both he left the same city, Lisbon.
In one of these last trips he writes a letter with the title "Mundus Novus " (New World) in which maps and stories appeared that put in doubt that those new lands that had been discovered were not about Asia, but about a new continent.
With so many discoveries taking place at the time, it was evident that the “Ptolemy Cosmography”, Since at that time this was the only geographical work that was had, so to record and draw the new maps the German cosmographer was called Martin Waldseemüller. This remembering one of Vespucci's letters which was published in 1504 in Augsburg was responsible for making Waldseemüller call this New World, America, in honor of Américo Vespucio, since he considered him the true discoverer of America.
Since April 25, 1507, this New World was baptized as America, taking away all the prestige of Christopher Columbus to bear his name, but he never did. He already knew that he died a year before, however Francisco Miranda, in order to remedy this injustice, thought of calling Colombia a part of these lands in honor of Colon.
In this other lesson we will discover a short biography of Christopher Columbus.
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