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Contents 1 Homework 2 Notes 3 Gasp! 4 answer 5 Haha guess who drew this! (you'll never guess)

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ren project - Vespucci

Intro

Amerigo Vespucci was an able man, a cartographer, and a merchant, but above all, an accomplished explorer. A person with many talents, he was the first to propose that the land Columbus thought to be Asia was actually a “new world”, a newly discovered continent. He was also the first European to explore the southern part of South America in the two, or possibly three, voyages he completed. Amerigo’s Latin/Christian name is Americus; the name America is derived from this, which implies that America is named after this remarkable man.

Life

Vespucci was born on March 9th, 1454 as the third son of a respectful, wealthy family that was part of the Money Changers’ Guild in Florence, Italy. As a child, he was curious about astronomy and other sciences, cartography, and the study of the universe; he collected books and maps as a young man. Well-educated by his uncle, Giorgio Antonio, he received a job working under Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici and his brother Giovanni. In 1491, he was sent to work at the Medici’s ship-outfitting agency in Seville, Spain; this was around the time of Columbus’ first voyage. It was there that Vespucci became interested in sailing and exploring the unknown. He set sail on his first journey as a navigator in 1499. Afterwards, he made another trip in 1501; it was on that expedition that made him realize he wasn’t in Asia after all, but on a whole new land. He wrote letters describing his journeys, including the lifestyles of the natives that lived in the land that he explored which were published and distributed all across Europe. In 1508, Vespucci was named Pilot Major of Spain. Some say that he made a third crossing back to the new world, in which he contracted malaria, but it has yet to be confirmed. On February 22, 1512, in Seville, Spain, Amerigo Vespucci, after an adventurous life, died due to malaria at the age of 58.

Voyages

Amerigo Vespucci was a proficient explorer who made at least three voyages to the Americas in his lifetime. The first trip took place in 1497, organized by King Ferdinando (look up!!!!), to account for how far away the mainland was compared to the island that Columbus discovered.

Focus question

Letters

During his voyages, Vespucci wrote many letters

Family

Vespucci was born into a respectable family …

Other Achievements

Although he is best known for recognizing America as a new land, Vespucci also made many minor accomplishments. For example, during his

Conclusion

This incredible man has two out of seven continents named after him

ss vespucci, amerigo research

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci

http://geography.about.com/cs/historicalgeog/a/amerigo.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/vespucci.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/4034/vespucci.html

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15384b.htm

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi43.htm

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi43.htm

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497vespucci-america.html

http://www.esd.k12.ca.us/Matsumoto/TM30/history/Explorers/vesp.html

Research

Amerigo Vespucci (March 9, 1454 -February 22, 1512) was an Italian merchant, explorer and cartographer. He played a senior role in two voyages which explored the east coast of South America between 1499 and 1502. On the second of these voyages he discovered that South America extended much further south than previously known by Europeans. This convinced him that this land was part of a new continent, a bold contention at a time when other European explorers crossing the Atlantic Ocean thought they were reaching Asia. Vespucci's voyages became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to him were published between 1502 and 1504.[1] In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the new continent "America" after Vespucci's first name, Amerigo. In an accompanying book, Waldseemüller published one of the Vespucci accounts, which led to criticisms of Vespucci as trying to usurp Christopher Columbus's glory. However, the rediscovery in the 18th century of other letters by Vespucci has led to the view that the early published accounts were fabrications, not by Vespucci, but by others.

Life - Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy, as the third child of a respected family. His father was a notary for the Money Changers' Guild of Florence. Amerigo Vespucci worked for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici and his brother Giovanni and in 1491 they sent him to work at their agency in Seville, Spain. In 1508, after only two voyages to the Americas, the position of pilot major (chief of navigation) of Spain was created for Vespucci, with the responsibility of training pilots for ocean voyages. He died in Seville, Spain in 1512 of malaria.

Letters - Two letters attributed to Vespucci were published during his lifetime. Mundus Novus ("New World") was a Latin translation of a lost Italian letter sent from Lisbon to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici. It describes a voyage to South America in 1501-1502. Mundus Novus was published in late 1502 or early 1503 and soon reprinted and distributed in numerous European countries.[1] Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle isole nuovamente trovate in quattro suoi viaggi ("Letter of Amerigo Vespucci concerning the isles newly discovered on his four voyages"), known as Lettera al Soderini or just Lettera, was a letter in Italian addressed to Piero Soderini. Printed in 1504 or 1505, it claimed to be an account of four voyages to the Americas made by Vespucci between 1497 and 1504. A Latin translation was published by the German Martin Waldseemüller in 1507 in Cosmographiae Introductio, a book on cosmography and geography, as Quattuor Americi Vespuccij navigationes ("Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci").[1] In the 18th century three unpublished "familiar" letters from Vespucci to Lorenzo de' Medici were rediscovered. One describes a voyage made in 1499-1500 which corresponds with the second of the "four voyages". Another was written from Cape Verde in 1501 in the early part of the third of the "four voyages", before crossing the Atlantic. The third letter was sent from Lisbon after the completion of that voyage.`[1] Some have suggested that Vespucci, in the two letters published in his lifetime, was exaggerating his role and constructed deliberate fabrications. However, many scholars now believe that the two letters were not written by him but were fabrications by others based in part on genuine letters by Vespucci. It was the publication and widespread circulation of the letters that led Martin Waldseemüller to name the new continent America on his world map of 1507 in Lorraine. Vespucci used a Latinised form of his name, Americus Vespucius, in his Latin writings, which Waldseemüller used as a base for the new name, taking the feminine form America. (See also Naming of America.) Amerigo itself is an Italian form of the medieval Latin Emericus (see also Saint Emeric of Hungary), which through the German form Heinrich (in English, Henry) derived from the Germanic name Haimirich. The two disputed letters claim that Vespucci made four voyages to America, while at most two can be verified from other sources. at the moment there is a dispute between historians on when Vespucci visited main land the first time. Some great historians like German Arciniegas and Gabriel Camargo Perez think that his first voyage was done in June 1479 with the spanish Juan de la Cosa. Little is known of his last voyage in 1503–1504 or even whether it actually took place. Vespucci's real historical importance may well be more in his letters, whether he wrote them all or not, than in his discoveries. From these letters, the European public learned about the newly discovered continent of the Americas for the first time; its existence became generally known throughout Europe within a few years of the letters' publication.

Voyages- According to great and famous historians like Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, Germàn Arciniegas and Gabriel Camargo Perez, the first voyage of Amerigo Vespucci took place in 1497, probably in a trip organized by the King Ferdinando, who wanted to clarify if the main land was far away from the Hispaniola Island discovered by the genoese Columbus. The captain of this trip that sailed in May 1497 was possibly Juan Dias the Solis. With Vespucci, there was pilot and cartographer Juan de la Cosa (the then-famous captain who had sailed with Columbus in 1492). According to the first letter of Amerigo Vespucci, they landed in a main land at the 16 degrees latitude, probably the coast of La Guajira peninsula in present Colombia or the coast of Nicaragua. Then they were following the coastal land mass of central America, and they returned to the Atlantic Ocean, crossing the strait of Florida between Florida and Cuba. In his letters, Amerigo Vespucci described this trip, and once Juan de la Cosa returned to Spain, so did the famous world map in which Cuba is represented like an island. In about 1499–1500, Vespucci joined an expedition in the service of Spain, with Alonso de Ojeda (or Hojeda) as the fleet commander. The intention was to sail around the southern end of the African mainland into the Indian Ocean.[2] After hitting land at the coast of what is now Guyana, the two seem to have separated. Vespucci sailed southward, discovering the mouth of the Amazon River and reaching 6°S, before turning around and seeing Trinidad and the Orinoco River and returning to Spain by way of Hispaniola. The letter, to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, claims that Vespucci determined his longitude celestially [3] on August 23, 1499, while on this voyage. However, that claim might be fraudulent,[3] which could cast doubt on the letter's credibility. His last certain voyage was one led by Gonçalo Coelho in 1501–1502 in the service of Portugal. Departing from Lisbon, the fleet sailed first to Cape Verde where they met two of Pedro Álvares Cabral's ships returning from India. In a letter from Cape Verde, Vespucci says that he hopes to visit the same lands that Álvares Cabral had explored, suggesting that the intention is to sail west to Asia, as on the 1499-1500 voyage.[2] On reaching the coast of Brazil, they sailed south along the coast of South America to Rio de Janeiro's bay. If his own account is to be believed, he reached the latitude of Patagonia before turning back; although this also seems doubtful, since his account does not mention the broad estuary of the Río de la Plata, which he must have seen if he had gotten that far south. Portuguese maps of South America, created after the voyage of Coelho and Vespucci, do not show any land south of present-day Cananéia at 25º S, so this may represent the southernmost extent of their voyages. During the first half of this expedition in 1501, Vespucci mapped the two stars, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri as well as the stars of the constellation Crux.[3] Although these stars were known to the ancient Greeks, gradual precession had lowered them below the European skyline so that they were forgotten.[4] On return to Lisbon, Vespucci wrote in a letter to de' Medici that the land masses they explored were much larger than anticipated and different from the Asia described by earlier Europeans and, therefore, must be a New World, that is, a previously unknown fourth continent, after Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Named after Amerigo Vespucci- America - from Vespucci's Latinized name ("Americus");Amerigo Vespucci Airport, Florence, Italy; Amerigo Vespucci (ship), an Italian tall ship.

Naming- The earliest known use of the name America for this particular landmass dates from 1507. It appears on a globe and a large map created by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. An accompanying book, Cosmographiae Introductio, explains that the name was derived from the Latinized version of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci's name, Americus Vespucius, in its feminine form, America, as the other continents all have Latin feminine names. Vespucci's role in the naming issue, like his exploratory activity, is unclear. Some sources say that he was unaware of the widespread use of his name to refer to the new landmass. Others hold that he promulgated a story that he had made a secret voyage westward and sighted land in 1491,[citation needed] a year before Columbus. If he did indeed make such claims, they backfired, and only served to prolong the ongoing debate on whether the "Indies" were really a new land, or just an extension of Asia. Christopher Columbus, who had first brought the region's existence to the attention of Renaissance era voyagers, had died in 1506 (believing, to the end, that he'd discovered and colonized part of India) and could not protest Waldseemüller's decision. A few alternative theories regarding the landmass' naming have been proposed, but none of them has achieved any widespread acceptance. One alternative, first advanced by Jules Marcou in 1875 and later recounted by novelist Jan Carew, is that the name America derives from the district of Amerrique in Nicaragua. The gold-rich district of Amerrique was purportedly visited by both Vespucci and Columbus, for whom the name became synonymous with gold. According to Marcou, Vespucci later applied the name to the New World, and even changed the spelling of his own name from Alberigo to Amerigo to reflect the importance of the discovery. Another theory, first proposed by a Bristol antiquary and naturalist, Alfred Hudd, in 1908 was that America is derived from Richard Amerike, a merchant from Bristol, who is believed to have financed John Cabot's voyage of discovery from England to Newfoundland in 1497 as found in some documents from Westminster Abbey a few decades ago. Supposedly, Bristol fishermen had been visiting the coast of North America for at least a century before Columbus' voyage and Waldseemüller's maps are alleged to incorporate information from the early English journeys to North America. The theory holds that a variant of Amerike's name appeared on an early English map (of which however no copies survive) and that this was the true inspiration for Waldseemüll.

Amerigo Vespucci -Vespucci was born in 1454 to a prominent family in Florence, Italy. As a young man he read widely and collected books and maps. He began working for local bankers and was sent to Spain in 1492 to look after his employer's business interests. While in Spain, Amerigo Vespucci began working on ships and ultimately went on his first expedition as a navigator in 1499. This expedition reached the mouth of the Amazon River and explored the coast of South America. Vespucci was able to calculate how far west he had traveled by observing the conjunction of Mars and the Moon. On his second voyage in 1501, Amerigo Vespucci sailed under the Portuguese flag. After leaving Lisbon, it took Vespucci 64 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean due to light winds. His ships followed the South American coast to within 400 miles of the southern tip, Tierra del Fuego. While on this voyage, Vespucci wrote two letters to a friend in Europe. He described his travels and was the first to identify the New World of North and South America as separate from Asia. (Until he died, Columbus thought he had reached Asia.) Amerigo Vespucci also described the culture of the indigenous people, and focused on their diet, religion, and what made these letters very popular - their sexual, marriage, and childbirth practices. The letters were published in many languages and were distributed across Europe (they were a much better seller than Columbus' own diaries). Amerigo Vespucci was named Pilot Major of Spain in 1508. Vespucci was proud of this accomplishments, "I was more skillful than all the shipmates of the whole world." Vespucci's third voyage to the New World was his last for he contracted malaria and died in Spain in 1512 at the age of 58. Martin Waldseemuller -The German clergyman-scholar Martin Waldseemuller liked to make up names. He even created his own last name by combining words for "wood," "lake," and "mill." Waldseemuller was working on a contemporary world map, based on the Greek geography of Ptolemy, and he had read of Vespucci's travels and knew that the New World was indeed two continents. In honor of Vespucci's discovery of the new forth portion of the world, Waldseemuller printed a wood block map (called "Carta Mariana") with the name "America" spread across the southern continent of the New World. Waldseemuller printed and sold a thousand copies of the map across Europe. Within a few years, Waldseemuller changed his mind about the name for the New World but it was too late. The name America had stuck. The power of the printed word was too powerful to take back. Gerardus Mercator's world map of 1538 was the first to include North America and South America. Thus, continents named for a Italian navigator would live on forever. Early Life born March 18, 1454 in Florence, Italy ; interested in astronomy and the study of the universe. In 1492, sent to Seville, Spain to help Spanish ships get what they needed for their journeys. supplied Columbus' ships with tools and food on his third and fourth expeditions to the New World Sailing for Spain In 1499 sailed from Spain with 4 ships commanded by Alonso de Ojeda who had sailed with Columbus on his second voyage. After 24 days reached the Northern coast of South America. Ojeda went separate way. vespucci headed south and became the first European to see Brazil and to explore the mouth of the Amazon River. During the return to Spain stopped at the Bahamas, took 200 Native Americans back to be slaves. Sailing for Portugal Convinced there might be a passage through the New World to Asia, I sailed again in May 1501, this time in the service of Portugal. On my second trip we reached land near the eastern tip of Brazil. We went as far south as Argentina. At the time there were no accurate maps of the world so nobody knew how big around the world was, but I estimated its size within 50 miles of its actual size! Naming the New World returned to Portugal in June 1502. Although fleet had not explored the islands off the coast of Asia, discovered a continent between Europe and Asia previously unknown to Europeans. name was given to North America and South America because was the first to recognize that it wasn't a part of Asia. claimed to have explored these continents in 1497, and it led the mapmaker, Martin Waldseemuller, to consider vespucci, instead of Columbus, as the man who discovered North and South America. He suggested naming these continents after vespucci to honor expeditions. Amerigo Vespucci is important because he was one of the early explorers of the New World, and also because the continents of North and South America were named in his honor. (He was also known by the name of Americus Vespucci.) Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy in 1454. He was well-educated by his uncle, and became a businessman involved in trading goods. That is how he became familiar with ships. He moved to Seville, Spain in 1491 to work in the trading business there. He was probably there when Christopher Columbus returned from his first journey to the New World. He then helped Columbus get ships ready for his second and third voyages to the New World. Vespucci was a skilled navigator. As a trader, he was very interested in finding a quicker way to sail to Asia. He went on at least two, and possibly four, voyages to Central and South America between 1497 and 1504 for Spain and Portugal. He went to many places, including Venezuela and Brazil. After his explorations in 1501-1502, he was one of the first explorers to come up with the idea that these places he had visited were not part of Asia (as Columbus thought) but rather were part of a "New World." In 1507, a pamphlet was published called "The Four Voyages of Amerigo" and the author suggested that the new land that Amerigo had explored be named in his honor. At first, the name of America was only meant to apply to South America, but later on, both continents of America became known by his name. After his explorations, Amerigo returned to Seville and became its Master Navigator. He stayed in that job until he died in 1512. Amerigo Vespucci A famous Italian navigator, born at Florence, 9 March, 1451; died at Seville, 22 February, 1512; he was the third son of Ser Nastagio, a notary of Florence, son of Amerigo Vespucci. His mother was Lisabetta, daughter of Ser Giovanni, son of Ser Andrea Mini; her mother was Maria, daughter of Simone, son of Francesco di Filicaia. The date of Vespucci's birth, formerly much discussed, is now definitively established by the books of the Ufficio delle Tratte, preserved in the Reale Archivio di Stato of Florence, where the following passage is found: "Amerigo, son of Ser Nastagio, son of Ser Amerigo Vespucci, on the IX day of March MCCCCLI" (1452, common style). The mother of Amerigo's father was Nanna, daughter of Mestro Michele, of the Onesti of Pescia, and sister of Mestro Michele, the father of Nicolè and of Francesco, who resided in the magistrato supremo of the Priors in the Republic of Florence. Vespucci received his first instruction from his uncle Giorgio Antonio, a Platonic philosopher who was a teacher of the greater part of the Florentine nobility. Amerigo cultivated the study of literature, including that of the Latin language, as is shown by a small autograph codex in the Biblioteca Ricardiana of Florence, entitled "Dettati da mettere in latino" at the end of which there is written the following: "This booklet was written by Amerigo Se Anastagio Vespucci." He also wrote a letter in Latin to his father, dated 19 October, 1476, in which he gives an account of his studies. Possibly Vespucci had relations with Toscanelli, who, as is known, died in 1482, two years after Amerigo left for Spain. Thereafter, Amerigo devoted himself to the study of physics, geometry, astronomy, and cosmography, in which sciences he made rapid progress. After the death of his father, which occurred about the year 1483, Amerigo, perhaps on account of the unfortunate circumstances of his family, became steward in the house of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, with various charges that were multiplied in proportion as he acquired the confidence and the affection of the sons of Pierfrancesco, of whose rural and commercial interests he became superintendent, as appears from numerous letters written to him, which have recently been published. From 1478 to 1480 he was attached to the embassy at Paris, under his relative Guido Antonio Vespucci, ambassador of Florence to Louis XI of France. Accordingly, he wrote many reports to the Signoria, which are preserved in the Archivio di Stato at Florence. The sojourn of Vespucci at Paris, and that of Duke Rene of Lorraine at Florence, earlier, explain why Vespucci should have sent to Duke Rene' a copy, in Latin, of the letter of the four voyages, written in Italian to the gondolfiere perpetuo Piero Soderini, and why one of the earliest editions of Vespucci's voyages (the third) should have been made at Paris in 1504. The offices that Vespucci held from the younger branch of the house of Medici explain why the former, between November of 1491 and February of 1492, joined, at Seville, Giannetto di Lorenzo Berardo Berardi, chief of a house, established at that city, which had close financial relations with the younger branch of the Medici, that is, with Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco and his son. Through his intelligence, he became one of the chief agents of that firm, which, later, had a leading part in fitting out the oceanic expeditions that led to the discovery of the New World. The successful voyages of Christopher Columbus increased Vespucci's desire to take a part in the general European movement to seek a western passage to the Indies. Having obtained three ships from Ferdinand, King of Castille, Vespucci was able to undertake his first voyage. Accordingly, he set sail from Cadiz on 10 May, 1497, sailing toward the Fortunate Islands, and then laying his course towards the west. After twenty-seven or thirty-seven days, on 6 or 10 April, he touched the mainland (Guiana or Brazil?), and was well received by the inhabitants. In this first voyage he may have entered the Gulf of Mexico and coasted along a great portion of the United States, as far as the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Then he returned to Spain, and landed at Cadiz on 15 October, 1498. There is no other relation of this first voyage than that contained in the first letter of Amerigo Vespucci concerning the islands newly found in his four voyages, addressed to Piero Soderini, Gonfaloniere of Florence. On 16 May, 1499, Vespucci sailed from Cadiz on his second voyage, with Alonzo de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa. He directed his course to Cape Verde, crossed the Equator, and saw land, on the coast of Brazil, at 4° or 5° S., possibly near Aracati. From there, he coasted along the Guianas and the continent, from the Gulf of Paria to Maracaibo and Cape de la Vela; he discovered Cape St. Augustine and the River Amazon, and made notable observations of the sea currents, of the Southern Cross and other southern constellations. He returned to Spain in September, 1500. There two expeditions were undertaken in the service of Spain; the third and the fourth, in that of Portugal. In consequence of the long fatigues of his second voyage, Vespucci was taken ill of the quartan ague. When his health was re-established, he wrote an account of his voyage to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici. On 14 May, 1501, he sailed from Lisbon to Cape Verde, and thence westward, until, on 1 January, 1502, he came to a gulf at 13° S., to which he gave the name of Bahia de Todos Santos, and upon the shores of which the city of Bahia now stands. From there he coasted along South America, as far as the Plata. On his return, he discovered the island of South Georgia, at 54° S., and 1200 miles east of Tierra del Fuego. He arrived at Lisbon on 7 September, 1502. On his fourth voyage, he sailed with Gonzal Coelho from Lisbon, on 10 June, 1503, touched land at the Cape Verde Islands, and bent his course towards the Bay of All Saints. At Cape Frio, having found great quantities of brazil-wood, he established an agency, exactly on the Tropic of Capricorn. Thereafter, he coasted along the continent, nearly to the Rio de la Plata, and then returned to Lisbon, where he arrived on 18 June, 1504. Vespucci made a fifth voyage with Juan de la Cosa, between May and December, 1505; they visited the Gulf of Darien, and sailed 200 miles up the Atrato River. During that voyage, they collected gold and pearls, and received information of there being a great abundance of those substances in that region. This voyage was repeated by the two navigators in 1507. Of these two expeditions, however, there is no special account by Vespucci. It should be added that, in 1506, Vespucci was busy in Spain, fitting out the expedition of Pinzón, which was abandoned in March, 1507. The facts regarding the voyages of Vespucci are accepted as given in the above narrative by the majority of the authoritative biographers of that navigator; but the inexactness of the printed texts, the difficulty of identifying the names of places, used by Vespucci, with the modern ones, and the error of attributing sincerity to all assertions contained in official documents, especially in those relating to legal proceedings, have given rise to enormous confusion in all that relates to the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci, of which the chief base for future criticism will be the investigation of the apocryphal codices of the narratives of the voyages of Vespucci, written at the time when the authentic ones appeared. Vespucci was certainly held in high esteem in Spain, where he established himself after his voyages in the service of Portugal. In 1505, by a royal decree of 14 April of that year, he had received Spanish naturalization, and a decree of 6 August, 1508, named him piloto mayor de España, a title corresponding to the modern one of head of the admiralty, and which was borne by Vespucci until his death. Amerigo Vespucci married Maria Cerezo, apparently in 1505. The only precise information concerning her is furnished by the royal decree of 28 March, 1512, according her a pension, on account of the satisfaction given by her husband as piloto mayor, which pension was confirmed by the decree of 16 November, 1523. On the other hand, a decree of 26 December, 1524, grants the remainder of her pension to her sister Catalina Cerezo; which proves that Maria died between the two latter dates, and that she left no children. With Amerigo Vespucci, however, was the son of his brother Antonio, Giovanni, who was born on 6 March, 1486, and who was named piloto mayor in 1512, upon the death of his predecessor and uncle, Amerigo. For information concerning him, see Harrisse, "The Discovery of North America" (1892), 744-5. It is impossible to determine, here, the place of Amerigo Vespucci in the history of the discovery of the New World, in relation to those of Christopher Columbus, of Sebastian Cabot, and of the brothers Pinzón. First it is necessary to distinguish between the geographical, and the social, discovery of America. The former is due to the Icelanders, who established, on the eastern coast of Greenland, a colony that was maintained from the tenth to the fifteenth century, of the history of which a very good compendium is given by Fischer in "The Discoveries of the Norsemen in America" (London, 1902); in connection with this work there should be consulted the collection of documents concerning the relations of the Church of Rome with Greenland during these centuries, published by order of Leo XIII. The discovery of America was due to the failure of the crusade against the Turks which was attempted by Pius II, and the success of which was frustrated by the rivalry and corruption of the states of Europe at that time. Europe then felt the necessity of going to the East by another way, of seeking the East by way of the West, a motto that became the flag of the navigators of that age. Paolo Toscanelli, whose sincerity of religious sentiment was not less than his great merit of scientific attainment (see the present writer's work on Toscanelli, I, 1894, in the "Raccolta Colombiana", part V), foresaw, before Portugal foresaw it, that the time had come for that country to take the place of Italy as the intermediary of the commerce between Europe and Asia, and therefore, as the starting-point of navigators and adventurers, seduced by the desire of being the executors of the great emprise. Columbus was the first to reach land to the west--one of the islands of the Bahamas--on 12 October, 1492, convinced that he had reached one of the islands of eastern Asia. He was followed by Vespucci, Cabot, and many others, each proposing to himself to reach the land of spices, that is, India. We may not, here, enter into the very intricate question of which, of the three navigators named, was the first to tread the mainland of the New World. For that, it would be necessary to have before us the correct texts of all the fundamental documents concerning those navigators. As regards Columbus, the "Raccolta Colombiana", published by the Italian Government on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America, is an exhaustive document. Very important, for all the history of the discovery of America, are the collection of Navarrete, the books and documents published by Harrisse, the Duchess of Alba, and many others. But as regards Vespucci, there are, at Florence, the apocryphal synchronous copies of all the accounts of his voyages, except the text that was used for the publication of the "Mundus novus", of which accounts, as will be seen further on, a correct edition is lacking. The first editions of the documents relating to the voyages of Vespucci may be classified as follows: A. Parisian text.-- A. "Mundus novus" (third voyage), 1st ed., 1503 or 1504. B. Florentine texts - Ba. Letter of the four voyages in the years 1497-98, 1499-1500, 1501-2, 1503-4; 1st ed., 1507; Bb. Letter published by Baldini in 1745, relating to the second voyage; Bc. Letter published by Bartolozzi in 1789, relating to the third voyage; Bd. Letter published by Baldelli Boni in 1827, relating to the third voyage. C. Venetian texts:- Ca. Letter of Girolamo Vianello to the Signoria of Venice, dated 23 December, 1506, relating to a fifth voyage, published for the first time by Humboldt, in 1839. Cb. Letter of Francesco Corner to the Signoria of Venice, dated 19 June, 1508, relating to a sixth voyage, published for the first time by Harrisee, in 1892. The principal question turns, at once, upon the authenticity of the voyage and upon that of the publications A, Ba, Bb, Bc, Bd, Ca, and Cb. In general, a very erroneous confusion is made between two points: nearly every one admits the authenticity of the publications A and Ba, but many reject the authenticity of the first voyage, made by Vespucci in the years 1497 and 1498, and described in the publication Ba. Some, as Varuhagen and others, deny the authenticity of the texts Bb, Bc, and Bd, while others hold the contrary opinion with regard to one or another, or to all three, of these texts. Nearly all regard as inadmissible the fifth and the sixth voyages, narrated in the texts Ca and Cb. For the various editions of the "Mundus novus", the publication of Sarnow and of Trubenbach is exhaustive, but there is no critical edition of any of the other texts, which were printed with many errors; while, as has been said, the apocryphal, though contemporary, texts of all of them are preserved at Florence. The present writer proposed the preparation of a critical edition of this kind, and the proposition was approved by three National Geographical Congresses of Italy, held at Florence (1898), at Milan (1901), and at Naples (1904), respectively, and by the International Congress of Americanists, held at Stuttgart, in August, 1904. Recently, a commission has been created at Florence, for the execution of that purpose, under the presidency of the Marchese Filippo Corsini, president of the Society of Geographical and Colonial Study resident at Florence; of this commission, Professor Attilo Mori, of the Military Geographical Institute, and the writer of this article are members. Until the publication in question appears, it will be useless to discuss the genuineness of the voyages of Vespucci, basing such discussion upon the incorrect texts that are now available--exception being made of the "Mundus novus", cited above. Those seeking further details in regard to these codices may consult Harrisse, "Biblioteca americana vetustissima" (1868), and "Additions" (1872). All the works of that author, whether bibliographical or historical, are the basis for any work on the discovery of America. It is well known today that Vespucci was in no way responsible for the fact that his name, and not that of Columbus, was given to the new World, and therefore, that he certainly does not deserve the charge of theft that has been made against him by many; among them, the famous American publicist, Emerson, who was led into error by partisan writers. On the other hand, the affectionate correspondence between the two great navigators would suffice to disprove all unworthy accusations. The charge received some support form the efforts of a considerable portion of the clergy, throughout the world, to obtain the canonization of Columbus, which, however, was unsuccessful, when the merits of the case were examined, by order of Leo XIII, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America. At that time, the general outcry against Amerigo Vespucci was so great that the famous American statesman Blaine, upon the occasion of the exposition at Chicago, published a book under the title of "Columbus and Columbia," in order that it might not be contaminated by the unholy name of Vespucci. It may be remarked that, at the time of the discovery of America, as is now clearly proven, the narratives of the voyages of Vespucci were more widely disseminated, by far, than were those of the voyages of Columbus, and that Florence was the chief centre for the diffusion of news on the discovery of the New World. To the close relations that existed between Gianfrancesco Pico, Duke della Mirandola, and Florence, and between Gian Francesco and the learned German, Matthew Ringmann, who, in 1504, edited one of the most important editions of the "Mundus novus", under the title of "De ora antartica per regem Portugalliae pridem inventa", and to the close relations between Ringmann and the geographer Martin Waldseemuller (Hylacomilus), is due the fact that when, in 1507, Waldseemuller published the celebrated work "Cosmographiae introductio", at Saint-Dié, in Lorraine, he gave the name of America to the New World, arguing that, since the three continents then known, Europe, Asia, and Africa, had names of women, it was proper to give the newly-discovered continent also the name of a woman, taking it from the baptismal name of the discoverer of the new continent, Vespucci. Many attempts were made to name the New World Columbia, as justice seemed to demand, but all such efforts failed. The writer has tried to clear up these points and to prove the honesty of Vespucci; and his efforts have received the approbation of the Numismatic and Archaeological Society of New York; for, the latter, having resolved to strike, each year, a medal commemorative of some benefactor of America, decided that the first of these medals should be coined in honour of Amerigo Vespucci, and requested the writer to proposed the best portrait of the great navigator for reproduction. The Society accepted the writer's suggestion and gave the preference to the portrait of the Galleria degli Uffizi of Florence, which is generally considered to be the most genuine, but thought that they should take into account the great map of Waldseemuller, of 1507, on which there is a portrait of Amerigo Vespucci; and therefore, the medal was struck with the two portraits, one on either side. Vespucci He was an Italian merchant, born in 1454 in Florence and employed by the Medicis. They sent him to look after their ship-outfitting business, which operated out of Seville, about the time Columbus made his first voyage. Became interested in sailing, and he helped supply the third trip Columbus. In fact, the business had a part in outfitting Columbus's third voyage. Vespucci finally outfitted his own voyage in quest of the passage to the Indian subcontinent that had eluded Columbus. He sailed in 1499 -- seven years after Columbus first landed in the West Indies. Vespucci made two voyages between 1499 and 1502 and possibly a third one in 1503. During his first voyage he explored the northern coast of South America to well beyond the mouth of the Amazon. He gave names like "Gulf of the Ganges," and other Asian place-names he knew about, to the things he saw. He also made significant improvements in navigational techniques. During this trip he predicted the earth's circumference to within 50 miles. But the big breakthrough came on Vespucci's second trip. And that was the realization that what he was looking at was not India at all, but an entirely new continent. He verified the fact by following the coast of South America down to within 400 miles of Tierra del Fuego. Columbus found the new world, but Vespucci was the man who recognized that it was a new world. And who wrote Vespucci's Christian name on the maps? The King of Spain? Our founding fathers? Vespucci himself? No -- it was none of these. We were given our name by an obscure German clergyman and amateur geographer named Waldseemuller. Waldseemuller was a member of a little literary club that published an introduction to cosmology in 1507. In it he wrote of the new land mass that Vespucci had explored: I see no reason why anyone should justly object to calling this part ... America, after Amerigo [Vespucci], its discoverer, a man of great ability. The name stuck, and when a second huge land mass was discovered to the north, the names North and South America were applied to the two continents.

“Letter of Amerigo Vespucci To Pier Soderini, Gonfalonier of the Republic of Florence Magnificent Lord. After humble reverence and due commendations, etc. It may be that your Magnificence will be surprised by (this conjunction of) my rashness and your customary wisdom, in that I should so absurdly bestir myself to write to your Magnificence the present so-prolix letter: knowing (as I do) that your Magnificence is continually employed in high councils and affairs concerning the good government of this sublime Republic. And will hold me not only presumptuous, but also idlymeddlesome in setting myself to write things, neither suitable to your station, nor entertaining, and written in barbarous style, and outside of every canon of polite literature: but my confidence which I have in your virtues and in the truth of my writing, which are things (that) are not found written neither by the ancients nor by modern writers, as your Magnificence will in the sequel perceive, makes me bold. The chief cause which moved (me) to write to you, was at the request of the present bearer, who is named Benvenuto Benvenuti our Florentine (fellow-citizen), very much, as it is proven, your Magnificence's servant, and my very good friend: who happening to be here in this city of Lisbon, begged that I should make communication to your Magnificence of the things seen by me in divers regions of the world, by virtue of four voyages which I have made in discovery of new lands: two by order of the king of Castile, King Don Ferrando VI, across the great gulf of the Ocean-sea, towards the west: and the other two by command of the puissant King Don Manuel King of Portugal, towards the south; telling me that your Magnificence would take pleasure thereof, and that herein he hoped to do you service: wherefore I set me to do it: because I am assured that your Magnificence holds me in the number of your servants, remembering that in the time of our youth I was your friend, and now (am your) servant: and (remembering our) going to hear the rudiments of grammar under the fair example and instruction of the venerable monk friar of Saint Mark Fra Giorgio Antonio Vespucci: whose counsels and teaching would to God that I had followed: for as saith Petrarch, I should be another man than what I am. Howbeit soever I grieve not: because I have ever taken delight in worthy matters: and although these trifles of mine may not be suitable to your virtues, I will say to you as said Pliny to Maecenas, you were sometime wont to take pleasure in my prattlings: even though your Magnificence be continuously busied in public affairs, you will take some hour of relaxation to consume a little time in frivolous or amusing things: and as fennel is customarily given atop of delicious viands to fit them for better digestion, so may you, for a relief from your so heavy occupations, order this letter of mine to be read: so that they may withdraw you somewhat from the continual anxiety and assiduous reflection upon public affairs: and if I shall be prolix, I crave pardon, my Magnificent Lord. Your Magnificence shall know that the motive of my coming into his realm of Spain was to traffic in merchandise: and that I pursued this intent about four years: during which I saw and knew the inconstant shiftings of Fortune: and how she kept changing those frail and transitory benefits: and how at one time she holds man on the summit of the wheel, and at another time drives him back from her, and despoils him of what may be called his borrowed riches: so that, knowing the continuous toil which main undergoes to win them, submitting himself to so many anxieties and risks, I resolved to abandon trade, and to fix my aim upon something more praiseworthy and stable: whence it was that I made preparation for going to see part of the world and its wonders: and herefor the time and place presented themselves most opportunely to me: which was that the King Don Ferrando of Castile being about to despatch four ships to discover new lands towards the west, I was chosen by his Highness to go in that fleet to aid in making discovery: and we set out from the port of Cadiz on the 10th day of May 1497, and took our route through the great gulf of the Ocean-sea: in which voyage we were eighteen months (engaged): and discovered much continental land and innumerable islands, and great part of them inhabited: whereas there is no mention made by the ancient writers of them: I believe, because they had no knowledge thereof: for, if I remember well, I have read in some one (of those writers) that he considered that this Ocean-sea was an unpeopled sea: and of this opinion was Dante our poet in the xxvi. chapter of the Inferno, where he feigns the death of Ulysses, in which voyage I beheld things of great wondrousness, as your Magnificence shall understand. As I said above, we left the port of Cadiz four consort ships: and began our voyage in direct course to the Fortunates Isles which are called to-day la gran Canaria, which are situated in the Ocean-sea at the extremity of the inhabited west, (and) set in the third climate: over which the North Pole has an elevation of 27 and a half degrees beyond their horizon [note 1: That is, which are situate at 27 1/2 degrees north latitude.] and they are 280 leagues distant from this city of Lisbon, by the wind between mezzo di and libeccio. [note 2: South-south-west. It is to be remarked that Vespucci always uses the word wind to signify the course in which it blows, not the quarter from which it rises.] where we remained eight days, taking in provision of water, and wood and other necessary things: and from here, having said our prayers, we weighed anchor, and gave the sails to the wind, beginning our course to westward, taking one quarter by southwest [note 3: West and a quarter by south-west.]: and so we sailed on till at the end of 37 days we reached a land which we deemed to be a continent: which is distant westwardly from the isles of Canary about a thousand leagues beyond the inhabited region [note 4: This phrase is merely equivalent to a repetition of from the Canaries, these islands having been already designated the extreme western limit of inhabited land.] within the torrid zone: for we found the North Pole at an elevation of 16 degrees above its horizon, [note 5: That is, 16 degrees north latitude.] and (it was) westward, according to the shewing of our instruments, 75 degrees from the isles of Canary: whereat we anchored with our ships a league and a half from land; and we put out our boats freighted with men and arms: we made towards the land, and before we reached it, had sight of a great number of people who were going along the shore: by which we were much rejoiced: and we observed that they were a naked race: they shewed themselves to stand in fear of us: I believe (it was) because they saw us clothed and of other appearance (than their own): they all withdrew to a hill, and for whatsoever signals we made to them of peace and of friendliness, they would not come to parley with us: so that, as the night was now coming on, and as the ships were anchored in a dangerous place, being on a rough and shelterless coast, we decided to remove from there the next day, and to go in search of some harbour or bay, where we might place our ships in safety: and we sailed with the maestrale wind, [note 6: North-west] thus running along the coast with the land ever in sight, continually in our course observing people along the shore: till after having navigated for two days, we found a place sufficiently secure for the ships, and anchored half a league from land, on which we saw a very great number of people: and this same day we put to land with the boats, and sprang on shore full 40 men in good trim: and still the land's people appeared shy of converse with us, and we were unable to encourage them so much as to make them come to speak with us: and this day we laboured so greatly in giving them of our wares, such as rattles and mirrors, beads, spalline, and other trifles, that some of them took confidence and came to discourse with us: and after having made good friends with them, the night coming on, we took our leave of them and returned to the ships: and the next day when the dawn appeared we saw that there were infinite numbers of people upon the beach, and they had their women and children with them: we went, ashore, and found that they were all laden with their worldly goods [note 7: Mantenimenti. The word "all" (tucte) is feminine, and probably refers only to the women.] which are suchlike as, in its (proper) place, shall be related: and before we reached the land, many of them jumped into the sea and came swimming to receive us at a bowshot's length (from the shore), for they are very great swimmers, with as much confidence as if they had for a long time been acquainted with us: and we were pleased with this their confidence. For so much as we learned of their manner of life and customs, it was that they go entirely naked, as well the men as the women. . . . They are of medium stature, very well proportioned: their flesh is of a colour the verges into red like a lion's mane: and I believe that if they went clothed, they would be as white as we: they have not any hair upon the body, except the hair of the head which is long and black, and especially in the women, whom it renders handsome: in aspect they are not very good-looking, because they have broad faces, so that they would seem Tartar-like: they let no hair grow on their eyebrows, nor on their eyelids, nor elsewhere, except the hair of the head: for they hold hairiness to be a filthy thing: they are very light footed in walking and in running, as well the men as the women: so that a woman recks nothing of running a league or two, as many times we saw them do: and herein they have a very great advantage over us Christians: they swim (with an expertness) beyond all belief, and the women better than the men: for we have many times found and seen them swimming two leagues out at sea without anything to rest upon. Their arms are bows and arrows very well made, save that (the arrows) are not (tipped) with iron nor any other kind of hard metal: and instead of iron they put animals' or fishes' teeth, or a spike of tough wood, with the point hardened by fire: they are sure marksmen, for they hit whatever they aim at: and in some places the women use these bows: they have other weapons, such as fire-hardened spears, and also clubs with knobs, beautifully carved. Warfare is used amongst them, which they carry on against people not of their own language, very cruelly, without granting life to any one, except (to reserve him) for greater suffering. When they go to war, they take their women with them, not that these may fight, but because they carry behind them their worldly goods, for a woman carries on her back for thirty or forty leagues a load which no man could bear: as we have many times seen them do. They are not accustomed to have any Captain, nor do they go in any ordered array, for every one is lord of himself: and the cause of their wars is not for lust of dominion, nor of extending their frontiers, no for inordinate covetousness, but for some ancient enmity which in by-gone times arose amongst them: and when asked why they made war, they knew not any other reason to give than that they did so to avenge the death of their ancestors, or of their parents: these people have neither King, nor Lord, nor do they yield obedience to any one, for they live in their own liberty: and how they be stirred up to go to war is (this) that when the enemies have slain or captured any of them, his oldest kinsman rises up and goes about the highways haranguing them to go with him and avenge the death of such his kinsman: and so are they stirred up by fellow-feeling: they have no judicial system, nor do they punish the ill-doer: nor does the father, nor the mother chastise the children and marvelously (seldom) or never did we see any dispute among them: in their conversation they appear simple, and they are very cunning and acute in that which concerns them: they speak little and in a low tone: they use the same articulations as we, since they form their utterances either with the palate, or with the teeth, or on the lips: [note 8: He means that they have no sounds in their language unknown to European organs of speech, all being either palatals or dentals of labials.] except that they give different names to things. Many are the varieties of tongues: for in every 100 leagues we found a change of language, so that they are not understandable each to the other. The manner of their living is very barbarous, for they do not eat at certain hours, and as often-times as they will: and it is not much of a boon to them [note 9: I have translated "et non si da loro molto" as "it is not much of a boon to them,." but may be "it matters not much to them."] that the will may come more at midnight than by day, for they eat at all hours: and they eat upon the ground without a table-cloth or any other cover, for they have their meats either in earthen basins which they make themselves, or in the halves of pumpkins: they sleep in certain very large nettings made of cotton, suspended in the air: and although this their (fashion of) sleeping may seem uncomfortable, I say that it is sweet to sleep in those (nettings): and we slept better in them than in the counterpanes. They are a people smooth and clean of body, because of so continually washing themselves as they do. . . Amongst those people we did not learn that they had any law, nor can they be called Moors nor Jews, and (they are) worse than pagans: because we did not observe that they offered any sacrifice: nor even had they a house of prayer: their manner of living I judge to be Epicurean: their dwellings are in common: and their houses (are) made in the style of huts, but strongly made, and constructed with very large trees, and covered over with palm-leaves, secure against storms and winds: and in some places (they are) of so great breadth and length, that in one single house we found there were 600 souls: and we saw a village of only thirteen houses where there were four thousand souls: every eight or ten years they change their habitations: and when asked why they did so: (they said it was) because of the soil which, from its filthiness, was already unhealthy and corrupted, and that it bred aches in their bodies, which seemed to us a good reason: their riches consist of bird's plumes of many colours, or of rosaries which they make from fishbones, or of white or green stones which they put in their cheeks and in their lips and ears, and of many other things which we in no wise value: they use no trade, they neither buy nor sell. In fine, they live and are contended with that which nature gives them. The wealth that we enjoy in this our Europe and elsewhere, such as gold, jewels, pearls, and other riches, they hold as nothing; and although they have them in their own lands, they do not labour to obtain them, nor do they value them. They are liberal in giving, for it is rarely they deny you anything: and on the other hand, liberal in asking, when they shew themselves your friends. . . . When they die, they use divers manners of obsequies, and some they bury with water and victuals at their heads: thinking that they shall have (whereof) to eat: they have not nor do they use ceremonies of torches nor of lamentation. In some other places, they use the most barbarous and inhuman burial, which is that when a suffering or infirm (person) is as it were at the last pass of death, his kinsmen carry him into a large forest, and attach one of those nets, of theirs, in which they sleep, to two trees, and then put him in it, and dance around him for a whole day: and when the night comes on they place at his bolster, water with other victuals, so that he may be able to subsist for four or six days: and then they leave him alone and return to the village: and if the sick man helps himself, and eats, and drinks, and survives, he returns to the village, and his (friends) receive him with ceremony: but few are they who escape: without receiving any further visit they die, and that is their sepulture: and they have many other customs which for prolixity are not related. They use in their sicknesses various forms of medicines, [note 10: That is, "medical treatment."] so different from ours that we marvelled how any one escaped: for many times I saw that with a man sick of fever, when it heightened upon him, they bathed him from head to foot with a large quantity of cold water: then they lit a great fire around him, making him turn and turn again every two hours, until they tired him and left him to sleep, and many were (thus) cured: with this they make use of dieting, for they remain three days without eating, and also of blood-letting, but not from the arm, only from the thighs and the loins and the calf of the leg: also they provoke vomiting with their herbs which are put into the mouth: and they use many other remedies which it would be long to relate: they are much vitiated in the phlegm and in the blood because of their food which consists chiefly of roots of herbs, and fruits and fish: they have no seed of wheat nor other grain: and for their ordinary use and feeding, they have a root of a tree, from which they make flour, tolerably good, and they call it Iuca, and another which they call Cazabi, and another Ignami: they eat little flesh except human flesh: for your Magnificence must know that herein they are so inhuman that they outdo every custom (even) of beasts; for they eat all their enemies whom they kill or capture, as well females as males with so much savagery, that (merely) to relate it appears a horrible thing: how much more so to see it, as, infinite times and in many places, it was my hap to see it: and they wondered to hear us say that we did not eat our enemies: and this your Magnificence may take for certain, that their other barbarous customs are such that expression is too weak for the reality: and as in these four voyages I have seen so many things diverse from our customs, I prepared to write a common-place-book which I name Le quattro Giornate: in which I have set down the greater part of the things which I saw, sufficiently in detail, so far as my feeble wit has allowed me: which I have not yet published, because I have so ill a taste for my own things that I do not relish those which I have written, notwithstanding that many encourage me to publish it: therein everything will be seen in detail: so that I shall not enlarge further in this chapter: as in the course of the letter we shall come to many other things which are particular: let this suffice for the general. At this beginning, we saw nothing in the land of much profit, except some show of gold: I believe the cause of it was that we did not know the language: but in so far as concerns the situation and condition of the land, it could not be better: we decided to leave that place, and to go further on, continuously coasting the shore: upon which we made frequent descents, and held converse with a great number of people: and at the end of some days we went into a harbour where we underwent very great danger: and it pleased the Holy Ghost to save us: and it was in this wise. We landed in a harbour, where we found a village built like Venice upon the water: there were about 44 large dwellings in the form of huts erected upon very thick piles, and they had their doors or entrances in the style of drawbridges: and from each house one could pass through all, by means of the drawbridges which stretched from house to house: and when the people thereof had seen us, they appeared to be afraid of us, and immediately drew up all the bridges: and while we were looking at this strange action, we saw coming across the sea about 22 canoes, which are a kind of boats of theirs, constructed from a single tree: which came towards our boats, as they had been surprised by our appearance and clothes, and kept wide of us: and thus remaining, we made signals to them that they should approach us, encouraging them will every token of friendliness: and seeing that they did not come, we went to them, and they did not stay for us, but made to the land, and, by signs, told us to wait, and that they should soon return: and they went to a hill in the background, and did not delay long: when they returned, they led with them 16 of their girls, and entered with these into their canoes, and came to the boats: and in each boat they put 4 of the girls. That we marvelled at this behavior your Magnificence can imagine how much, and they placed themselves with their canoes among our boats, coming to speak with us: insomuch that we deemed it a mark of friendliness: and while thus engaged, we beheld a great number of people advance swimming towards us across the sea, who came from the houses: and as they were drawing near to us without any apprehension: just then there appeared at the doors of the houses certain old women, uttering very loud cries and tearing their hair to exhibit grief: whereby they made us suspicious, and we each betook ourselves to arms: and instantly the girls whom we had in the boats, threw themselves into the sea, and the men of the canoes drew away from us, and began with their bows to shoot arrows at us: and those who were swimming each carried a lance held, as covertly as they could, beneath the water: so that, recognizing the treachery, we engaged with them, not merely to defend ourselves, but to attack them vigorously, and we overturned with our boats many of their almadie or canoes, for so they call them, we made a slaughter (of them), and they all flung themselves into the water to swim, leaving their canoes abandoned, with considerable loss on their side, they went swimming away to the shore: there died of them about 15 or 20, and many were left wounded: and of ours 5 were wounded, and all, by the grace of God, escaped (death): we captured two of the girls and two men: and we proceeded to their houses, and entered therein, and in them all we found nothing else than two old women and a sick man: we took away from them many things, but of small value: and we would not burn their houses, because it seemed to us (as though that would be) a burden upon our conscience: and we returned to our boats with five prisoners: and betook ourselves to the ships, and put a pair of irons on the feet of each of the captives, except the little girls: and when the night came on, the two girls and one of the men fled away in the most subtle manner possible: and next day we decided to quit that harbour and go further onwards: we proceeded continuously skirting the coast, (until) we had sight of another tribe distant perhaps some 80 leagues from the former tribe: and we found them very different in speech and customs: we resolved to cast anchor, and went ashore with the boats, and we saw on the beach a great number of people amounting probably to 4000 souls: and when we had reached the shore, they did not stay for us, but betook themselves to flight through the forests, abandoning their things: we jumped on land, and took a pathway that led to the forest: and at the distance of a bow-shot we found their tents, where they had made very large fires, and two (of them) were cooking their victuals, and roasting several animals, and fish of many kinds: where we saw that they were roasting a certain animal which seemed to be a serpent, save that it had not wings, and was in its appearance so loathsome that we marvelled much at its savageness: Thus went we on through their houses, or rather tents, and found many of those serpents alive, and they were tied by the feet and had a cord around their snouts, so that they could not open their mouths, as is done (in Europe) with mastiff-dogs so that they may not bite: they were of such savage aspect that none of us dared to take one away, thinking that they were poisonous: they are of the bigness of a kid, and in length an ell and a half: [note 11: This animal was the iguana.] their feet are long and thick, and armed with big claws: they have a hard skin, and are of various colours: they have the muzzle and face of a serpent: and from their snouts there rises a crest like a saw which extends along the middle of the back as far as the tip of the tail: in fine we deemed them to be serpents and venomous, and (nevertheless, those people) ate them: we found that they made bread out of little fishes which they took from the sea, first boiling them, (then) pounding them, and making thereof a paste, or bread, and they baked them on the embers: thus did they eat them: we tried it, and found that it was good: they had so many other kinds of eatables, and especially of fruits and roots, that it would be a large matter to describe them in detail: and seeing that the people did not return, we decided not to touch nor take away anything of theirs, so as better to reassure them: and we left in the tents for them many of our things, placed where they should see them, and returned by night to our ships: and the next day, when it was light, we saw on the beach an infinite number of people: and we landed: and although they appeared timorous towards us, they took courage nevertheless to hold converse with us, giving us whatever we asked of them: and shewing themselves very friendly towards us, they told us that those were their dwellings, and that they had come hither for the purpose of fishing: and they begged that we would visit their dwellings and villages, because they desired to receive us as friends: and they engaged in such friendship because of the two captured men whom we had with us, as these were their enemies: insomuch that, in view of such importunity on their part, holding a council, we determined that 28 of us Christians in good array should go with them, and in the firm resolve to die if it should be necessary: and after we had been here some three days, we went with them inland: and at three leagues from the coast we came to a village of many people and few houses, for there were no more than nine (of these): where we were received with such and so many barbarous ceremonies that the pen suffices not to write them down: for there were dances, and songs, and lamentations mingled with rejoicing, and great quantities of food: and here we remained the night: . . . and after having been here that night and half the next day, so great was the number of people who came wondering to behold us that they were beyond counting: and the most aged begged us to go with them to other villages which were further inland, making display of doing us the greatest honour: wherefore we decided to go: and it would be impossible to tell you how much honour they did us: and we went to several villages, so that we were nine days journeying, so that our Christians who had remained with the ships were already apprehensive concerning us: and when we were about 18 leagues in the interior of the land, we resolved to return to the ships: and on our way back, such was the number of people, as well men as women, that came with us as far as the sea, that it was a wondrous thing: and if any of us became weary of the march, they carried us in their nets very refreshingly: and in crossing the rivers, which are many and very large, they passed us over by skilful means so securely that we ran no danger whatever, and many of them came laden with the things which they had given us, which consisted in their sleeping-nets, and very rich feathers, many bows and arrows, innumerable popinjays of divers colours: and others brought with them loads of their household goods, and of animals: but a greater marvel will I tell you, that, when we had to cross a river, he deemed himself lucky who was able to carry us on his back: and when we reached the sea, our boats having arrived, we entered into them: and so great was the struggle which they made to get into our boats, and to come to see our ships, that we marvelled (thereat): and in our boats we took as many of them as we could, and made our way to the ships, and so many (others) came swimming that we found ourselves embarrassed in seeing so many people in the ships, for there were over a thousand persons all naked and unarmed: they were amazed by our (nautical) gear and contrivances, and the size of the ships: and with them there occurred to us a very laughable affair, which was that we decided to fire off some of our great guns, and when the explosion took place, most of them through fear cast themselves (into the sea) to swim, not otherwise than frogs on the margins of a pond, when they see something that frightens them, will jump into the water, just so did those people: and those who remained in the ships were so terrified that we regretted our action: however we reassured them by telling them that with those arms we slew our enemies: and when they had amused themselves in the ships the whole day, we told them to go away because we desired to depart that night, and so separating from us with much friendship and love, they went away to land. Amongst that people and in their land, I knew and beheld so many of their customs and ways of living, that I do not care to enlarge upon them: for Your Magnificence must know that in each of my voyages I have noted the most wonderful things, and I have indited it all in a volume after the manner of a geography: and I entitle it Le Quattro Giornate: in which work the things are comprised in detail, and as yet there is no copy of it given out, as it is necessary for me to revise it. This land is very populous, and full of inhabitants, and of numberless rivers, (and) animals: few (of which) resemble ours, excepting lions, panthers, stags, pigs, goats, and deer: and even these have some dissimilarities of form: they have no horses nor mules, nor, saving your reverence, asses nor dogs, nor any kind of sheep or oxen: but so numerous are the other animals which they have, and all are savage, and of none do they make use for their service, that they could not be counted. What shall we say of others (such as) birds? which are so numerous, and of so many kinds, and of such various-coloured plumages, that it is a marvel to behold them. The soil is very pleasant and fruitful, full of immense woods and forests: and it is always green, for the foliage never drops off. The fruits are so many that they are numberless and entirely different from ours. This land is within the torrid zone, close to or just under the parallel described by the Tropic of Cancer: where the pole of the horizon has an elevation of 23 degrees, at the extremity of the second climate. [note 12: That is, 23 degrees north latitude.] Many tribes came to see us, and wondered at our faces and our whiteness: and they asked us whence we came: and we gave them to understand that we had come from heaven, and that we were going to see the world, and they believed it. In this land we placed baptismal fonts, and an infinite (number of) people were baptised, and they called us in their language Carabi, which means men of great wisdom. We took our dhparture from that port: and the province is called Lariab: and we navigated along the coast, always in sight of land, until we had run 870 leagues of it, still going in the direction of the maestrale (north-west) making in our course many halts, and holding intercourse with many peoples: and in several places we obtained gold by barter but not much in quantity, for we had done enough in discovering the land and learning that they had gold. We had now been thirteen months on the voyage: and the vessels and the tackling were already much damaged, and the men worn out by fatigue: we decided by general council to haul our ships on land and examine them for the purpose of stanching leaks, as they made much water, and of caulking and tarring them afresh, and (then) returning towards Spain: and when we came to this determination, we were close to a harbour the best in the world: into which we entered with our vessels: where we found an immense number of people: who received us with much friendliness: and on the shore we made a bastion [note 13: Fort or barricade] with our boats and with barrels and casks, and our artillery, which commanded every point: and our ships having been unloaded and lightened, we drew them upon land, and repaired them in everything that was needful: and the land's people gave us very great assistance: and continually furnished us with their victuals: so that in this port we tasted little of our own, which suited our game well: for the stock of provisions which we had for our return-passage was little and of sorry kind: where (i.e., there) we remained 37 days: and went many times to their villages: where they paid us the greatest honour: and (now) desiring to depart upon our voyage, they made complaint to us how at certain times of the year there came from over the sea to this their land, a race of people very cruel, and enemies of theirs: and (who) by means of treachery or of violence slew many of them, and ate them: and some they made captives, and carried them away to their houses, or country: and how they could scarcely contrive to defend themselves from them, making signs to us that (those) were an island-people and lived out in the sea about a hundred leagues away: and so piteously did they tell us this that we believed them: and we promised to avenge them of so much wrong: and they remained overjoyed herewith: and many of them offered to come along with us, but we did not wish to take them for many reasons, save that we took seven of them, on condition that they should come (i.e., return home) afterwards in (their own) canoes because we did not desire to be obliged to take them back to their country: and they were contented: and so we departed from those people, leaving them very friendly towards us: and having repaired our ships, and sailing for seven days out to sea between northeast and east: and at the end of the seven days we came upon the islands, which were many, some (of them) inhabited, and others deserted: and we anchored at one of them: where we saw a numerous people who called it Iti: and having manned our boats with strong crews, and (taken ammunition for) three cannon shots in each, we made for land: where we found (assembled) about 400 men, and many women, and all naked like the former (peoples). They were of good bodily presence, and seemed right warlike men: for they were armed with their weapons, which are bows, arrows, and lances: and most of them had square wooden targets: and bore them in such wise that they did not impede the drawing of the bow: and when we had come with our boats to about a bowshot of the land, they all sprang into the water to shoot their arrows at us and to prevent us from leaping upon shore: and they all had their bodies painted of various colours, and (were) plumed with feathers: and the interpreters who were with us told us that when (those) displayed themselves so painted and plumed, it was to betoken that they wanted to fight: and so much did they persist in preventing us from landing, that we were compelled to play with our artillery: and when they heard the explosion, and saw one of them fall dead, they all drew back to the land: wherefore, forming our council, we resolved that 42 of our men should spring on shore, and, if they waited for us, fight them: thus having leaped to land with our weapons, they advanced towards us, and we fought for about an hour, for we had but little advantage of them, except that our arbalasters and gunners killed some of them, and they wounded certain of our men: and this was because they did not stand to receive us within reach of lance-thrust or sword-blow: and so much vigour did we put forth at last, that we came to sword-play, and when they tasted our weapons, they betook themselves to flight through the mountains and the forests, and left us conquerors of the field with many of them dead and a good number wounded: and for that day we' took no other pains to pursue them, because we were very weary, and we returned to our ships, with so much gladness on the part of the seven men who had come with us that they could not contain themselves (for joy): and when the next day arrived, we beheld coming across the land a great number of people, with signals of battle, continually sounding horns, and various other instruments which they use in their wars: and all (of them) painted and feathered, so that it was a very strange sight to behold them: wherefore all the ships held council, and it was resolved that since this people desired hostility with us, we should proceed to encounter them and try by every means to make them friends: in case they would not have our friendship, that we should treat them as foes, and so many of them as we might be able to capture should all be our slaves: and having armed ourselves as best we could, we advanced towards the shore, and they sought not to hinder us from landing, I believe from fear of the cannons: and we jumped on land, 57 men in four squadrons, each one (consisting of) a captain and his company: and we came to blows with them: and after a long battle (in which) many of them (were) slain, we put them to flight, and pursued them to a village, having made about 250 of them captives, and we burnt the village, and returned to our ships with victory and 250 prisoners, leaving many of them dead and wounded, and of ours there were no more than one killed and 22 wounded, who all escaped (i.e., recovered), God be thanked. We arranged our departure, and seven men, of whom five were wounded, took an island-canoe, and with seven prisoners that we gave them, four women and three men, returned to their (own) country full of gladness, wondering at our strength: and we thereon made sail for Spain with 222 captive slaves: and reached the port of Calis (Cadiz) on the 15th day of October, 1498, where we were well received and sold our slaves. Such is what befell me, most noteworthy, in this my first voyage.”

Early Life Amerigo Vespucci was born in 1454. His family was very rich and lived in Florence, Italy. From the time he was a small boy he was very interested in astronomy and maps. He was curious about the explorers and their adventures. Some Historians disagree about the things Vespucci did. Yet other historians appreciate his accomplishments. When it was time for Columbus's third voyage, Vespucci helped get the needed supplies Columbus needed for his ships. Finally, in 1499, Vespucci got the chance to go exploring himself. Accomplishments Historians have a hard time agreeing about Vespucci. Some think that he went to sea as a rich tourist on an expedition commanded by Alonso de Ojeda.. Other people think he had command of at least one ship, and had to make careful measurements of the stars. His main goal was to locate a star that he thought was above the South pole just as there was one above the North pole. If he found it, explorers would be able to find latitude in the Southern Hemisphere. When Ojeda and Vespucci reached the land that Columbus thought was the Garden of Eden, they split up to find pearls. They met up in Hispaniola. Before he found the star that he was looking for, he was forced to turn back by the currents. If only he had found that star, the problem of longitude would be solved and he would become famous. Several months, after Ojeda had left, Vespucci sailed back to Spain. Amerigo Vespucci wrote a letter to his friend Lorenzo, who was the ruler of Florence. The letter contained facts about his experiences on what he called,"the extreme limits of Asia." After he returned, Vespucci was going over his notes to determine where he had been, and to his surprise he found out that he had crossed the Line of Demarcation, made by Pope Alexander VI. He actually had seen the north end of Brazil, ten months before Carbral! Once Cabral landed in Brazil, King Manuel was curious to find out how much land Portugal owned. Vespucci wanted to return so King Manuel gave him permission and ships to make discoveries, but not to gain wealth. Vespucci was eager to return. Maybe this time he could find that star or even find a new strait. If he did, he knew that he would be famous. Vespucci mapped the Portuguese territory and named harbors as he sailed down the coast of Brazil. Vespucci wanted to learn more about basically everything! Although Vespucci didn't find the star, or strait, he did give map makers 3,300 miles more to add to their maps. Even though he did not accomplish his goal, he did believe that he had found an unknown continent. Later life He wrote another letter to Lorenzo in 1502, describing all that he had done. After Lorenzo died in 1503, someone who knew about the letters thought they should be printed. Some historians believe that the editors wanted the letters to be interesting so more people would read it. So, they exaggerated it a little, actually a lot! They made it seem as though Vespucci was boasting. The biggest change of all was that they changed the date of his voyage from 1499 to 1497, one year after Columbus had actually landed in South America. Many people believed this, and Vespucci became very famous. One of the believers was Martin Waldseemuller, a German map maker who loved to give names to new lands. He gave a name to the new continent, "America." Amerigo Vespucci was the discoverer, or so they thought, so why not name the new continent after him? Instead of Amerigo, he changed it to America because he wanted it to end with the letter "a" like Asia, and Africa. It also was named after a man. This name became very common among the people and it spread very quickly into their language. This is how the name America came to be. Some people think Amerigo Vespucci was a total phoney and a fake. Other historians feel that he should at least get credit for knowing that he had found a new continent. The truth is uncertain.

[edit] Notes

alli's a poptart! =) ash, ur a cream puff! ^^

[edit] Gasp!

i didn't know you had a wikipedia account!!!! Josephseagullstalin 14:54, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

yup.... i do... 4 hw... as u can c... --Impure innocence 06:02, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] answer

well- you once told me what your usernames were on any webiste- somehow i was bored and i came across your userpage looking through history- *cough*

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Josephseagullstalin (talk • contribs) 15:20, 5 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Haha guess who drew this! (you'll never guess)

guess quick!!!! then look at the signature- pretty insane but true!

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Josephseagullstalin (talk • contribs) 04:48, 8 February 2007 (UTC).

adolf hitler painted that? wow....