Amerigo Vespucci Biography

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, navigator, and cartographer, and was the first to demonstrate that

Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern outskirts, but represented an entirely new continent

previously unknown. The exact date of Amerigo Vespucci's birth is a topic of much debate among historians, but

the location of Florence is unquestioned. "In Amerigo's case, although the place was unquestionably Florence, the

date is less certain. Births of two infants of the same name, to the same parents, were registered at about the right

time, within two years of each other. The first was presumably a victim of infant mortality. His certificate of baptism

bears a date in mid-March of 1453, but Florentine documents, like those of many parts of Europe, followed a

calendar that began with the feast of the Annunciation on March 25th. So, by todays reckoning, this Amerigo was

born in 1454."(Fernandez-Armesto, 2007, pgs 13-14) He was one of three sons born into one of the more prominent

families of the time. The Vespucci family was well off and well connected, but they were not considered wealthy,

and the family invested heavily in their eldest son's education, so Amerigo's education was not given the highest

priority. He was tutored by his uncle Girogio Antonio, who was one of the most respected tutors in all of Florence.

He excelled in math and Geography. "The study of geography was part of the humanist curriculum. The rediscovery

of ancient texts revivified it. Of special importance in Florence was Strabo's Geography, a text of the late first

century B.C. that stimulated debate over the size of the world and the existence of previously unknown continents."

(Fernandez-Armesto, 2007, pg 18)

In 1479, Amerigo would travel to France to be the spokesperson to the King for the Medici family. When

Amerigo returned, he would gain the trust and confidence of the Medici family and would be entrusted with the

bank of the Medici family. "Vespucci was engaged as the executor of Giannatto Berardi, an Italian merchant who

had recently died in Seville. Vespucci organized the fulfillment of Berardi's outstanding contract with the Castilian

crown