AMERIGO VESPUCCI

PRE-EXPLORATION

• Amerigo was Born March 09, 1451 in Florence, Italy
• He grew up to have a job as a banker for the florentine house of Medici in Seville
• He helped to supply ships for voyages
• The names of his ships were: San Antiago, Repertaga, Girmand, Wegiz
• He studied astronomy, geography, and navigation he was an expert

VOYAGES

• Amerigo was in his 40s when he went on his first voyage
• The spanish king and queen and the king of Portugal supported him
• He set off in 1497, 1499 and 1500 with 1,200 men
• He went to Brazil, the Americas and the east African coast
• He made two and perhaps even four voyages

Amerigo discovered north and South America and they were named after him. He claimed land for Spain and Portugal

He sailed to.... Cadiz in southern Spain in June 1500, Brazil, the Americas, African coasts, India, Santo Domingo, Trinidad and the coast of Venezuela, the Bahamas where he kidnaped 200 native Americans to be slaves in Spain

CAUSES

• Proving his theory about the geography of the world
• Claim more land for spain and Portugal
• Get money and obtain slaves
• It was the renaissance era and a lot of new things were happening
• Convincing people that columbus is wrong

EFFECTS

• People knew more about the worlds shape
• New land was discovered
• He named places like rio and the Americas
• People realized that his theories were correct
• He convinced everyone that columbus was wrong

In 1507 his findings were published in a 52 page book written in Latin by Martin waldseemüller
Amerigo along with other geographers believed that a degree on the surface of the Earth was 66⅔ miles 107.3 km Columbus said his voyage was shorter

QUESTIONS/ANSWERS

• Did Amerigo marry? Yes he married Maria de Cerezo
• How old was he when he died? He was 61 when he died of malaria
• Did he know any explorers before he decided to sail?
• Yes he supplied columbuses voyages and he was skepticle of him
• Did he have children? No by the time he returned home they were too old

Sources

• Worldbook http://luhslib.wix.com/luhslib#!databases/c1cou (biography)
• Uh.edu (images)
• Amerigo Vespucci book ISBN: 0-8238-3615-5