Amerigo Vespucci

           Amerigo Vespucci 

Statue outside the Uffizi, Florence.

Born March 9, 1454

Florence, Republic of Florence, in present-day Italy

Died February 22, 1512

Seville, Crown of Castile, in present-day Spain

Nationality Italian

Other names Américo Vespucio [es]

Americus Vespucius [la]

Américo Vespúcio [pt]

Alberigo Vespucci

Occupation Merchant, Explorer, Cartographer

Known for Demonstrating that the New Worldwas not Asia but a previously unknown fourth continent.[a]

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Amerigo Vespucci (Italian pronunciation: [ameˈriːɡo vesˈputtʃi]; March 9, 1454 – February 22, 1512) was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer who first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indiesdid not represent Asia's eastern outskirts as initially conjectured from Columbus' voyages, but instead constituted an entirely separate landmass hitherto unknown to Afro-Eurasians. Colloquially referred to as the New World, this second super continent came to be termed "America", deriving its name from Americus, the Latin version of Vespucci's first name.