When most people think about the discovery of America by European explorers, the first person they think of is Christopher Columbus. However, the north and south continents of America are not named after Colombus, but another person, Amerigo Vespucci. Both of these people have important roles in the discovery and understanding about the lands known at the time as the New World.
Columbus was an explorer, and he was motivated to try to find an easier route for traders to reach India and China; he believed this could be accomplished by travel across the Atlantic Ocean. After many years of failure trying to find a sponsor to fund his expedition, the Spanish monarchy finally agreed to assist him, leading to his famous voyage in 1492 where he landed in the present day Bahamas. He believed he had found China’s outer islands. However, his reputation was in decline because the lands did not result in the riches he had promised (“Christopher Columbus” n.pag.).
Amerigo Vespucci was also an explorer. An Italian merchant financed by the wealthy Medici family, he made at least two voyages across the Atlantic. His first voyage set sail in 1499, seven years after Columbus’s initial expedition. His improvements in navigation techniques and estimation of the earth’s circumference also likely led him to deduce in his second voyage that the land he was looking at on the other side of the Atlantic was not India or China, but an altogether new continent. In recognition of this discovery, Waldseemuller, an amateur German geographer wrote, “I see no reason why anyone should justly object to calling this part America, after Amerigo [Vespucci], its discoverer, a man of great ability” (Lienhard n.pag).
Therefore, it is easy to see why both men are of importance. Christopher Columbus is credited with opening up trade between the New World and Europe, while Amerigo Vespucci is credited with actually recognizing that the New World was actually a new continent.
Works Cited
“Christopher Columbus.” Biography.com, n.d. Web. Accessed 6 Jul. 2012
Lienhard, John H. “No. 43: Amerigo Vespucci.” The Engines of Our Ingenuity, 1997. Web. http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi43.htm
