Amerigo Vespucci

Background Info Vespucci was born in 1454 to a prominent family in Florence, Italy, and as a young child he collected many books and maps. His first job was working for local bankers. In 1492 he was sent to Spain, while in Spain he began working on ships. In 1499 he went on his first exploration and came to the Amazon river and begun exploring the coast of South America

Exploration Chronicles On his second voyage in 1501 Amerigo sailed under the Portuguese flag. It took him 64 days to cross the Atlantic ocean due to weak winds. He followed the South American coast to within 400 miles of the southern tip. While on his voyage Vespucci wrote letters to friends in Europe describing his encounters with the new world. He described the cultures of the natives and also their religious practices. His letters were later published and were distributed across Europe. They were more popular than Columbus's diary.

Funding He sailed under the sponsorship of both Portugal and Spain but King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain were his biggest sponsors. Amerigo found that he had found North America not China