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Join Date: Dec 2007
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| Can you check my Social Studies project? You dont have to read it all, but I have to have at least one paragraph per each section. Do you think this is enough?IntroductionAmerigo Vespucci, a man America was named after, isn’t well known to people since Native Americans were the first people to live in America, but this great country was named after this man. Amerigo Vespucci was born in 1454 in a prominent family in Florence Italy. He read widely and collected books and maps as a young man, he was very interested in skills of running business. So he became a banker and was sent to Spain in 1492 to look after his employer’s business interests. In Spain Amerigo began working on ship and went on his first expedition as a navigator in 1499. On 16th of May, 1499 Vespucci sailed from Cadiz on his second voyage, he crossed the Equator and saw land, on the coast of Brazil. On 14 of May, 1501, he sailed from Lisbon to Cape Verde, and thence westward. His fourth voyage was on 10 June, 1503, he left from Lisbon and sailed to Bay of All Saints. He left Lisbon again and left for his fifth voyage with Juan de la Cosa on December, 1505. Vespucci was certainly held in high esteem in Spain, where he established himself after his voyages in the service of Portugal. In 1505, by a royal decree of 14 April of that year, he had received Spanish naturalization, and a decree of 6 August, 1508, named him piloto mayor de España, a title corresponding to the modern one of head of the admiralty, and which was borne by Vespucci until his death. Purpose/ GoalsAmerigo Vespucci was one of important explorer of the New world. He was known as a skilled navigator and since he was a smart businessman involved in trading goods, he was interested in finding several quicker routes to get to Asia. In letters describing his travels, Vespucci said that he took part in four voyages to the New World. He wanted people to know that the land Christopher Columbus found was not India. Historians have a hard time agreeing about Vespucci. Some think that he went to sea as a rich tourist on an expedition commanded by Alonso de Ojeda, Other people think he had command of at least one ship, and had to make careful measurements of the stars. His main goal was to locate a star which would let explorers find latitude in the Southern Hemisphere. When Ojeda and Vespucci reached the land that Columbus thought was the Garden of Eden, they split up to find pearls. They met up in Hispaniola. Before he found the star that he was looking for, he was forced to turn back by the currents. After he returned, Vespucci was going over his notes to determine where he had been, and to his surprise he found out that he had crossed the Line of Demarcation, made by Pope Alexander VI. He actually had seen the north end of Brazil, ten months before Cabral. Vespucci mapped the Portuguese territory and named harbors as he sailed down the coast of Brazil. Although Vespucci didn't find the star, or strait, he did give map makers 3,300 miles more to add to their maps. Areas ExploredIn letters describing his travels, Vespucci said that he took part in four voyages to the New World. Two were undertaken for Spain in 1497 and 1499; and two for Portugal, in 1501 and 1503. But the voyages of 1497 and 1503 and disputed by scholars. On the voyages made in 1499 and 1501, Vespucci explored about 6,000 miles of the South American coastline. During the voyage of 1501, he recognized that the great landmass now called South America was a continent, not a series of small islands as had been previously thought. When he left Cadiz on the 10th of May, 1497, he took a route through the great gulf of the ocean. He has observed some people on the coast, 75 degrees from the isles of Canary. They discovered that they were naked race, and feared them for they were clothed and had different appearance than their own. Vespucci and his men were unable to encourage them to talk to them but after giving them their wares, such as rattles, mirrors, beads, and trifles, they came to discourse with them. He didn’t have a chance to learn that they had any law, or any particular religion, however, they were more intelligent than other native groups since they didn’t offer any sacrifices. There were about 600 of them, and they lived in village of only thirteen houses. Every eight or ten years they changed their habitations to get better soil. They also didn’t enjoy the wealth they the Europeans enjoy, such as gold, pearls and jewels. These were some information included in Vespucci’s letter to Pier Soderini, Gonfalonier of the Republic of Florence. Additional Facts/ BackgroundsAmerigo Vespucci wrote another letter to Lorenzo in 1502, describing all that he had done. After Lorenzo died in 1503, someone who knew about the letters thought they should be printed. Some historians believe that the editors wanted the letters to be interesting so more people would read it. So, they exaggerated it a little, actually, they exaggerated a lot. They made it seem as though Vespucci was boasting. The biggest change of all was that they changed the date of his voyage from 1499 to 1497, one year after Columbus had actually landed in South America. Many people believed this, and Vespucci became very famous. One of the believers was Martin Waldseemuller, a German map maker who loved to give names to new lands. He gave a name to the new continent, "America." Amerigo Vespucci was the discoverer, or so they thought, so they decided to name it after him. Instead of Amerigo, he changed it to America because he wanted it to end with the letter "a" like Asia, and Africa. It also was named after a man. This name became very common among the people and it spread very quickly into their language. This is how the name America came to be. Some people think Amerigo Vespucci was a total phoney and a fake. Other historians feel that he should at least get credit for knowing that he had found a new continent. The truth is uncertain to this day. |