Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name To America

Author: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

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General Fields

  • : $12.00 AUD
  • : 9780753822197
  • : Phoenix Books
  • : Phoenix Books
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  • : 24.95
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  • : August 2012
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  • : Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
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  • : Paperback
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Barcode 9780753822197
9780753822197

Local Description

2007. A very good copy with light creasing to the spine.

Description

In 1507 the cartographer Martin Waldseemuller published a world map with a new continent on it which he called America', after the explorer and navigator Amerigo Vespucci. The map was a phenomenal success and when Mercator's 1538 world map extended the name to the northern hemisphere of the continent, the new name was secure, even though Waldseemuller himself soon realised he had picked the wrong man. This is the story of how one side of the world came to be named not after its discoverer Christopher Columbus, but after his friend and rival Amerigo Vespucci. Born in Florence in 1454 Vespucci had spent his youth as a dealer or agent for the great Medici family. Then in 1491 he followed his fellow-Italian Columbus to Seville. In Seville he continued as a Florentine agent but also helped Columbus get his ships ready for his second and third voyages. Although Amerigo himself later sailed on at least two voyages of his own and explored the coast of present-day Brazil, he excelled above all at self-invention and self-promotion. He saw himself as an explorer and navigator of genius, and his colourful travel writings sold much better than those of Columbus.