AMERIGO VESPUCCI

Charles Lester Edwards, Amerigo Vespucci

 

 

The biography of Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512), the Italian explorer whose discoveries led to the continent of America being named after him. The first of Amerigo's voyages has been disputed since he first described it because it meant that he had reached the mainland of America before Columbus.

 

 

  TITLE : Amerigo Vespucci

  AUTHORS : Charles Lester Edwards, Amerigo Vespucci

   EDITORS : Keith Bridgeman, Tahira Arsham

   PUBLICATION DATE : 9th September 2009

   ISBN-13 : 978-1-906421-02-1  (ISBN-10 : 1-906421-02-1)

   FORMAT : Paperback

   NUMBER OF PAGES : 164

   NUMBER OF ILLUSTRATIONS : none

  SIZE : 229 mm (height) x 152 mm (width) x 9 mm (depth)

   WEIGHT : 250g

   SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION : 920 (Dewey), BGH (BIC subject)

 

 

CONTENTS

 

Chapters : 1 - The early life of Amerigo Vespucci, 2 - Prior to the first voyage, 3 - The first voyage (letter to Soderini), 4 - Las Casas on Amerigo's voyages, 5 - The veracity of Amerigo's claims, 6 - Preparations for the second voyage, 7 - The second voyage (letter to Soderini), 8 - The second voyage (letter to Medici), 9 - The voyage of Alonso de Ojeda, 10 - Preparations for the third voyage, 11 - Amerigo's description of Cabral's voyage, 12 - The third voyage (letter to Soderini), 13 - The third voyage (brief letter to Medici), 14 - The third voyage (long letter to Medici), 15 - Preparations for the fourth voyage, 16 - The fourth voyage (letter to Soderini), 17 - The naturalisation of Amerigo, 18 - The naming of America, 19 - The intended fifth voyage, 20 - Amerigo's final years

 

 

SYNOPSIS

 

The biography of Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512), the Italian explorer whose discoveries led to the continent of America being named after him.

Amerigo Vespucci made four voyages during which he discovered a lot of the coastline and rivers of South, Central and North America. Amerigo Vespucci reached the mainland of America before Christopher Columbus. So instead of the continent of America being named after Columbus it came to be named America after Amerigo.

Amerigo saw peoples, plants and animals never seen before by Europeans. His crew found the bird song so melodious, and the trees so beautiful and sweet smelling, that they imagined themselves in a terrestrial paradise. His voyages brought him in to contact with thousands of naked natives who met with Amerigo's crew with anything from a warm and curious welcome to vicious warfare. He described some of the natives as being lascivious beyond measure, especially the women, and that the men took as many wives as they pleased, often marrying their mothers or their sisters. Many of them were cannibals, some of whom smoked the meat of their victims before eating it. Even some of Amerigo's own men were killed by being pulled to pieces before being eaten in view of the rest of the crew.

Included are all of the first hand accounts of the four voyages, detailed in letters written by Amerigo Vespucci to his friend Pietro Soderini who was Gonfaloniere of the Republic of Florence, and to Lorenzo di Piero Francesco de Medici, who was an Italian banker and politician.

 
EXCERPTS  
 

Excerpts of Amerigo Vespucci, including the introduction, the contents, and the front page of every chapter can be read here : AMERIGO VESPUCCI EXCERPTS

 

 

AUTHORS

 

Charles Edwards Lester was an American writer and diplomat. He was admitted to the bar in Mississippi and was later ordained a minister in the Presbyterian church. In 1840, he addressed antislavery meetings in Massachusetts and was elected a delegate to the London antislavery conference that year. In 1842, President Tyler appointed Charles Edwards Lester as the U.S. Consul in Switzerland. The achievement of Amerigo Vespucci, the subject of this biography were his extensive voyages and discoveries along the coastlines of North, Central and South America. However, it was his descriptions of those voyages in his letters that cemented his fame, and caused such controversy.

 

 

VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY

 

Amerigo Vespucci is part of a series of biographies concerning "The Voyages of Discovery" including : Vasco da Gama, Magellan, Pedro Cabral, Bartolomeu Dias, and Amerigo Vespucci. Between them they discovered and opened up most of the then unknown world. For more information go to  VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY

                                                                                                                            
 

 

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