(female narrator)
An Italian geographer
and explorer
named Amerigo Vespucci
was the first person
to realize
that the land
across the Atlantic
was not, in fact,
Asia.
It was a new world,
which, years later,
would be named in his honor
as "America."
(Describer) Titles: PBS Education. World Explorers: Amerigo Vespucci.
♪
(Describer) The pointer on a timeline moves to 1496 as a map zooms in western Europe. Seville is highlighted in southern Spain.
In 1496, Vespucci,
a businessman
who dabbled
in the shipping industry,
met Christopher Columbus
in Seville, Spain.
Struck by Columbus's tales
of adventure and wealth
in the West Indies, Vespucci,
although over 40 years old,
became an explorer
to see the lands for himself.
Securing a position
as a mapmaker and astronomer
for a Spanish expedition,
he departed from Cadiz
in 1499.
(Describer) A dotted line stretches from Spain to South America.
Vespucci reached
the Americas
and sailed south,
becoming the first European
to sail across the equator
in New World waters.
As he explored
the South American coast,
which he thought was India,
Vespucci saw a shoreline
of dense forest.
Unable to land,
he continued sailing,
until making
another stunning discovery--
fresh water.
Although he thought
he had reached
the Ganges River of India,
Vespucci actually reached
the enormous mouth
of the Amazon River.
He navigated up the Amazon
and later recounted
in a letter,
he observed...
He also spotted a snake
eight times longer
than a man's arm
and as wide as his waist.
Frightened,
Vespucci and his crew
returned to the sea
and sailed home.
In 1501, he returned
to South America
on a Portuguese expedition
to explore even more
of the mysterious coast.
On this journey,
he discovered the site
now called Rio de Janeiro
as well as the La Plata River
in Argentina and Uruguay.
After deeper investigation
of the native people,
flora, and fauna,
he concluded that this land
was not, in fact,
India or any part of Asia.
Vespucci was convinced
that it was
an entirely different land--
a fourth continent--
which he called the New World.
While he was far
below the equator,
Vespucci realized he couldn't
sail by the North Star,
which wasn't high enough
for traditional navigation.
Instead, he depended
on stars and constellations
that only shone
in the Southern Hemisphere.
Vespucci mapped
Alpha and Beta Centauri
and the Southern Cross--
stars that would guide
future explorers
of the Southern Hemisphere
for centuries.
Each night,
Vespucci also observed
the conjunction of the planets
with the moon
and compared
the time of conjunction
to the anticipated time
listed in astronomical charts.
From these
celestial calculations,
Vespucci determined
how far west he had sailed,
the width
of the Atlantic Ocean,
and thus, that the earth
was 25,000 miles around--
greater than Columbus's previous
estimate of 20,000 miles.
Those extra 5,000 miles
validated Vespucci's theory
that another continent could
fit between Europe and Asia.
In 1507, a European mapmaker
labeled the southern portion
of the New World as America,
in honor
of Vespucci's realization
that the Americas were
a continent distinct from Asia.
Back in Spain in 1508,
Vespucci was awarded
the office of master navigator.
From then on, he recruited
and trained other navigators
for further exploration
of America.
In 1538, 26 years
after Vespucci died,
another mapmaker marked
the name "America"
on both the northern
and southern halves
of the continent,
cementing Vespucci's legacy
as the namesake
of the New World.
(Describer) Titles: PBS Education. World Explorers: Amerigo Vespucci.
Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.
Accessibility provided by the
U.S. Department of Education.
