As Italians gained in power and influence, the day (celebrated on the second Monday of October) officially became a U.S. federal holiday starting in 1968. [38], Knowledge of Vespucci's voyages relies almost entirely on a handful of letters written by him or attributed to him.
What is the Plot summary of the bamboo dancers? Clemente Lisi is a senior editor and regular contributor to Religion Unplugged. 2. [2], Amerigo Vespucci was the third son of Nastagio Vespucci, a Florentine notary for the Money-Changers Guild, and Lisa di Giovanni Mini. [19] At some point they may have rejoined Ojeda but the evidence is unclear. There are also difficulties with the reported dates and details in the account of this voyage. Vespucci's historical importance may rest more with his letters (whether or not he wrote them all) than his discoveries. Part of a politically-connected family (they had a good relationship with Lorenzo de’ Medici), the Vespucci family was famous for funding a chapel in the Ognissanti Church located in Florence.
Vespucci claimed to have understood, back in 1501 during his Portuguese expedition, that Brazil was part of a different continent, which he called the New World. [13] Starting in the late 1490s Vespucci participated in two voyages to the New World that are relatively well-documented in the historical record. (OPINION) Why do Americans celebrate Christopher Columbus? After years of controversy, the authenticity of the three complete letters was convincingly demonstrated by Alberto Magnaghi in 1924.
Amerigo took the slaves for 1 to prove to people he had. [9][10], Sometime after he settled in Seville, Vespucci married a Spanish woman, Maria Cerezo. [36], The Introduction and map were a great success and four editions were printed in the first year alone. Because our ancestors had no knowledge of them, and it will be a matter wholly new to all those who hear about them, for this transcends the view held by our ancients, inasmuch as most of them hold that there is no continent to the south beyond the equator, but only the sea which they named the Atlantic and if some of them did aver that a continent there was, they denied with abundant argument that it was a habitable land.
It was decorated with prominent portraits of Ptolemy and Vespucci and, for the first time, the name America was applied to a map of the New World. How many voyages did he make? It’s already happening. The coming of two worlds should be celebrated. Looks like we need to tear down America and rename it.