Raised and educated in Florence, Amerigo (also Americus) Vespucci was a merchant and navigator who sailed to the new world on two (perhaps even three) occasions, sailing for Spain and for Portugal.He made his most significant scientific contribution to the Age of Discovery when, through astronomical observations off the coast of South America, he confirmed that the lands Columbus had encountered were not Asia but were in fact an entirely separate continent. The letters Vespucci wrote describing his travels were published and widely distributed in Europe.
Vespucci owes the use of his name for two continents to the German clergyman and scholar Martin Waldseemüller, who had read of Amerigo's travels and chose to call the new lands "America" in his honor when printing a wood-block map.
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