Amerigo Vespucci ) Italian Navigator and Explorer )

America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator and explorer who played a prominent role in exploring the New World. On May 10, 1497, explorer Amerigo Vespucci embarked on his first voyage. On his third and most successful voyage, he discovered present-day Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata. Believing he had discovered a new continent, he called South America the New World. In 1507, America was named after him. He died of malaria in Seville, Spain, on February 22, 1512. Navigator and explorer Amerigo Vespucci, the third son in a cultured family, was born on March 9, 1451, (some scholars say 1454) in Florence, Italy. Although born in Italy, Vespucci became a naturalized citizen of Spain in 1505. Italian navigator whose name was given to the New World. Vespucci was a merchant of Florence who was hired by the Medici rulers of the city to work in Seville, Spain. He supplied essential goods to the expeditions of Christopher Columbus and was later taken on as a navigator by Alo