Amerigo Vespucci was a Florentine navigator, cartographer, and pilot major of of Castile (Amerigo Vespucci, Gale). Vespucci was the person for whom America is named, and was once thought to have discovered the New World before Christopher Columbus (Amerigo Vespucci, Gale). During the time before Vespucci set out on his exploration journey towards the New World, Columbus had made his first two voyages to the West Indies, and he returned from the second to Seville, Spain on June 1496 (Amerigo Vespucci, Gale). He and Vespucci met and talked, but Vespucci appeared to have been skeptical of Columbus' claim that he had reached the outskirts of Asia. He wanted to see the new lands himself, because he was a curious person who was determined to explore. He journeyed to the New World and sailed around South America, specifically Brazil. …show more content…
After Christopher Columbus’ accidental discovery of the New World and Vespucci’s further explorations, Spain gained a monopoly in New World trade (Seville, Britannica Library). Because of Vespucci’s detailed maps, and the because they were one of the first known explorers of the New World, Spain had a sea route, knew what could be traded, and had bragging rights all before many other people took notice of the New World. The explorers of Spain, including Vespucci, made many detailed maps that positively influenced Spain’s economy and furthered their understanding of the world. Because of Vespucci, people began to realize that Columbus had landed on a land far away from Asia (European Exploration, ABC-CLIO). Vespucci did many great things that helped many people. His explorations and maps provided insight into the world, and helped the people of Spain learn more about the landmasses of earth. However, Vespucci did not only affect Spain, but America as well. Because of Vespucci, there is a good amount of influence from Italy in American history (Italian Americans,