Amerigo Vespucci

I hope to leave some fame behind me after I die.Amerigo Vespucci

Merchant, explorer and the only Florentine to lend his name to two continents, Amerigo Vespucci or Americus Vespucius in Latin (1451–1512), was the son of a notary and raised in the Ognissanti neighbourhood of Florence.

His family were close to the Medici. His uncle, Lorenzo de' Medici's ambassador to France, took young Amerigo along on a diplomatic tripto Paris, awakening a love of travel. Amerigo later worked in the Medici bank, and was sent to Seville in 1492 to help run the family ship outfitting business, supplying beef to Columbus's voyages. Vespucci met Colombus in person in 1496, had a chat and was fired up to go see the 'Indies' for himself. Business was down. He was in his 40s, ready for adventure and off he went as an observor with the Portuguese fleet.

Vespucci's Voyages