Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci [ ameˈriːɡo vesˈputtʃi ] (born March 9, 1454 in Florence , † February 22, 1512 in Seville ) was a merchant, navigator, navigator and explorer. During his journeys he explored large parts of the east coast of South America. The double continent America is named after him.
Live and act
Vespucci was born the third child to a distinguished Florentine family. From 1482 he was in the service of the powerful Medici banking family , who sent him to their branch in Seville in 1491. In 1492 he joined Giannotto Berardi , the manager of the branch, and Christopher Columbus in a company that financed the equipment of the ships for Columbus' first voyage. After Berardi's death in 1495 he took over the management of the branch; the company with Columbus was dissolved.
He then made several trips across the Atlantic - possibly four trips, but the first and fourth trips are in doubt:
- According to the information in the controversial Soderini letter , he took part in a first trip to America from May 10, 1497 to October 1498.
- A trip to South America from May 18, 1499 to June 1500 under Alonso de Hojeda and Juan de la Cosa is secured .
- From May 1501 to September 7, 1502, this time under the Portuguese flag, he took part in an exploration under Gonçalo Coelho . He reports on this trip in the famous Mundus Novus .
- According to the Soderini letter , another trip followed from May 10, 1503 to June 18, 1504, again on behalf of the Portuguese.
During his travels, he explored a substantial part of the east coast of South America. He often gave names to the respective places, for example Venezuela ("Little Venice", as the local population had built stilt houses at this point ), which he discovered in 1499 with the captain Alonso de Hojeda under the Spanish flag. Or Rio de Janeiro ("January River") - on January 1, 1502, he discovered the place under his and Gonçalo Coelho's direction with the captain André Gonçalves , who is sometimes mistakenly named in Germany as the namesake. He also described the flora and fauna very precisely and vividly.
In 1508 he was appointed Piloto Mayor by Queen Johanna of Spain . He was thus responsible for updating the Padrón Real , the map on which all new discoveries were recorded.
Vespucci died in Seville in 1512 and was buried there (for the family grave in Florence see below).
He was the first European to express his conviction that the new world was a continent of its own.
The numerous editions of his writings, especially his description of the second voyage, which came out under the title Mundus Novus , contributed significantly to spreading the truth about the extent and significance of the discovery of America: Not some islands had been discovered, but, like him, time and again stressed a whole new world, a new continent.
Controversial letters
Vespucci's role has been widely discussed, mainly because of two letters whose authenticity has been questioned:
The Latin report Mundus Novus (“New World”) was probably printed for the first time in 1502/03 in Florence and Paris, the first dated edition appeared in 1504 by Johann Otmar in Augsburg; Copies of two Italian letters from Vespucci dated June 4, 1501 and 1502 have been preserved in the Codice Vaglienti for the journey described there.
The so-called Soderini letter first appeared in Italian between 1504 and 1506 in Florence, but the Latin translation with the title Quatuor Americi Vesputii Navigationes ("Four Sea Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci"), which was included in Martin Waldseemüller's Cosmographiae Introductio from 1507, became known is. A copy of Vespucci's letter of September 10, 1504 to Pier Soderini can also be found in the Codice Vaglienti mentioned above .
During Vespucci's lifetime, his letters were not questioned, on the contrary: They were part of the cards from Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann . Seafarers who drove according to Waldseemüller's map regulations and consequently according to Vespucci's instructions, arrived at the right places. In contrast to the Columbus letters of the late 15th century, Vespucci's Mundus Novus was considered a work of scientific geography and was printed in 37 different languages in the 16th century.
The doubts of some historians particularly concern three incorrect position statements that Vespucci gave in his letters on his first voyage in 1497 and on his fourth voyage in 1503. Questions as to whether Vespucci's position details are transmission or transmission errors are justified. Even with the year of his birth or his Latin name, transcription and tradition errors have arisen over time. Some insist that he was born in 1454, others claim that he was born in 1451. Recently, Robert Wallisch attempted to refute objections to the authenticity of the Mundus Novus letter and made linguistic arguments in favor of Vespucci's authorship Field.
Amerigo Vespucci as America's namesake
The decision of the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller to name the new continent "America" on his world map from 1507 is based on the wide distribution of these letters from Vespucci . Waldseemüller derived the name from the Latinized name "Americus Vespucius" and wrote the following with Matthias Ringmann in the Cosmographiae Introductio 1507:
“Now in truth these parts of the new world were specially explored and another part of Americus Vesputius was discovered […] and it is hard to see why anyone should forbid naming the new land Amerige, land of Americus, after its discoverer Americus, a particularly astute man, or America, since both Europe and Asia have their names from women [...] "
By naming the New World after himself, Amerigo Vespucci's wish, reproduced in his travelogue Mundus Novus (1503), already came true during his lifetime: "[...] ut mei recordatio apud posteros vivat [...]".
This naming can be justified by the fact that Christopher Columbus was always of the opinion that he had discovered a new sea route to "India". That is why he called the islands he discovered on the way to the west " West Indies " and their inhabitants " Indians ". Amerigo Vespucci, on the other hand, correctly suspected that the land he discovered was a new continent.
It was not until 1513, a year after Vespucci's death, that Vasco Núñez de Balboa reached the Pacific Ocean from the east coast of Panama, thus providing evidence that the newly discovered coasts are actually not Asia , but a continent of their own.
reception
Until the court ruling in Madrid in the mid-16th century, sought by Columbus' grandchildren and the Spanish crown, Amerigo Vespucci was officially the most important discoverer of America.
The Florentine Church Ognissanti (Church of All Saints) was the home church of the Vespucci. Inside the church, on the right just after the entrance, there is a fresco by Ghirlandaio from 1473 , a protective cloak Madonna . Under the Madonna's right arm is a portrait of Amerigo Vespucci. On the tombstone for Amerigo Vespucci, the date of death (in Roman numerals) is mentioned as 1471. This is what his grandfather meant.
The sailing training ship of the Italian Navy (home port Livorno ) , which is still in operation, and the airport in his hometown of Florence are named after him.
The plant genus Vespuccia Parl. From the swan flower family (Butomaceae) was named after him.
Editions and translations
- Robert Wallisch (Ed.): The Mundus Novus of Amerigo Vespucci. Text, translation and commentary. 3rd, revised edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-7001-3069-7
- Norbert Schulz (Ed.): Amerigo Vespucci: Mundus Novus (with second texts) (= Neo-Latin texts for ancient language teaching. Vivarium, Series neolatina. Volume 2). MMO Verlag for the Promotion of Middle and New Latin, Butjadingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-9811144-2-3
literature
- Norbert Ankenbauer: "That I wanted to experience Meer Newer Dyng". The language of the new in the Paesi novamente retrovati (Vicenza, 1507) and in its German translation (Nuremberg, 1508). Frank & Timme, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86596-310-9 .
- Germán Arciniegas: America, 500 años de un nombre - Vida y época de Amerigo Vespucci. Villegas Editores tercera edición, Bogotá 2002.
- Urs Bitterli : The discovery of America. From Columbus to Alexander von Humboldt. Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-42122-9 .
- Rudolf Eger: Amerigo Vespucci. An explorer's adventure. Melchert, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-87152-207-4 .
- Felipe Fernández-Armesto: Amerigo. The man who gave his name to America. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, ISBN 0-297-84802-X
- Camargo Gabriel Pérez: Colombia 1497, primer arribo español a tierra firme. Instituto Colombiano de Cultura Hispánica, Bogotá 1985.
- Timothy Sodmann: Epilogue to “Mundus novus”. Borken / Winterswijk 1991.
- Luigi Ugolini: He gave America its name. Amerigo Vespucci's life and time. Styria, Graz 1974, ISBN 3-222-10691-6 .
- Stefan Zweig : Amerigo, the story of a historical error . Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1989, ISBN 3-596-29241-7 (About the appointment of America to Amerígo Vespucci by Martin Waldseemüller April 25, 1507, first edition: Fischer Verlag, Stockholm, 1944 (posthumously)).
Web links
- Literature by and about Amerigo Vespucci in the catalog of the German National Library
- Biography of Amerigo Vespucci ( Memento of February 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Portuguese)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ankenbauer (2010), p. 106.
- ↑ Ankenbauer (2010), pp. 107-108
- ^ Wallisch, 2nd edition 2006, p. 104 ff.
- ↑ Ankenbauer (2010), p. 106.
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Vespucci, Amerigo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Navigator and seafarer, namesake of the continent America |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 9, 1451 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Florence , Italy |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 22, 1512 |
| Place of death | Seville , Spain |