The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci

Adventurer, merchant and mapper of the New World, Amerigo Vespucci’s life is fascinating and vivid – his letters, published here in full, reveal his discoveries.

Born in Florence in the mid-15th century, Vespucci expressed an interest in the newly-discovered lands across the Atlantic Ocean from an early age. Educated by his uncle, a learned Dominican friar, it was in youth that Vespucci displayed a talent for money matters and mathematics – this gift for figures would pay dividends during his later sea expeditions, which saw him draw many of the first maps ever made of the coastline of South America.

This book does not merely contain Vespucci’s own writings, but also the letters of other authors who refer to him and his accomplishments. Christopher Columbus had praise for Vespucci’s competence, while he is alluded to multiple times in the writings of historian Bartolome de las Casas. The compiler, annotator and translator of these relevant correspondences is Clements R. Markham, who is keen to reveal the character and deeds that underpin Amerigo Vespucci’s reputation as a great explorer.

As a gateway into the exploratory and navigational events accompanying the Italian Renaissance, this book is superb. All of Markham’s original notes and scholarly references are included, being appended to the conclusion of the book.