Letters from a New World: Amerigo Vespucci's Discovery of America

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What caused renaissance geographers in 1507 to name the newly discovered continent America, in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, instead of, say, Columbia? The six letters of Vespucci, published in Letters From a New World, convinced Europe of the momentous truth that earlier had eluded Columbus - Columbus had not reached Asia, but a New World, a new continent between Europe and Asia that would bear the name of America. Vespucci's reports contain the astonished and bewildered observations of a man who first made sense ...
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1992 Hard cover New in new dust jacket. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. Audience: General/trade.

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Overview

What caused renaissance geographers in 1507 to name the newly discovered continent America, in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, instead of, say, Columbia? The six letters of Vespucci, published in Letters From a New World, convinced Europe of the momentous truth that earlier had eluded Columbus - Columbus had not reached Asia, but a New World, a new continent between Europe and Asia that would bear the name of America. Vespucci's reports contain the astonished and bewildered observations of a man who first made sense of places and things that were, at the time, unimaginable. While Vespucci's voyages are not legendary, his reports of the New World are. Amerigo Vespucci (1452-1512) grew up in Florence during its heyday, in the company of genius - Machiavelli, Vasari and Botticelli. A member of the professional class, he was a scholar, scientist, diplomat, and master of self-promotion. Devoted to serving the Medici banking interests and the courts of Europe, Vespucci traveled as a pilot on the voyages of others, never leading his own, but claiming that some were his own. Despite the controversy surrounding his claims, he ended his career as Chief Pilot for the Spanish crown, a far cry from the disgrace and imprisonment that marked Columbus's final years. The letters of Amerigo Vespucci, one of the founding texts in the history of modern America, are published here in their entirety for the first time in the English language. A selection of renaissance texts, including a letter by Christopher Columbus and excerpts from Bartolome de Las Casas's History of the Indies, provides further insight into the debate around the Florentine navigator's letters. A foreword by Garry Wills puts the debate in perspective for the contemporary reader.
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Editorial Reviews

Gilbert Taylor
Addressed to a banker friend in the Medici family, these six letters (and six germane contemporary documents) represent a seminal addition to the stacks. Never before have these been translated together into English, and with this month's Columbian quincentenary all the rage (in both senses), they hint at why fate named the Mundus Novus after the Florentine Amerigo, and not the Genoan who first crossed the Ocean Sea. Of course Vespucci's original recognition in the course of four transoceanic voyages helped, but so did his less star-crossed fortunes at the Spanish court, not to mention use of the name "America" in the first atlas of the new lands (1507). Most interesting from a vantage of half a millennium are the navigator's ethnographic observations of, and actions against, the indigenous peoples. Describing the teeming wildlife or native implements, such as a hammock, seems innocuous, but less benevolent and characteristic of his age are his half-amazed reports finding godlessness, cannibalism, and alien social hierarchies and customs. Why not convert, enslave, or destroy such benighted people? Vespucci recorded many such instances. Because they are topical, and controversial to some readers, these letters--as important as Columbus' log--ought not to be missed. The editor's refined scholastic apparatus of footnotes and introduction rounds out a text critical to the annals of discovery.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780941419628
  • Publisher: Marsilio Publishers
  • Publication date: 8/15/1992
  • Pages: 214

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Chronology
Letters of Amerigo Vespucci
Letter I to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de'Medici 3
Letter II to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de'Medici 19
Letter III to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de'Medici 29
Letter IV Ridolfi Fragment 37
Letter V Mundus Novus 45
Letter VI Letter to Soderini 57
App. A Letter of Columbus to his son concerning Vespucci 101
App. B Letter of naturalization of Vespucci 103
App. C Letter of appointment of Vespucci as "Pilot Major" 107
App. D Excerpts from Waldseemuller's Cosmographiae Introductio 113
App. E Excerpts from Las Casas's History of the Indies 125
App. F Excerpts from Navarrete's Coleccion de los viajes 165
Notes 171
Selected Bibliography 197
Index 205
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