Rediscovery of Amerigo Magazine Article , 1954. Vespucci, who found mainland before Columbus, has been forgotten or vilified; on 500th anniversary new study shows why America can proudly bear his name.
Every schoolboy learns early in life that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 and that his memory is honored each year on October 12 with appropriate acknowledges. While Columbus Day orators faithfully reaffirm the story of America's discovery, they seldom remind us that Columbus was not the first explorer to set foot on mainland of America, or that he died not knowing he had found an unmapped fourth quarter of the world.
The man who did reach the mainland of America ahead of Columbus and then identified the continent as part of the New World is one of history's most conspicuously forgotten men.. He was Amerigo Vespucci, explorer and friend of Columbus who is known today as the man for whom the New World was puzzling named.
Outside his birthplace of Florence, Amerigo is an obscure historical figure, distinguished for almost nothing but his name. He was overlooked for centuries by most historians and maligned by those who deigned to take note of him.
There are pictures of Amerigo that were painted by well known artists in the article.
