Amerigo Vespucci: The Historical Context of His Explorations and Scientific Contribution
open access | peer reviewed
- Pietro Omodeo - email
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a cura di
- Pietro Daniel Omodeo - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email orcid profile
Abstract
This book offers a new reconstruction of Amerigo Vespucci’s navigational and scientific endeavours in their historical context. The author argues that all of the manuscripts or texts that Vespucci left to posterity are reliable and true, except for several amendments imposed upon him for reasons linked to the political and economic interests of those who authorised him to undertake his journeys or which were the result of relationships with his companions. The earliest genuine documentation, which dates from the late fifteenth century or early sixteenth century, confirms this position. Fortunately, careful philological studies of Vespucci’s principal written works are available, while some of his original drawings, which confirm, clarify and enrich what he narrated in his letters, can be identified in Waldseemüller’s large map known as Universalis cosmographia (1507).
Keywords Amerigo Vespucci • Vespucci’s scientific legacy • Textual criticism of Vespucci’s letters • Political background of early Renaissance navigati • Origin of the New World’s name • Columbus versus Vespucci: their different achievem
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-402-8 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-402-8 | ISBN (PRINT) 978-88-6969-403-5 | Numero pagine 224 | Dimensioni 16x23cm | Pubblicato 03 Giugno 2020 | Accettato 15 Gennaio 2020 | Presentato 02 Dicembre 2019 | Lingua en
Copyright © 2020 Pietro Omodeo. Pietro Daniel Omodeo. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
- The Editor’s Foreword
- 03 Giugno 2020
- Introduction
- 03 Giugno 2020
- Chronology of the Most Important Voyages
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 2 Berardi and Vespucci in Seville (1490-1496)
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 3 The First Two Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1492-1496)
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 6 Many Ships Reach Haiti in August-September 1500, the Last Being that of the Inquisitor Bobadilla
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 7 Vespucci’s Second Voyage and the Sea of Pearls (1499-1500)
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 8 The Portuguese Second Fleet Under the Command of Álvares Cabral Crosses the Atlantic and Reaches India (1500-1501)
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 9 Amerigo Vespucci in Lisbon (1500-1501)
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 11 The Beginning of Colonial Policies in Portugal and Spain: The Last Voyages of Columbus and Vespucci
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 12 A Period of Political Instability Begins and Major Projects are Entrusted to Vespucci (1505-1506)
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 13 Vespucci and the Coterie of Saint-Dié-Des-Vosges; the Waldseemüller Map and Vespucciʼs Contribution; the Name America is Proposed
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 14 The Final Years of Vespucci and His Scientific Merits
- 03 Giugno 2020
- 15 Epilogue (1515-1521)
- 03 Giugno 2020