A biography of the Italian-born merchant, explorer, and navigator who made several voyages to the New World and for whom America is named.
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-- This brief book attempts to sort fact from speculation and to explain the origin of the controversy in which some argued that Vespucci never traveled at all. Alper begins by telling readers too much in a choppy text, awkwardly mixing what is known about Vespucci's early life with background on Florence, current ideas about geography, and the impetus to reach the Indies. Confusion lessens when she reaches Vespucci's adulthood and voyages, although she quotes two different figures for Ptolomy's estimate of the earth's circumference. Vespucci's contributions as a cartographer and a teacher of navigation are discussed. Alper talks about the forged letters that cast doubt on the explorer's voyages and discoveries and how their refutation revived his reputation in a section that will inform readers about historical method. The writing seems tentative here; it doesn't flow like Ronald Syme's Amerigo Vespucci (Morrow, 1969; o.p.). It is more detailed than the section on Vespucci in Lomask's Great Lives: Exploration (Macmillan, 1988), which takes the view that Vespucci made four voyages rather than the two or three historians agree on. Maps are too infrequent and too small. --Sally Bates Goodroe, Houston Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
When Amerigo Vespucci was born in 1454, the wealthy city of Florence seemed the very center of the world to the people who lived there. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ocean Sea, Marco Polo, King Ferdinand, King Manuel, Cape of Catigara, Middle East, Santa Maria, New World, North Africa, Prester John New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
When Amerigo Vespucci was born in 1454, the wealthy city of Florence seemed the very center of the world to the people who lived there. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ocean Sea, Marco Polo, King Ferdinand, King Manuel, Cape of Catigara, Middle East, Santa Maria, New World, North Africa, Prester John New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 3
books:
2
books
cite this book:
- Amerigo Vespucci, Pilot Major by Frederick J. Pohl in Back Matter
- Age of Exploration (Great Ages of Man) by John Rigby Hale in Back Matter
- Amerigo and the New World by German Arciniegas in Back Matter
- GPS Made Easy: Using Global Positioning Systems in the Outdoors by Lawrence Letham in Back Matter
- U.S. History Through Children's Literature: From the Colonial Period to World War II by Wanda Miller on page 41
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