Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from whose name the term "America" is derived.
Posthumous portrait in the Giovio Series at the Uffizi in Florence, attributed to Cristofano dell'Altissimo, c. 1568
Montefioralle – sometimes claimed to be the birthplace of Amerigo Vespucci
Vespucci's birthplace in Florence, Italy
Portrait of a young member of the Vespucci family, identified as Amerigo by Giorgio Vasari
The naming of the Americas, or America, occurred shortly after Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492. It is generally accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer, who explored the new continents in the following years on behalf of Spain and Portugal. However, some have suggested other explanations, including being named after the Amerrisque mountain range in Nicaragua, or after Richard Amerike, a merchant from Bristol, England.
Amerigo Vespucci