Question 1

The man who worked out it was a new continent

Accepted Answer

Because Columbus died believing he had found Asia. Vespucci sailed further south, saw stars that belonged on no European chart, and said the obvious thing nobody had said: this is land we did not know existed. A mapmaker in Lorraine read that and wrote a name across it — America.

Question 2

Amerigo Vespucci: what happened in 1501?

Accepted Answer

South, and further south — Now sailing for Portugal, he follows the Brazilian coast past Cabo Frio and the Río de la Plata. The land does not stop, and the stars change.

Question 3

Amerigo Vespucci: what happened in 1502?

Accepted Answer

Mundus Novus — He writes that these lands are not Asia but a new world, a fourth part alongside Europe, Asia and Africa. Printed as a pamphlet, it sells across Europe.

Question 4

Amerigo Vespucci: what happened in 1507?

Accepted Answer

Waldseemüller writes America — On a wall map printed in Saint-Dié, a thousand copies. The name is placed over the southern landmass, and it sticks.

Amerigo Vespucci — Amérique du Sud · Mundus Novus · Grands Explorateurs

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