Amerigo by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
In 1507 the cartographer Martin Waldseemuller published a world map with a new continent on it which he called America', after the explorer and navigator Amerigo Vespucci. The map was a phenomenal success and when Mercator's 1538 world map extended the name to the northern hemisphere of the continent, the new name was secure, even though Waldseemuller himself soon realised he had picked the wrong man. This is the story of how one side of the world came to be named not after its discoverer Christopher Columbus, but after his friend and rival Amerigo Vespucci. Born in Florence in 1454 Vespucci had spent his youth as a dealer or agent for the great Medici family. Then in 1491 he followed his fellow-Italian Columbus to Seville. In Seville continued as Florentine agent but also helped Columbus get his ships ready for his second and third voyages. Although Amerigo himself later sailed on at least two voyages of his own and explored the coast of present-day Brazil, he excelled above all at self-invention and self-promotion. He saw himself as a explorer and navigator of genius, and his colourful travel writings sold much better than those of Columbus. He became Pilot Major of Spain in 1508 and died in 1512. Fernanzez-Armesto knows this period exceptionaly well and he brings wonderfully to life the world of navigators, shipwrights, explorers, cartographers, agents, financiers and fixers.
"remarkable and well worthy of this elegant sophisticated biography" -- DAVID HORSPOOL DAILY TELEGRAPH "Felipe Fernandez-Armesto.. portrays Vespucci as a man of "relentless self-invention", a hustling, peripatetic character whose mendacity and ambition lend him the air of an American archetype, the Jay Gatsby of the golden age of exploration." FINANCIAL TIMES "It's the mark of a good biography that, however little we may know for certain about what happened to Vespucci or what he did, when we put this book down, we feel that we understand him.2 LITERARY REVIEW
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is known for his wide-ranging and provocative global history. He was previously Professor of History at Queen Mary College, London and he is currently Professor of Spanish History at Tufts University, Boston.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780297848028 |
| ISBN 10 | 029784802X |
| Title | Amerigo |
| Author | Felipe Fernandez Armesto |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Orion Publishing Co |
| Year published | 2006-09-14 |
| Number of pages | 248 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |