In Firenze my roommate stopped me to explain the story of this Italian. I hope everyone knows who he is: Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512).Once an Italian joked with me: "Didn't you know that America was discovered by an Italian...who was lost!" Then he went on: "Didn't you know that America was named after an Italian, too!"
This was his name in Latin: Americus Vespucius. He was an Italian navigator; the eponym of America!
1 comment:
It's actually more likely that America was named after an Englishman of Welsh extraction called Richard Amerike, who financed the discovery of North America by John Cabot in 1497.
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