page_title: Amerigo Vespucci
section_title: "Second voyage" (1499–1500)
hierarchical_section_title: Amerigo Vespucci / Biography / Voyages / "Second voyage" (1499–1500)
caption_attribution_description: English: Woodcut depicting Amerigo Vespucci's second voyage to the New World (1499-1500, with Alonso de Ojeda), from first known published edition of Vespucci's 1504 Letter to Soderini, entitled "Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle isole nuovament trovate in quattro suoi viaggi", published by Pietro Pacini in Florence c.1505. Photographic facsimile reproduced from 1893 First Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci, London: B. Quaritch online
context_page_description: Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian merchant, explorer, and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from whose name the terms America and Americas are derived.
  Between 1497 and 1504, Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery, first on behalf of Spain and then for Portugal. In 1503 and 1505, two booklets were published under his name, containing colourful descriptions of these explorations and other alleged voyages. Both publications were extremely popular and widely read across much of Europe. Although historians still dispute the authorship and veracity of these accounts, at the time they were instrumental in raising awareness of the new discoveries and enhancing the reputation of Vespucci as an explorer and navigator.
  Vespucci claimed to have understood, back in 1501 during his Portuguese expedition, that Brazil was part of a different continent, which he called the New World. The claim inspired cartographer Martin Waldseemüller to recognize Vespucci's accomplishments in 1507 by applying the Latinized form America for the first time to a map showing the New World.
context_section_description: In 1499, Vespucci joined an expedition licensed by Spain and led by Alonso de Ojeda as fleet commander and Juan de la Cosa as chief navigator. Their intention was to explore the coast of a new landmass found by Columbus on his third voyage and in particular investigate a rich source of pearls that Columbus had reported. Vespucci and his backers financed two of the four ships in the small fleet. His role on the voyage is not clear. Writing later about his experience, Vespucci gave the impression that he had a leadership role, but that is unlikely, due to his inexperience. Instead, he may have served as a commercial representative on behalf of the fleet's investors. Years later, Ojeda recalled that "Morigo Vespuche" was one of his pilots on the expedition.
  The armada left Spain on 18 May 1499 and stopped first in the Canary Islands before reaching South America somewhere near present-day Surinam or French Guiana. From there the fleet split up: Ojeda proceeded northwest toward modern Venezuela, while two ships headed south with Vespucci aboard. The only record of the southbound journey comes from Vespucci himself. He assumed they were on the coast of Asia and hoped by heading south they would, according to the Greek geographer Ptolemy, round the unidentified "Cape of Cattigara" and reach the Indian Ocean. They passed two huge rivers (the Amazon and the Para) which poured freshwater 25 miles (40 km) out to sea. They continued south for another 40 leagues (about 240 km or 150 mi) before encountering a very strong adverse current which they could not overcome. Forced to turn around, the ships headed north, retracing their course to the original landfall. From there Vespucci continued up the South American coast to the Gulf of Paria and along the shore of what is now Venezuela. At some point they may have rejoined Ojeda but the evidence is unclear. In the late summer, they decided to head north for the Spanish colony at Hispaniola to resupply and repair their ships before heading home. After Hispaniola they made a brief slave raid in the Bahamas, capturing 232 natives, and then returned to Spain.
caption: Vespucci's second voyage depicted in the first known edition of his letter to Piero Soderini, published by Pietro Pacini in Florence c.1505
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