Natalia

Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) 🧭 🗺 Navigator-explorer, mapmaker, and merchant from Italy

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

Thank you for joining me on my journey! ⛵🌎 🏝️This is a map of all of the places I mentioned in this travel log. https://t.co/TNtnOVgLYj

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

Even if Columbus was the first person to discover the New World, I was at least the first one to realize that it's a new continent and not a part of Asia.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

Some historians say that I’m a fraud and that I wasn’t the first one to discover the Americas. But everything I talked about is true! Well, some things are…

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

1507
It’s such an honor to have the Americas named after me. A German cartographer called Martin Waldseemüler named the new continent after me in his book "Cosmographiæ Introductio" with different maps of the world because he wanted to honor the person, who discovered this land.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

1505
I have officially become a naturalized citizen of Spain!

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

1504
We were forced to finish the expedition early and go back to Lisbon, Portugal.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

Unfortunately, we didn’t make any new discoveries this time, and the commander’s ship hasn’t been found.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

June 10, 1503
Along with Gonzal Coelho, I departed for another expedition under the Portuguese flag.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

Today I decided to start recording my journey and accomplishments. It will let me leave some fame behind me after I die. After all, you don’t discover a new continent every day.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

I have written a letter to Lorenzo Medici that we were wrong all this time. The land that we have discovered was a continent, not an island! #IWillFinallyBecomeFameous

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

Back in 1498, when he was passing the Orinoco River, my dear colleague Christopher Columbus determined that such an outpouring of fresh water must come from a land the size of a continent. I’m happy to confirm that he was right! #MundusNovus #America

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

July 22, 1502
After reaching the coast of Brazil at Cape Sao Agostinho, we returned back to Lisbon, Portugal through Sierra Leone and the Azores. I believe we discovered a new continent! We found the #NewWorld!

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

On our way back to Portugal, I spent a lot of time studying stars and constellations because they were different from the ones that were visible in Europe and I named some of them, such as Southern Cross.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

They sleep in large pieces of cloth that are suspended in the air in the air by two cords that support both ends. They are called hammocks. It doesn’t seem like they are comfortable at first but they really are. I think this invention could become very popular in Europe.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

I noticed their lifestyle is very barbarous. They don’t have good manners or even specific hours they eat meals. They are worse than pagans. Can you believe they don’t pray or make any sacrifices to God?! #Shocked

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

The indigenous Natives don’t trade or buy and sell anything either.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

Because the indigenous communities share everything with each other, there is so much harmony and balance. They don’t have a judicial system, so no one is getting punished for breaking the law. They don’t seem to argue either and their conversations seem simple.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

I’m so impressed with how something so worthless like feathers and rocks has more value to the indigenous peoples. They have so many valuable goods on their lands such as gold, pearls, and jewels that don’t mean anything to them.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

The customs of indigenous communities of the northern and central-east coast of South America are so fascinating! One could think that their lack of modern technologies would make me feel superior to them but it did not.

[Natalia @227Vespucci]

We sailed along the coast of South America from Cape São Roque to Patagonia and discovered Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata. Is it possible that we haven’t reached the West Indies at all? There is no way this land belongs to Asia!