Vespucius claimed to have been four times in America, first in
May, 1497; second, in May, 1499; third, in May, 1501; fourth, in
June, 1503. In writing of the first expedition he says his ship
reached a coast "which we thought to be that of the continent,"
giving date. If this assumption be correct, and the dates correct,
they would show that he reached the continent of North America a
week or two before the Cabots made their discovery farther north,
but this contention has never been satisfactorily supported.

The letters of Vespucius describing his four voyages were
published originally in Italian in Florence in 1505-6. The letter
here in part given was addrest by Vespucius to Soderini, the
Gonfalonier of Florence. The translation, by one "M.K.," was
published by Mr. Quaritch, the London bookseller, in 1885, and has
been printed as one of the "Old South Leaflets!" The letter is
believed to have been composed by Vespucius within a month after
his return from his second voyage.

Vespucius was a naval astronomer. He has been unjustly accused of
appropriating to himself an honor which belonged to Columbus,--that
of giving a name to the new continent. This injustice, however,
was not due to Vespucius, but to a German schoolmaster named
Hylacomylus, or "Miller of the Wood-pond," who published a book in
1507. The passage in Millers book in which he made a suggestion
which the world has adopted is as follows:

"And the fourth part of the world having been discovered by
Americus, it may be called Amerige; that is, the land of Americus,
or America. Now, truly sience these regions are more widely
explored, and another fourth part is discovered by Americus