Amerigo Vespucci was born on 9th March 1454, in Italy. America was named after Vespucci, as he played a prominent role in exploring this land. He voyaged from Spain around the late 15th century.
By this time, the Vikings had established settlements in present day North America as early as 1000 AD, and Columbus had already discovered several Caribbean and Central American islands.
However, Vespucci was the first navigator to establish that Brazil and the West Indies were not parts of Asia as claimed by Columbus, and many others. He found that those places constituted an entirely separate landmass, which was unknown to the Europeans. Vespucci had chronicled two accounts of his journey. He became popular all over Europe after the publication of his accounts between 1502 and 1505.
Amerigo Vespucci was a pioneer of Atlantic exploration, and was a great contributor to travel literature. The name of Vespucci is often remembered with the name of the American continents.