Amerigo Vespucci is the same man who gave his name to America in 1507. Whether he deserved to have an entire continent named after him or not is a debate that continues to this day. In this first critical biography of Vespucci, we follow him from the Florence of Lorenzo de' Medici to the Seville of Ferdinand and Isabella, across the Atlantic of Columbus to our hero's meeting with the New World on the other side of the ocean. Vespucci's image is unsteady - remains as elusive as in his Florentine half-world youth - but we get to know him so closely for the first time. No matter how little we know about what happened to Vespucci and about his own actions, after reading this book the reader will better understand both the famous Florentine and the era of great geographical discoveries.