Can you imagine having a continent named after you?

Amerigo Vespucci is the only person who has ever received this honor. He was born on this day in 1454 in Florence and would become an influential explorer and cartographer.

Vespucci proved that Columbus did not find a new way to East Asia, but in fact stumbled upon a new continent. Other cartographers therefore started calling it the Land of Amerigo, which became America.

Originally posted on Instagram on March 9, 2021