After the death of Columbus in 1506, Vespucio was rewarded by Fernando de Aragón in 1508, with the appointment of «Major Pilot of Castilla* of the Hiring House, to control trade and navigation with the New Worlduntil his death in 1512.
Vespucio and «America» stories
Américo Vespucio He related his third trip to Lorenzo de Médicis, so a compilation of his cards was published in the form of Latin book with the title Mundus Novusthis text being the first testimony about the New World scientifically related, without religious or missionary dyes.
In addition, in 1507, the cartographer Martin Waldseemüller published a geography treaty entitled Cosmography Introductioin which it presented a description of the New Worldaccompanied by a letter from Vespucio, so the author proposed to baptize the continent «America» In honor of who believed he was his discoverer, Américo Vespucio.
Discovery of America: Américo Vespucio or Christopher Columbus?
Due to the imprecision of the stories and dates, there is a debate around who was the true discoverer of America. Although some evidences point out that Christopher Columbus First came to New World, They do not consider it as their «discoverer», since he thought he had reached the Indies.
Therefore, some historians insist that it was Américo Vespucio who discovered the New World, since it was the first to affirm that these lands did not belong to Asia, but that they were a new continent.
Other theories
In addition to Debate of the discovery of America between Christopher Columbus and Américo Vespucio, There are also Other theories that claim the arrival of other cultures to the new continent, although these They have not been proven.
One of them states that Phoenician ships arrived in Mexico in 2700 a. C., which explains why The Maya and the Aztecs mummified their dead with Egyptian techniques, and why American plants such as corn, sunflower and banana were known in Asia for thousands of years.
Another of these hypotheses, states that The Vikings landed in Newfoundland in the year 1000, Thanks to the discoveries of the teacher's remains Helge Ingstad in an expedition financed by the National Geographic Society of Norway, supported by the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
Finally, there is a version of the British author Gavin Menzies, in which he proposes through the book «1421, The Year China Discovered America», that a Chinese fleet had reached the new continent 70 years before the arrival of Columbus.