Later he was made Pilot Major of Spain, and was held in high honour
till his death.
Yet in all the voyages Vespucci went, whether under the flag of
Portugal or of Spain, he was never leader. He went as astronomer,
or as pilot, while other men captained the expeditions.
It is from Amerigo's letters alone that we gather the little we
know about his voyages. For although he says in one of his letters
that he has written a book called "The Four Voyages" it has never
been found, and perhaps was never published. One long letter,
however, which he wrote to an old schoolfellow was so interesting
that it was published and read by many people all over Europe. It
was, says an old English writer, "abrode in every mannes handes."
Amerigo's voyages led him chiefly to Central and South America and
he became convinced that South America was a continent. So soon,
what with the voyages of Vespucci and the voyages of other great
men, it became at last quite certain that there was a vast continent
beyond the Atlantic ocean. Map-makers, therefore, began to draw a
huge island, large enough to form in itself a continent, south of
the Equator. They called it the New World, or the land of the Holy
Cross, but the Northern Continent was still represented on the maps
by a few small islands, or as a part of Asia.
Thus years passed. Daring sailors still sailed the stormy seas
in search of new lands, and learned men read the tales of their
adventures and wrote new books of geography.
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