Amerigo Vespucci & Sir Frances Drake (and other stuff)

Below you will find my biography and Mini Biography of Amerigo Vespucci and Sir Frances Drake. Also I'll be getting the Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Collector's Edition in "4-5 weeks, 245 days, or 45 days according to my mom"...


Francis Drake was born in Tavistock around 1540 and went to sea while he was young. He made many voyages, in 1567 he made a slaving voyage along with his cousin, John Hawkings. During this first expedition he was already considered a pirate by the Spanish. He made two good trading voyages in 1570 and 1571 and led a marauding expedition to attack Spanish Ports in 1572. He captured Nombre de Dios and returned to England with a lot of Spanish treasure and good reputation. In 1577 he was secretly sent off by Elizabeth to attack the Spanish on the East American Coast. By the time he got there, all but his one ship and the crew on it, were lost. He travelled up the West Coast of South America plundering, he continued north trying to go over North America, it failed and so he journeyed West and visited the Moluccas, Celebes, Java, and the Cap of Good Hope. He got back to England in 1580 with a very rich cargo. Elizabeth gave him a beautiful new ship. This bothered the king. Five years later, he sailed to the west Indies and plundered Spanish Cities along the coast of Florida. On his way back he picked up many unsuccessful colonists off Roanoke to the Carolininan(?) coast. War became imminent so Drake went into the Port of Cadiz and destroyed 30 of the ships that were being assembled. In 1588, he was the vice Admiral of the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada. His final expedition to the West Indies along with his brother was a disaster. The Spanish had prepared for them and both John, and Drake died on the 28th of January, 1596.

Now Amerigo Vespucci:

Vespucci is a famous explorer; he named the Americas, which he has been immortalized for. He was born in 1454, Italy in a family of rich Florentine Merchants. He continued the family tradition by working with the Medicis. Around 1495, Vespucci went to Spain when he was employed by the Medicis to work in a ship outfitting business. This was the first of many seafaring experiences.

When he arrived in Seville, the location of his new job, the Spanish were beginning the first voyages to the West of Spain. During Columbus’s voyages, Vespucci and Columbus became acquainted. For the company he was working with were preparing his ships.

In 1499, eleven year after Columbus’s final voyage, Vespucci began serving as an astronomer and navigator under the Captain, Alonso de Ojeda. Who had sailed with Columbus in 1493. When Vespucci and Alonso reached Venezuela they parted and Vespucci went south. He also became the first European to see the mouth of the Amazon River. With his belief of being on the eastern coast of Asia he named the Amazon, the Gulf of the Ganges. A short while later Vespucci returned northward. He arrived back in Cadiz in 1500.

The following year, Vespucci made a journey to South America under the Portuguese flag. On May 14th, they set sail to Lisbon, and crossed to South America through the Cape Verde Islands. Once again, Vespucci went along the coast of Brazil, this time, he declared it as a new continent. In 1504 Vespucci wrote a letter describing his travels, which was published in Florence in 1505.

Vespucci’s true amount of travels is unknown, for to some historians it seemed he wanted to be considered the discoverer of the Americas rather than Columbus. Alike, he supposedly made a voyage in 1503, but there is no viable evidence to support this. In 1508 he was appointed chief examiner of pilots in Seville. He held this position until he died of Malaria in 1512.