Spring Break
'The man who gave his name to America'
Max Lemanowicz
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: News
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Labeled as "The Lawrence Brewster Lecture in History," the event was sponsored by the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences.
Dean Alan White opened up the lecture by discussing some the history about the Lecture Series. "'The Lawrence F. Brewster Lecture in History' was established during ECU's 75th anniversary celebration in 1982," White said.
Dr. Gerald J. Prokopowicz, acting chair of the Department of History, introduced Dr. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto before his speech.
"This series is named for the Professor Emeritus whose generosity supports the series, the department and the discipline as a whole," Prokopowicz said.
"It's a great treat to be invited here to give a lecture on the ECU campus," Fernandez-Armesto said.
According to Fernandez-Armesto, we should not be embarrassed of the naming of America.
"The naming was not meant to be descriptive," Fernandez-Armesto said, "We need to stop worrying about names."
A lot of people are not familiar with Vespucci's background and have very little knowledge of the man to which we owe this hemisphere's gratitude.
"Vespucci was a notoriously shabby person morally," Fernandez-Armesto said.
Vespucci grew up in the crowded area of Renaissance, Florence, Italy in the 1450s. Although given several opportunities to rise to the occasion, Vespucci instead used his time as leisure, never really accomplishing anything until the late 1490s.
"He blew his chance," Fernandez-Armesto said. "He became so desperate he descended into the gutter." Vespucci worked as a commission agent dealing in jewelry, most notably with pearls and engaged in criminal activities.
After many of these occurrences, Vespucci went through several transformations in which he reformed himself. He had a new chance when he went west to Spain in 1490, seeking employment.
"It looked as though he made a great career move," Fernandez-Armesto said.
Vespucci took a job with a private banker who was the primary investor for Columbus' voyage to the New World.
"Columbus' voyage's were at first disastrous," Fernandez-Armesto said.
Since Columbus hadn't found any valuable resources, he took to taking slaves from these new lands. At the time of Columbus' first explorations in 1492, slavery was illegal in Spain.
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