The supposed discovery of South Georgia by Amerigo Vespucci

There have been few more controversial figures in the history of exploration than Amerigo Vespucci, and it is therefore necessary to be extremely cautious in deciding whether he did, or did not, discover the island of South Georgia in the year 1501. Humboldt and Mill believed that he might have done...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Record
Main Author: Christie, E. W. H.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1950
Subjects:
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Ecology
Geography, Planning and Development
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Patagonia
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Record
Tierra del Fuego
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400045174
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400045174
Description
Summary:There have been few more controversial figures in the history of exploration than Amerigo Vespucci, and it is therefore necessary to be extremely cautious in deciding whether he did, or did not, discover the island of South Georgia in the year 1501. Humboldt and Mill believed that he might have done so, but thought that, on the whole, his most likely landfall was southern Patagonia or Tierra del Fuego. Matthews, who devoted considerable attention to working out distances and directions, came to the conclusion that Vespucci very probably arrived at South Georgia after leaving the coast of Brazil and sailing south-westwards, while the Australian map of Antarctica, published in Canberra in 1939, and the Antarctic Pilot (London, second edition, 1948) have respectively described this achievement as a probability and as a possibility.

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