He
realized that although he had been connected to two of the previous
Columbus expeditions (he supplied provisions), Columbus had NOT reached
the East Indies (which Columbus believed to the day he died,) but had
found a new land. He promoted an expedition to the New World, commanded
by Alonso de Horjeda, and sailed there in his own ship, and discovered
the coast of Venezuela. It has always been suggested that the Continent
was named after him, but this is now disputed. Large land masses were
usually connected with surnames, which would have made the land mass
"Vesspucia". It is now thought likely that it comes from Thomas AMERICK,
who sponsored the earliest English settlements on the East Coast.
