#Startup: The Christopher and the Amerigo

Who discovered America?  Well, Christopher Columbus.

Who is America named after?  Well, Americo Vespucci.

Both of them were legendary navigators.  Of course, the original discoverer was somebody else - Leif Ericson, 500 years before the Italian stalwarts.  With that snippet on history, let us focus on Christopher Columbus and Americo Vespucci.

Christopher Columbus landed in the Central American Archipelago of Caribbean islands - and made 4 round trip voyages on the behest of the crown of Spain.  Americo Vespucci  traveled to the Caribbean few years later, around the start of the 15th Century.

Well, then why was the 'New World' not named after Columbus?  And how was it called 'America'.  The answer is simple but significant.

Columbus never accepted, in spite of mounting evidence that there was a new continent.   His 'discovery' was a 'western route' to 'India'.   And all the voyages by Vespucci, on the other hand, acknowledged a new discovery,  and in the process of this acknowledgement, the name of the continent was derived from Vespucci's first name.

When I came across this fact, underscored by history, it threw some significant parallels in entrepreneurship.

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