Amerigo Vespucci in the context of "Spanish explorers"

The "New World" (Latin: Mundus novus) is a term describing the majority of lands in the Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas. It was introduced in the early 16th century, during Europe's Age of Discovery, by Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who published the pamphlet Mundus novus, presenting his conclusion that the lands discovered west of the Atlantic Ocean (soon called America after Amerigo's name) constituted new continents.

This realization expanded the geographical horizon of earlier European geographers, who had thought that the world only included Africa, Asia, and Europe, which became collectively known as the "Old World".

The first arrival of European explorers to the territory of present-day Brazil is often credited to Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral, who sighted the land later named Island of Vera Cruz, near Monte Pascoal, on 22 April 1500 while leading an expedition to India. Cabral's voyage is part of the so-called Portuguese discoveries.

Although used almost exclusively in relation to Pedro Álvares Cabral's voyage, the term "discovery of Brazil" can also refer to the arrival in late 1499 of part of the expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda, in which Amerigo Vespucci took part, and also to the expedition led by Spanish navigator and explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. He reached the Cape of Santo Agostinho [pt], a promontory located in the current state of Pernambuco, on 26 January 1500. This is the oldest confirmed European landing in Brazilian territory.

The naming of the Americas occurred shortly after Christopher Columbus's death in 1506. The earliest known use of the name America dates to April 25, 1507, when it was applied to what is now known as South America by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller. It is generally accepted that he derived the "America" nomenclature from the name of Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer, who explored the two continents on behalf of Spain and Portugal. Vespucci was at the time a popular author about his explorations of what he called the "New World". However, some have suggested other explanations, including being named after the Amerrisque mountain range in Nicaragua, or after Richard Amerike, a merchant from Bristol, England.

The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 (MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 (MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The Habsburg Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, Ottoman Empire, Safavid Persia, Mughal India and Ming China were the most powerful and hegemonic states.

The Renaissance in Italy and Europe saw the emergence of important artists, authors and scientists, and led to the foundation of important subjects which include accounting and political science. Copernicus proposed the heliocentric universe, which was met with strong resistance, and Tycho Brahe refuted the theory of celestial spheres through observational measurement of the 1572 appearance of a Milky Way supernova. These events directly challenged the long-held notion of an immutable universe supported by Ptolemy and Aristotle, and led to major revolutions in astronomy and science. Galileo Galilei became a champion of the new sciences, invented the first thermometer and made substantial contributions in the fields of physics and astronomy, becoming a major figure in the Scientific Revolution in Europe.

Explorers are listed below with their common names, countries of origin (modern and former), centuries of activity and main areas of exploration.

Alonso de Ojeda (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈlonso ðe oˈxeða]; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He is famous for having named Venezuela, which he explored during his first two expeditions, for having been the first European to visit Guyana, Curaçao, Colombia and Lake Maracaibo, and later for founding Santa Cruz (La Guairita). He also travelled to Trinidad, Tobago and Aruba, in some of his travels he journeyed with Amerigo Vespucci and Juan de la Cosa.

Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1470 – 16 March 1520) was a German cartographer and humanist scholar. Sometimes known by the Hellenized form of his name, Hylacomylus, his work was influential among contemporary cartographers. His collaborator Matthias Ringmann and he are credited with the first recorded usage of the word America to name a portion of the New World in honour of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci in a world map they delineated in 1507. The same map was the first to show the Americas as a distinct landmass clearly separated from Asia by the Pacific Ocean. Waldseemüller was also the first to produce a printed globe and the first to create a printed wall map of Europe. A set of his maps printed as an appendix to the 1513 edition of Ptolemy's Geography is considered to be the first example of a modern atlas.

Richard ap Meryk (or ap Meurig), anglicised to Richard Amerike (or Ameryk) (c. 1440–1503) was an English merchant, royal customs officer and later, sheriff of Bristol. Several claims have been made for Amerike by popular writers of the late twentieth century. One was that he was the major funder of the voyage of exploration launched from Bristol by the Venetian John Cabot in 1497, and that Amerike was the owner of Cabot's ship, the Matthew. The other claim revived a theory first proposed in 1908 by a Bristolian scholar and amateur historian, Alfred Hudd. Hudd's theory, greatly elaborated by later writers, suggested that the continental name America was derived from Amerike's surname in gratitude for his sponsorship of Cabot's successful discovery expedition to 'the new World'. However, neither claim is backed up by hard evidence, and the consensus view is that America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer.

Amerigo Vespucci is a tall ship of the Italian Navy (Marina Militare) named after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci. Her home port is La Spezia, Italy, and she is in use as a training ship.