The directory «Plots»

Verrazzano Giovanni da
(c. 1485— c. 1528)

Giovanni da Verrazzano was an Italian explorer of North America, in the service of the French crown. He is renowned as the first European since the Norse colonization of the Americas around AD 1000 to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between South Carolina and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay in 1524.

Verrazzano was born into a rich family of Val di Greve, south of Florence, the son of Piero Andrea da Verrazzano and Fiammetta Capelli. Although he left a detailed account of his voyages to North America, little is known about his life. After 1506-1513 he moved to Dieppe, in Normandy, where he began his career as a navigator; he made numerous voyages to the eastern Mediterranean Sea and, in 1523, he was invited by King Francis I of France to explore an area between Florida and Terranova, in order to find a sea route through the newly-found Americas to the Pacific Ocean. He neared the area of Cape Fear on about March 1, 1524 and, after a short stay, he explored the coast further northwards, reaching modern North Carolina and the Pamlico Sound lagoon. In a letter to Francis I, he wrote that he was convinced the latter was the beginning of the Pacific Ocean, from which an access could be gained to China. This report caused one of many long-lasting errors in the depiction of North America in contemporary maps. The continent would not be fully mapped until almost the 20th century.

He also came into contact with Native Americans living on the coast. Subsequently he passed by Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River, without registering them. In New York Bay, he encountered Lenape and observed what he deemed to be a large lake, which was in fact the Hudson River. He then passed by Long Island and entered Narragansett Bay where he received a delegation of Wampanoag. Here Verrazzano noted a "Norman Villa", marking it on his map. He stayed there for two weeks, and then moved northwards, following the coast up to modern Maine, southeastern Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, after which he returned to France.

Later Verrazzano made two other voyages to North America.

Verrazzano gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to the land between Columbian New Spain (e.g. Mexico) and English Newfoundland (e.g. Canada), thus promoting French interests which were followed up with Huguenot settlements.

The cause of Verrazzano's death is not known for certain. The most popular story places his death in c.1528, while exploring Florida, the Bahamas, and the Lesser Antilles. Verrazzano anchored away from shore and rowed in in a little boat to greet the natives. But he found that they were not pleasant natives who wanted to trade. Some say that he died in the Caribbean, killed by cannibals who ate him immediately. His brother was in the main boat that was anchored away from shore. He witnessed this, but could not do anything about it, as he was out of gunshot range, and could not make it to shore in time. According to some other sources, Verrazzano was killed in c.1528 on his third voyage to the New World, by the natives of the Lesser Antilles. Another source says that he was captured by the Spanish and hung as a pirate. Whatever the case was, Giovanni da Verrazzano died at the age of c.43.

Despite his discoveries, his reputation did not endure and proliferate as much as other explorers of that era. As a prime example, in accordance with the practices of the time, Verrazzano gave a European name to the new land he had seen, Francesa, after the French king he had been appointed by. This and other names he bestowed on features he discovered have not survived. He had the bad luck of making major discoveries within a few years of both the dramatic Conquest of Mexico and Magellan's Circumnavigation of the world — which Magellan, ironically, did not complete, but which nevertheless brought him undying fame. (Both of these events occurred in the same three-year period — 1519 to 1521.)

In the 19th and early 20th centuries there was a great debate in the United States about the authenticity of the letters he wrote to Francis I describing the geography, flora, fauna and native population of the east coast of North America. Others thought it was true, and it is almost universally accepted as authentic today, particularly after the discovery of the letter signed by Francis I which referred to Verrazzano's letter.

Verrazzano's reputation was particularly obscure in New York City, where the 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson came to be regarded as the de facto start of the European exploration of New York, since he sailed for the Dutch, not the French. It was only with great effort in the 1950s and 1960s that Verrazzano's name and reputation as the European discoverer of the harbour was re-established, during an effort to have the newly built Narrows bridge named after him. See Naming controversy of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. A Staten Island ferryboat that served New York from the 1950s to the 1990s was also named for him (oddly, the ferry was named the "Verrazzano", while the bridge, another Staten Island landmark, was named "Verrazano", indicating the ongoing confusion over the spelling of his name). There are numerous other commemorations on Staten Island itself to the explorer — a Little League is named for him, for instance — reflecting not only his connection to Staten Island but also the large number of descendants of Italians who live there. In Narragansett Bay, the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge is also named for him.

Italy, 1964, Giovanni da Verrazzano

Italy, 1964, Giovanni da Verrazzano