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Giovanni da Verrazzano | |
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| Born | 1491 |
| Died | 1528 (aged 42–43) |
| Other names |
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| Occupation | Explorer |
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| Signature | |
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Giovanni da Verrazzano (/ˌvɛrəˈzɑːnoʊ,-ətˈsɑː-/VERR-ə-ZAH-noh, -ət-SAH-,[1][2][3][4]Italian:[dʒoˈvannida(v)verratˈtsaːno]; often misspelledVerrazano in English;[5] 1491–1528) was an Italianexplorer from theRepublic of Florence,[6][7] best known for his expedition toNorth America. He led most of his later missions, including the one to America, in the service of KingFrancis I of France.
He is renowned as the first European to ever explore theAtlantic coast of North America betweenFlorida andNew Brunswick in 1524, includingNew York Bay andNarragansett Bay.[8]
Verrazzano was born in Val di Greve (nowGreve in Chianti), south ofFlorence, the capital and main city of theRepublic of Florence.[9][10][11][12][13] Recent archival research indicates he was born on July 20, 1491 to Frosino di Lodovico di Cece da Verrazzano and Lisabetta di Leonardo Daffi.[14] An older hypothesis identified him with a son born in 1485 to Piero Andrea di Bernardo da Verrazzano and Fiammetta Cappelli.
Other theories, now obsolete,[14] postulated that Verrazzano was born inLyon, France, the son of Alessandro di Bartolommeo da Verrazano and Giovanna Guadagni.[15][16] As Ronald S. Love stated, "Verrazzano always considered himself to be Florentine,"[17] and he was considered a Florentine by his contemporaries as well.[18]
He signed documents employing aLatin version of his name, "Janus Verrazanus",[note 1] and he called himself "Jehan de Verrazane" in his will dated 11 May 1526 inRouen, France (preserved at the Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime).[19]
In contrast to his detailed account of his voyages to North America, little is definitively known about his personal life. After 1506, he settled in the port ofDieppe,Kingdom of France, where he began his career as a navigator.[20]
He embarked for the American coast probably in 1508 in the company of captainThomas Aubert, on the shipLa Pensée, equipped by the owner,Jean Ango.[20] He explored the region ofNewfoundland, possibly during a fishing trip, and possibly theSt. Lawrence River in Canada; on other occasions, he made numerous voyages to the easternMediterranean.[21][22]
In September 1522, the surviving members of theMagellan expedition returned to Spain, having circumnavigated the globe. Competition in trade was becoming urgent, especially with Portugal.
French merchants and financiers urged KingFrancis I of France to establish new trade routes. In 1523, the king asked Verrazzano to explore on France's behalf an area between Florida andNewfoundland, intending to find asea route to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition was funded by a consortium of Florentine merchants based inLyon andRouen, including the Gondi, Rucellai, Nasi, and Albizzi families. Over 20,000écus were raised, with Verrazzano himself contributing as both captain and investor.[14]
Within months, four ships set sail due west for theGrand Banks of Newfoundland, but a violent storm and rough seas caused the loss of two ships. The remaining two damaged ships,La Dauphine andLa Normande, were forced to return to Brittany.[23]
Repairs were completed in the final weeks of 1523, and the ships set sail again. This time, the ships headed south toward calmer waters under hostile Spanish and Portuguese control.
After a stop inMadeira, complications forcedLa Normande back to home port, but Verrazzano's shipLa Dauphine departed on January 17, 1524, piloted by Antoine de Conflans, and headed once more for the North American continent.[24]
It neared the area ofCape Fear on March 21, 1524[25]and, after a short stay, reached thePamlico Sound lagoon of modernNorth Carolina. In a letter to Francis I, described by historians as theCèllere Codex, Verrazzano wrote that he was convinced that the Sound was the beginning of the Pacific Ocean from which access could be gained to China.[26][27]
Continuing to explore the coast further northwards, Verrazzano and his crew came into contact withNative Americans living on the coast. However, he did not notice the entrances to theChesapeake Bay or the mouth of theDelaware River.[28]
InNew York Bay, he encountered theLenape in about 30Lenape canoes and observed what he deemed to be a large lake, really the entrance to theHudson River. He then sailed alongLong Island and enteredNarragansett Bay, where he received a delegation ofWampanoag andNarragansett people.
The words "Norman villa" are found on the 1527 map byVisconte Maggiolo identifying the site. The historianSamuel Eliot Morison writes that "this occurs atAngouleme (New York) rather than Refugio (Newport). It was probably intended to compliment one of Verrazzano's noble friends. There are several places called 'Normanville' in Normandy, France. The main one is located nearFécamp and another important one nearÉvreux, which would naturally be it. West of it, conjecturally on the Delaware or New Jersey coast, is aLonga Villa, which Verrazzano certainly named afterFrançois d'Orléans, duc de Longueville."[28] He stayed there for two weeks and then moved northwards.[29]
He discoveredCape Cod Bay, his claim being proved by a map of 1529 that clearly outlined Cape Cod.[29] He named the cape after a general, calling it Pallavicino.[30] He then followed the coast up to modernMaine, southeasternNova Scotia, andNewfoundland, and he then returned to France by 8 July 1524. Verrazzano named the region that he exploredFrancesca in honour of the French king, but his brother's map labelled itNova Gallia (New France).[31]
Verrazzano arranged a second voyage, with financial support fromJean Ango andPhilippe de Chabot, which departed from Dieppe with four ships early in 1527. One ship was separated from the others in a gale near theCape Verde Islands. Still, Verrazzano reached the coast of Brazil with two ships and harvested a cargo ofbrazilwood before returning to Dieppe in September. The third ship returned later, also with a cargo of brazilwood.[32]
The partial success did not find the desired passage to the Pacific Ocean, but it inspired Verrazzano's final voyage, which left Dieppe in early 1528.[33]
There are conflicting accounts of Verrazzano's demise. In one version, during his third voyage to North America in 1528, after he had explored Florida,the Bahamas, and theLesser Antilles, Verrazzano anchored out to sea and rowed ashore, probably on the island ofGuadeloupe. He was allegedlykilled and eaten by the nativeCaribs.[34] The fleet of two or three ships was anchored out of gunshot range, and no one could respond in time.[35]
Some earlier historians hypothesized that Verrazzano was the same person as the corsairJean Fleury, who was executed for piracy by the Spanish.[36][37] This theory has been definitively rejected by historians, notablyProspero Peragallo, who demonstrated that the two were distinct individuals.[14] After evaluating the evidence for the various versions of Verrazzano's death, Lawrence C. Wroth concluded that his cannibalization by Caribs may well be true, while the hypothesis that he was hanged as Fleury is highly implausible.[38]
The geographic information derived from this voyage significantly influenced sixteenth-century cartographers.[40] Despite his discoveries, Verrazzano's reputation did not proliferate as much as other explorers of that era. For example, Verrazzano gave the European name Francesca to the new land that he had seen, in accordance with contemporary practices, after the French king in whose name he sailed. That and other names he bestowed on features he discovered have not survived. He had the misfortune of making significant discoveries shortly after the years (1519 to 1521) that the dramaticConquest of the Aztec Empire and the first circumnavigation of the world occurred.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a great debate in the United States about the authenticity of the letters that Verrazzano ostensibly wrote to Francis I to describe the geography, flora, fauna, and native population of the east coast of North America.[41] Others thought that they were authentic, in particular since the discovery of theCèllere Codex in 1909. This is the most widely held opinion nowadays,[42] particularly after the discovery of a letter signed by Francis I, which referred to Verrazzano's letter.[43]
Verrazzano's reputation was particularly obscure inNew York City, where the 1609 voyage ofHenry Hudson on behalf of theDutch Republic came to be regarded as thede facto start of European exploration of New York (Estêvão Gomes's trip of 1524 was likewise forgotten). It was only by a great effort by theItalian-American community in 1909[14] and then in the 1940s and 1950s that Verrazzano's name and reputation were established as the European discoverer of the harbour, culminating inan initiative to name the newly builtNarrows Bridge after him.[44]
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In Commemoration of
Verrazzano's
Voyage to
America
erected by the
Delaware Commission on
Italian Heritage and Culture
2008[52]
A native of Val Di Greve in the Tuscany region of Italy, he studied navigation as a young man and became a master mariner. He was engaged by the King of France to lead a voyage to North America in 1524. The purpose of Verrazzano's journey was to learn more about the continent. Traveling in a small ship known as the Dauphine, he explored coastal areas from the present-day State of North Carolina to Canada, observing the natural abundance of the land and the vibrant culture of its native peoples. His voyage is the earliest documented European exploration of this part of the Atlantic Coast.
This monument rests upon stone from Castello di Verrazzano, the explorer's ancestral home.[52]
He made several excursions up Narragansett Bay, and examined it with considerable attention.
Verrazzano january 17.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)His final voyage began in the spring of 1528, when he sailed with his brother, Girolamo, from Dieppe with two or three ships.
