Giovanni da Verrazzano
Giovanni da Verrazzano | |
---|---|
Born | 1485 |
Died | 1528 (aged 42–43) |
Nationality | Italian |
Other names | Janus Verrazanus, Jehan de Verrazane |
Occupation | Explorer |
Parent(s) | Piero Andrea di Bernardo da Verrazzano (Father), Fiammetta Cappelli (Mother) |
Signature | |
Giovanni da Verrazzano (/ˌvɛrəˈzɑːnoʊ, -ətˈsɑː-/ VERR-ə-ZAH-noh, -ət-SAH-,[1][2][3][4] Italian: [dʒoˈvanni da (v)verratˈtsaːno]; often misspelled Verrazano in English;[5] 1485–1528) was an Italian[6] (Florentine) explorer[7][8] of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France.
He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524, including New York Bay and Narragansett Bay.[9]
Early life
Verrazzano was born in Val di Greve, south of Florence, the capital and the main city of the Republic of Florence,[10][11][12][13][14] the son of Piero Andrea di Bernardo da Verrazzano and Fiammetta Cappelli. It is generally claimed that he was born in the Castello di Verrazzano, hence its birth indicator (similar to Leonardo da Vinci).
Some alternative theories have been elaborated; for example, certain French scholars assume that Verrazzano was born in Lyon, France, the son of Alessandro di Bartolommeo da Verrazano and Giovanna Guadagni.[15][16]
"Whatever the case," writes Ronald S. Love, "Verrazzano always considered himself to be Florentine,"[17] and he was considered a Florentine by his contemporaries as well.[18]
He signed documents employing a Latin version of his name, "Janus Verrazanus", and he called himself "Jehan de Verrazane" in his will dated 11 May 1526 in Rouen, 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 known about his personal life. After 1506, he settled in the port of
He embarked for the American coast probably in 1508 in the company of captain Thomas Aubert, on the ship La Pensée, equipped by the owner, Jean Ango.[20] He explored the region of Newfoundland, possibly during a fishing trip, and possibly the St. Lawrence River in Canada; on other occasions, he made numerous voyages to the eastern Mediterranean.[21][22]
1522–24 voyage to North America
In September 1522, the surviving members of the Magellan expedition returned to Spain, having circumnavigated the globe. Competition in trade was becoming urgent, especially with Portugal.
French merchants and financiers urged King Francis I of France to establish new trade routes. In 1523, the king asked Verrazzano to explore on France's behalf an area between Florida and Newfoundland, intending to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
Within months, four ships set sail due west for the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, but a violent storm and rough seas caused the loss of two ships. The remaining two damaged ships, La Dauphine and La 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 in Madeira, complications forced La Normande back to home port, but Verrazzano's ship La 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 of Cape Fear on March 21, 1524[25] and, after a short stay, reached the Pamlico Sound lagoon of modern North Carolina. In a letter to Francis I, described by historians as the Cèllere 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 with Native Americans living on the coast. However, he did not notice the entrances to Chesapeake Bay or the mouth of the Delaware River.[28]
In
The words "Norman villa" are found on the 1527 map by
He discovered Cape 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 modern Maine, southeastern Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, and he then returned to France by 8 July 1524. Verrazzano named the region that he explored Francesca in honour of the French king, but his brother's map labelled it Nova Gallia (New France).[31]
Later life and death
Verrazzano arranged a second voyage, with financial support from
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,
Legacy
The geographic information derived from this voyage significantly influenced sixteenth-century cartographers.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a great debate in the United States about the authenticity of the letters that he wrote to Francis I to describe the geography, flora, fauna, and native population of the east coast of North America.[40] Others thought that they were authentic, almost universally the current opinion,[41] particularly after the discovery of a letter signed by Francis I, which referred to Verrazzano's letter.[42]
Verrazzano's reputation was particularly obscure in
Commemorations
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2017) |
- In 1909, during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, a bronze statue of Verrazzano by Ettore Ximenes was installed in Battery Park in Manhattan.[44]
- There are numerous commemorations of the explorer on Staten Island.
- The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, spanning The Narrows that separate Staten Island from Brooklyn, is perhaps the best known. Until October 2018, it was known as the "Verrazano-Narrows Bridge" with one "z".[45][46]
- A Staten Island Ferry boat that served New York from the 1950s to the 1990s was also named for Verrazzano. The ferry was named the "Verrazzano", while the bridge was named "Verrazano".[47]
- A Little League team on Staten Island is also named for him.[48]
- The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, is named for him, as is Maryland's Verrazano Bridge.[49]
- A vessel of the Regia Marina, a destroyer of the Navigatori class, was named after Verrazzano. She was launched in 1930 and sunk by a British submarine in 1942.
- There is a statue of him in the town of Greve in Chianti, Italy.[50]
- There is a monument commemorating him in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; it states on its south face:
In Commemoration of
Verrazzano's
Voyage to
America
erected by the
Delaware Commission on
Italian Heritage and Culture
2008[51]
- The monument further states on its east face:
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.[51]
References
- ^ "Verrazano". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^ "Verrazano". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^ "Verrazano, Giovanni da". Lexico US English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.[dead link]
- ^ "Verrazano". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^ Fitzsimmons, Emma G. (14 June 2016), "Some See the Verrazano Bridge. Others See a Big Typo.", The New York Times
- ^ "Giovanni da Verrazzano". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ^ "Giovanni da Verrazzano | Italian navigator". Britannica.com. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- ^ di Sergio Parmentola. "Verrazzano, Giovanni da in "Enciclopedia dei ragazzi"". Treccani.it. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- ^ Greene, George Washington (1837). The Life and Voyages of Verrazzano. Cambridge University: Folsom, Wells, and Thurston. p. 13. Retrieved 18 August 2017 – via Internet Archive.
He made several excursions up Narragansett Bay, and examined it with considerable attention.
- ISBN 0-19-215941-0.
- ^ Giovanni Da Verrazzano, "Life" – Centro Studi Da Verrazzano. Archived 2012-01-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Henry C. Murphy, The Voyage of The Verrazzano, Kessinger Publishing, 2004, p. 90. – Google Books
- ^ Dale Anderson et al., Explorers and Exploration, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2005, p. 765: "Giovanni da Verrazzano was born into a wealthy family in the Castle of Verrazzano, on a hilltop overlooking the Greve valley, a wine-producing area thirty miles south of Florence, in central Italy." – Google Books
- ^ "Verrazano, Giovanni da" entry in David Buisseret, The Oxford Companion to World Exploration, vol. 2, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 332: "Thirty miles south of Florence, in the Tuscan town of Greve, explorer Giovanni da Verrazano (sometimes spelt Verrazzano) was born." – Google Books
- ^ Habert, Jacques (1964). La vie et les voyages de Jean de Verrazane. Montréal & Ottawa: Cercle du livre de France. p. 182.
- ^ Boucher, Alain (2006). Jean de Verrazane : un lyonnais découvre le site de New-York. Lyon: University Claude Bernard Lyon-1.
- ^ Ronald S. Love, [Maritime exploration in the age of discovery, 1415–1800, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, p. 133: "Giovanni da Verrazano was probably born to an aristocratic family from Greve in Tuscany, Italy, though he might also have been born to Italian parents living in Lyon, France. Whatever the case, Verrazano always considered himself to be Florentine". – Google Books
- ^ Richard Di Giacomo, The New Man and the New World: The Influence of Renaissance Humanism on the Explorers of the Italian Era of Discovery [Perfect Paperback], Magnifico Publications, 2002: "he was considered a Florentine by his contemporaries, and his association with the Florentine colony of merchants and bankers living in Lyons proved to be of great benefit to his career as an explorer." – Google Books
- ISBN 978-2-7116-0172-1.
- ^ a b Morison, Samuel Eliot (1971). The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 260–261.
- ^ "Carolana Explorers – Giovanni Da Verrazzano". www.carolana.com. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ "French Explorers | History of Western Civilization II". courses.lumenlearning.com. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ Marcel Trudel, The Beginnings of New France 1524–1663 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1973), p. 4.
- ISBN 1-4353-8990-5.
Verrazzano january 17.
- ^ Verrazano's Voyage Along the Atlantic Coast of North America, 1524, translation of letters by Giovanni da Verrazzano (University of the State of New York, 1916) p.6 ("The XXIIII day of February we suffered a tempest as severe as ever a man who has navigated suffered... In XXV more days we asailed more than 400 leagues where there appeared to us a new land.")
- ^ "Verrazano Expedition". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-52127-887-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-215941-0.
- ^ a b History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts. 1890. p. 950. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ISBN 0-385-72019-X.
- ISBN 0-19-215941-0.
- ISBN 0-19-215941-0.
- ^ "Giovanni da Verrazzano, Italian navigator". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
His final voyage began in the spring of 1528, when he sailed with his brother, Girolamo, from Dieppe with two or three ships.
- ISBN 0-300-01207-1.
- ISBN 0-19-215941-0.
- Murphy, Henry Cruse (1875). The Voyage of Verrazzano: A Chapter in the Early History of Maritime Discovery in America. New York: Press of J. Munsell. p. 149.
- ^ Chester, Alden (1925). Courts and lawyers of New York: a history, 1609–1925, Volume 3. New York: The American Historical Society Inc. p. 23.
- ^ "16th Century Pennsylvania Maps". www.mapsofpa.com.
- ^ Castelnovi Michele, Rotta verso la Cina: "les Indes en Kathaye" obiettivo della prima spedizione di Verrazzano, tra illusione e catacresi, in “Miscellanea di Storia delle Esplorazioni” XLII, Genova, Bozzi, 2017, pp. 45–78
- ISBN 1-57958-247-8
- ISBN 0-300-01207-1
- .
- ^ Adler, Jerry. "The History of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, 50 Years After Its Construction". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ "The Battery – Giovanni da Verrazzano". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
- ^ Campanile, Carl. "Cuomo Finally Fixes a 50-Year-Old Typo". Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ^ Rivoli, Dan (1 October 2018). "Verrazzano Bridge finally gets name corrected, decades later". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ "Verrazano Babe Ruth League". New York Sports Connection. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ "Jamestown Bridge aces spelling bee". www.jamestownpress.com. 7 July 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ "Greve in Chianti". www.caftours.com. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Giovanni Da Verrazzano Historical Marker". Hmdb.org. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
Further reading
- Codignola, Luca (1999). "Another Look at Verrazzano's Voyage, 1524". Acadiensis. 29 (1): 29–42. JSTOR 30303228.
- Masini, Giancarlo; Gori, Iacopo (1999). How Florence Invented America, New York, Marsilio Publishers.
- Castelnovi Michele (2005), Luoghi e tempi di un errore cartografico: l’istmo di Verrazzano (1524–1593), in Luoghi e tempo nella cartografia, Atti del Convegno nazionale dell’Associazione Italiana di Cartografia Trieste aprile 2005, a cura di C. Donato, in “Bollettino dell’Associazione Italiana di Cartografia”, nn. 123–124, Trieste, 2005, pp. 295–306.