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Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485–1528) 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 helllo

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 [[File:GiovanniVerrazano.jpg|thumb|250px|Giovanni da Verrazzano.]]
-'''Giovanni da Verrazzano''' (1485–1528) was an Italian [[explorer]] of North America, in the service of the [[Francis I of France|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 [[The Carolinas|South and North Carolina]] and [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], including [[New York Harbor]] and [[Narragansett Bay]] in 1524. The [[Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge|bridge over the opening]] of New York harbor, a naval vessel of the [[Italian Royal Navy|Italian navy]], a destroyer of the [[Navigatori class destroyer|Navigatori class]], are among his numerous eponymous honors.
+'''Giovanni da Verrazzano''' (1485–1528) was an Italian [[explorer]] of North America, in the service of the [[Francis I of France|French crown]]. He is renowned as the first European since the [[Norse colonization of the Americas]] around AD 1000 to explore the Atlantic coast helllo
-===Origins and voyages to America===
-{{see|France-Americas relations}}
-Verrazano was born at his ancestral home in [[Greve in Chianti|Val di Greve]], south of [[Florence]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | authorlink= Samuel Eliot Morison | title = The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1971 | location = New York | page = 283}}</ref>, as a son of Piero Andrea di Bernardo da Verrazzano and Fiametta Capelli. Other historian state he would be from [[Lyon]], France. His father would have been Alessandro di Bartolommeo da Verrazzano and his mother Giovanna Guadagni.<ref>Jacques Habert, ''La vie et les voyages de Jean de Verrazane'', Cercle du livre de France 1964, p. 182.</ref><ref>J''ean de Verrazane : un lyonnais découvre le site de New-York'' by Alain Boucher, professeur honoraire à l'université Claude Bernard Lyon1 - 2006.
-</ref>
-Although he left a detailed account of his voyages to North America, little is known about his life. After 1506, he settled in [[Dieppe, Seine-Maritime|Dieppe]], in France, where he began his career as a navigator; probably in 1508, in the company<ref>bitchasshole</ref> of captain [[:fr:Thomas Aubert|Thomas Aubert]], he embarked for the American coast on a ship called ''La Pensée'', equipped by the shipowner [[Jean Ango]]. He explored, possibly during a fishing trip, the region of  Newfoundland and the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in Canada and made numerous voyages to the eastern Mediterranean. In 1523, he was invited by King [[Francis I of France]] to explore an area between [[Florida]] and [[Newfoundland (island)|Terranova]], in order to find a sea route Americas to the Pacific coast.
-With a ship, ''[[La Dauphine]]'', piloted by Antoine de Conflans, he neared the area of [[Cape Fear (headland)|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  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 in the United States|Native Americans]] living on the coast. During the northward voyage, he did not notice the entrances to the [[Chesapeake Bay]] or the [[Delaware River]]. In [[New York Bay]], he encountered [[Lenape]] and observed what he deemed to be a large lake, which was in fact the entrance to the [[Hudson River]]. He then passed by [[Long Island]] and entered [[Narragansett Bay]] where he received a delegation of [[Wampanoag]]. The words 'Norman villa' are found on the Maggiolo map. The historian [[Samuel Eliot Morison]] wrote "this occurs at Angouleme (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 near [[Fécamp]] and another important one near [[Evreux]], which would naturally be it. West of it, conjecturally on the Delaware or New Jersey coast, is a ''Longa Villa'', which Verrazzano certainly named after Francois d'Orleans, duc de Longueville".<ref>{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | authorlink=Samuel Eliot Morison | title = The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1971 | location = New York | page = 490}}</ref> He stayed there for two weeks, and then moved northwards, following the coast up to modern [[Maine]], southeastern [[Nova Scotia]] and [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], after which he returned to [[France]] by 8 July 1524.
-[[File:Viaggioverrazzano.jpg|260px|thumb|Verrazzano's voyage in 1524.]]
-Verrazzano named the region he explored ''Francesca'' in honor of the French king, but his brother's map labels it [[New France|Nova Gallia]].
-<ref>{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | authorlink=Samuel Eliot Morison | title = The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1971 | location = New York | page = 323}}</ref>
-Verrazzano arranged a second voyage with financial support from [[Jean Ango]] and [[Philippe de Chabot]] which
-departed from Dieppe with four ships in spring 1527. One ship was separated from the others in a gale near the
-Cape Verde islands, but Verrazzano reached the coast of Brazil with two ships and harvested a cargo of [[brazilwood]]
-before returning to Dieppe in September. The third ship with a cargo of brazilwood also returned later.<ref>{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | authorlink=Samuel Eliot Morison | title = The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1971 | location = New York | page = 314}}</ref>
-This partial success, although it did not find the desired passage to the Pacific Ocean, inspired Verrazzano's final voyage
-which departed Dieppe in the spring of 1529.
-===Death===
-In 1528, during his third voyage to North America, after exploring Florida, [[the Bahamas]] and the [[Lesser Antilles]], Verrazzano anchored away from shore and rowed ashore, probably on the island of [[Guadeloupe]]. He was killed and eaten by the native [[Carib]] inhabitants.<ref>{{cite book | last = Wroth | first = Lawrence C. | title = The Voyages of Giovanni da Verrazzano, 1524-1528| publisher = Yale University Press | year = 1970 | location = New Haven | pages =237 | isbn =0-300-01207-1 }}</ref>  The fleet of two or three ships were anchored out of gunshot range and no one could respond in time.<ref>{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | authorlink=Samuel Eliot Morison | title = The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1971 | location = New York | page = 315}}</ref>
-==Reputation==
-[[File:1527-TeraFlorida.jpg|thumb|left|1527 map by [[Visconte Maggiolo]] showing the east coast of North America with "Tera Florida" at the top and "Lavoradore" (Labrador) at the bottom. The information supposedly<ref>[http://www.mapsofpa.com/antiquemaps0.htm ''16h Century Pennsylvania Maps'']</ref> came from Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage in 1524.(Ambrosian Library in Milan, Italy.)]]
-Despite his discoveries, his reputation did not endure and proliferate as much as other explorers of that era.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}} 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 [[Ferdinand 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.<ref>Thrower, Norman (2003) "Verrazzano, Giovanni Da", in: Speake, Jennifer (ed.) ''Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia'', Vol. 3, New York ; London : Fitzroy Dearborn, ISBN 1-57958-247-8</ref> Others thought it was true, and it is almost universally accepted as authentic today<ref>Wroth, Lawrence (1970) ''The Voyages of Giovanni da Verrazzano, 1524-2003', New Haven : Pierpont Morgan Library by Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-01207-1</ref>, particularly after the discovery of the letter signed by Francis I which referred to Verrazzano's letter.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Thrower|first= Norman |year=1979|title=New Light on the 1524 Voyage of Verrazzano|journal=Terrae Incognitae|issue=11|pages=59–65}}</ref>
-[[File:Verrazzano.jpg|thumb|180px|Verrazzano's statue in his native town, now called Greve in Chianti.]]
-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 [[Verrazano-Narrows Bridge#Naming controversy|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, 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, as is Maryland's [[Verrazano Bridge (Maryland)|Verrazano Bridge]].
-==References==
-;Notes
-{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
-== External links ==
-* [http://www.verrazzano.org/en/index2.php Verrazzano Centre for Historical Studies]
-* [http://www.mapsofpa.com/17thcentury/1527maggiolo.jpg Better and zoomable version] of 1527 Maggiolo map which supposedly is drawn from Verrazzano's voyage
-{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
-| NAME              = Verrazzano, Giovanni da
-| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
-| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Italian explorer of North America for France
-| DATE OF BIRTH     = 1485
-| PLACE OF BIRTH    = Val di Greve (Greve in Chianti), Italy
-| DATE OF DEATH     = 1528
-| PLACE OF DEATH    = Guadeloupe, France
-}}
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Verrazzano, Giovanni da}}
-[[Category:1480s births]]
-[[Category:1520s deaths]]
-[[Category:People from the Province of Florence]]
-[[Category:Italian explorers]]
-[[Category:French explorers]]
-[[Category:Explorers of Canada]]
-[[Category:Incidents of cannibalism]]
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