ALLA CORRENTE Giovanni da Verrazzano - il cenacolo

ALLA CORRENTE
Giovanni da Verrazzano
Giovanni da Verrazzano (sometimes spelled “Verrazano”) (1485–1528)
was an Italian explorer of North America who served under King
Francis I of France. He is noted for being the first European after
the Norse expeditions to North America (set at around AD 1000) to
explore the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and
Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay, in
1524. The next time you are driving between the New York boroughs of
Staten Island and Brooklyn over the “Narrows” (i.e. over the opening of
New York harbor) notice that you are driving over the bridge that bears
his name (the Verrazano Bridge). Two other famous bridges also bear
his name: the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge over Rhode Island’s Narragansett
Bay, and Maryland’s Verrazano Bridge.
A number of scholars generally agree that Giovanni da Verrazzano was
born in the Val di Greve, south of Florence, Italy. He was the son of Piero
Andrea di Bernardo da Verrazzano and Fiametta Capelli. However, some historians have developed alternative
theories about his origins; e.g., certain French scholars assumed that Verrazzano was born in Lyon,
France, the son of Alessandro di Bartolommeo da Verrazano and Giovanna Guadagni. Whatever the case,
Verrazzano always considered himself to be a Florentine and was considered a Florentine by his contemporaries
as well. He signed documents employing a Latin version of his name, “Janus Verrazanus,” and in his
will dated May 11, 1526 in Rouen, France, he called himself “Jehan de Verrazane.”
Although Verrazzano left a detailed account of his voyages to North America, little is known about his personal
life. After 1506, he settled in the port of Dieppe, France, where he began his career as a navigator. Probably
in 1508, in the company of captain 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 territory
around Newfoundland and possibly the St. Lawrence River in Canada. On other occasions, he made numerous
voyages to the eastern Mediterranean.
In September 1522, the surviving members of Ferdinand Magellan’s crew that circumnavigated the globe
returned to Spain. Competition in trade, especially with Portugal, was becoming intense. Pushed by French
merchants and financiers from Lyon and Rouen, who were seeking new trade routes, King Francis I of France,
in 1523, asked Verrazzano to make plans to explore an area between Florida and Terranova, the “New Found
Land,” for France, with the goal of finding 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 resulted in the loss
of two ships. The remaining two damaged ships, La Dauphine and La Normande, were forced to return to
Brittany.
Repairs to the two ships were completed in the final weeks of 1523, and they set sail again for “the New
Found Land.” This time the ships headed south toward calmer waters, which were under dangerous Spanish
and Portuguese control. After a stop in Madeira, damage once again forced La Normande back to home
port; however, Verrazzano’s ship, La Dauphine, piloted by Antoine de Conflans, left Madeira on January 17,
1524 for the North American continent. It reached the area of Cape Fear around March 1 and, after a short
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stay there, finally reached the Pamlico Sound lagoon
of modern North Carolina. In a letter to Francis I,
Verrazzano wrote that he was convinced the Sound
was the beginning of the Pacific Ocean, from which
an access route to China could be established. Verrazzano’s
report caused one of many errors in the
way North America was depicted in contemporary
maps. The great dream of European sea powers and
explorers was to find a path through the continent
of North America to reach the wealth of the Asian
lands. Perpetuating this dream and continuing explorations
to realize it would result in the fact that
North America would not be correctly and fully
mapped for hundreds of years.
ALLA CORRENTE, Continued
Giovanni da Verrazzano
Verrazzano’s Voyages to the New World
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 and so these bodies of
water remained unexplored. In New York Bay, he
encountered the Lenape people (also known as the
Delaware tribe) and observed what he deemed to be
a large lake, which was in fact the entrance to the
Hudson River. He then sailed along Long Island and entered Narragansett Bay, where he received a delegation
of the Wampanoag tribe.
The words “Norman villa” are found on the 1527 map by Visconte Maggiolo identifying this site. 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”. [The European Discovery
of America: The Northern Voyages. New York: Oxford University Press 1971, p. 490.] Verrazzano
stayed there for two weeks, and then moved north, following the coast up to modern Maine, southeastern
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, after which he returned to France by July 8, 1524. Verrazzano named the
region he explored “Francesca” in honor of the French king, but his brother’s map labels it “Nova Gallia,” or
“New France”.
His second voyage involved four ships that sailed from Dieppe in early 1527. This expedition was under the
financial support of Jean Ango and Philippe de Chabot. One ship became separated from the others in a gale
near the Cape Verde Islands, but Verrazzano eventually reached the coast of Brazil with two of the ships. He
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ALLA CORRENTE, Continued
Giovanni da Verrazzano
harvested a large amount of Brazilwood and returned with this cargo to Dieppe in September, 1527. Later, the
second ship also returned to Dieppe with its cargo of Brazilwood.
Since the voyage did not find the desired passage to the Pacific Ocean even though it did find a rich supply of
wood, it proved to be frustrating both to Verrazzano and to his supporters. A third (and final) voyage to the
New World to find the path to the Pacific was set up early in 1528. Verrazzano explored Florida, the Bahamas,
and the Lesser Antilles on this final voyage, and afterwards anchored out to sea and rowed ashore, probably
on the island of Guadeloupe. There are several stories about what happened to Verrazzano after this third
exploration voyage. Some historians hold that he was killed and eaten by the native Carib inhabitants on
Guadeloupe. The fleet of two or three ships was anchored out of gunshot range and no one could respond in
time to save Verrazzano and his unlucky companions. Other historians suggest that Verrazzano was executed
for piracy by the Spanish at Puerto del Pico, Spain. We may never know the exact truth of what ultimately
happened to him.
Reputation
Despite his discoveries, Verrazzano’s reputation did not proliferate as much as other explorers of that era; for
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 in whose name he sailed. This name and other names he bestowed
on physical features he discovered have not survived. Also, he had the bad luck of making major discoveries
within the same three-year period, 1519 to 1521, of both the dramatic Conquest of Mexico and Ferdinand
Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world—which, though Magellan himself did not complete, brought him
undying fame.
Verrazzano’s reputation was particularly obscure in New York City. The 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson came
to be regarded as the de facto start of European exploration of New York, since he sailed for the Dutch, who
established a colony there, and Verrazzano had sailed for the French who had not. It was only with great effort
in the 1950s and 1960s that Verrazzano’s name and reputation as the European discoverer of the harbor was
re-established during an effort to have the newly built Narrows bridge named after him.
Statue of Verrazzano, town of Greve, Chianti, Italy
- Dr. James J. Boitano
(Adapted from Wikipedia)