There are many famous explorers through the ages, you only have to think briefly and you will come up with names like Columbus, Livingstone, Marco Polo or one of any number of others. All of whom have helped with the understanding of the world in which they lived in. Most people though will not immediately think of Giovanni da Verrazzano, hardly surprising as it is not a well known name. If you live in New York you may recognise it in conjunction with the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York Harbour, but even then most people will not know why the bridge is so named. There is though an excellent case why the name of Giovanni da Verrazzano should be much better known.

There are though issues in trying to publicise the name of Giovanni da Verrazzano, as whilst his achievements are known, there is much about his life that are not. For instance it is presumed that he was born in the family castle at Castello Verrazzano in Val di Greve some thirty miles south of Florence in 1485. The family were certainly a prominent family in the politics of Florence, and yet there is no physical evidence to clearly state that Giovanni was born there. This has led to some speculation that he was not born in Italy, but was born to a part of the family residing in Lyons in France.

There is certainly a French connection when it comes to the early years of Giovanni da Verrazzano, as it is known that he received an excellent education especially in the realms of maritime knowledge. This connection also established itself as Giovanni da Verrazzano is known to have resided in Dieppe as a young adult from about 1507.

It was in Dieppe that Giovanni da Verrazzano joined the French maritime service. He is recorded as having travelled on several occasions to the Levant area of the Eastern Mediterranean; additionally he also made trips to the Americas, with a voyage to New France and Newfoundland in 1508. Verazzano's reputation certainly grew, and he became a threat to the exploration ambitions of Spain and Portugal. There were also accusations that
Giovanni da Verrazzano had taken over ships of both nations in what could be considered acts of piracy.

Giovanni da Verrazzano though name came to prominence with his voyage of 1524. In that year he was successful in getting the backing of King Francis I of France to make a trip of discovery to North America. The idea was to find a new route to the Pacific Ocean and the Far East by finding a passage between Newfoundland and Florida.

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