Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 17 April 1524
- At that time it was still believed that it was possible to travel by ship through today's Canada to the Pacific Ocean, using a hypothetical northern route. The leader of the expedition that was the first in history to come to the area of present-day New York was the Italian explorer Giovanni de Verrazzano from Tuscany.
On this day the first European naval expedition discovered the place where the future New York would arise – New York Bay.
The leader of the expedition was the famous Italian explorer Giovanni de Verrazzano from Tuscany, who was in the service of the French king Francis I, a known patron of Leonardo da Vinci (let us remind that Leonardo’s Mona Lisa originally hung in Francis’ luxurious bathroom in the castle Fontainebleau and that da Vinci died in the King’s arms).
Verrazzano named the newfound territory New Angoulême (Nouvelle-Angoulême) as King Francis was also the Count of Angoulême. Verrazzano’s ship was called La Dauphine and it is interesting that he was actually searching for a northern route to China.
Specifically, at that time it was believed it was possible to travel by ship through today’s Canada to the Pacific Ocean. All subsequent research has shown that such a route does not exist, i. e. that it is too far north, in the region of the Arctic eternal ice.
The suspension bridge over the opening of New York Harbor, for a long time the longest suspension bridge in the world, was later named after Verrazzano.
