Celebrating Verrazzano

This April 17th, 2024 marks the 500^th anniversary of the day Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed into New York Bay, the first time a European had sighted what was to become one of the greatest cities in the world. Despite the complexities of the legacy of explorers such as Verrazzano, one cannot deny the significance of that one single day and inspiration it provided to others, such as Henry Hudson, to continue to explore this hemisphere.  And the incredible grit required to endure the arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean up the eastern coast of the United States in 1524 is undeniable. Verrazzano’s efforts to locate a passage to Asia and his subsequent discovery of a landmass whose size and position no European had thought to envision speak to the degree of perseverance he possessed and the innate, ever reaching desire to explore and to achieve frontiers previously thought impossible. 

Verrazzano’s visit to New York Bay was brief, and he had unassuming words for what would become Brooklyn and Staten Island (“two small but prominent hills either side of a very wide river”).  Nonetheless, the record of his voyage, known as the Cellere Codex, revolutionized the nature of cartographic knowledge for his contemporaries – until Verrazzano’s account was read, it was mistakenly believed that the Atlantic stretched, unbroken, all the way to Asia. It resolved the question of what lay between English-discovered territories in Canada and Spanish discoveries in the south of the United States. It provided a reliable topographical model for future exploration and led to the creation of what would be the defining map of the world for many generations, Gerolamo’s map of 1529.

This year, there will undoubtedly be many opportunities to celebrate Giovanni da Verrazzano.  If you are in the New York City area—whether a resident or visitor–you can take a stroll down to the beautiful Verrazzano sculpture in Battery Park City on April 17^th and take a moment to remember a Florentine explorer, who sailed for the French crown, who stepped foot on what would become New York City, and opened vistas previously unimagined.