This story begins in the 15th century, a time of great discoveries when European royals were financing ambitious expeditions to explore distant lands. Giovanni da Verrazzano was born in this context, around 1485, in Tuscany according to Italian historians and in Lyon according to their French colleagues. As an experienced sailor and businessman, he was appointed “chief navigator to the king of France,” tasked with finding a sea route to “those blessed shores of Cathay,” as China was then known. Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan had discovered a strait that would allow him to bypass the perilous Cape Horn at the southern tip of the American continent, but surely there had to be a quicker way!
In June 1523, Jean de Verrazane (having Gallicized his name) left Le Havre with four ships. After a stopover in Dieppe, his caravel found itself alone. The Dauphine first sailed along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts to the island of Madeira, from which she set sail on January 17, 1524, before heading west. After a storm “as violent as ever sailing man encountered,” he later wrote in a letter to Francis I, the explorer finally sighted land on March 7, 1524. Unlike his contemporaries, Verrazane was aware that he had not arrived in Asia, but in “a new land which had never been seen before by any man, either Ancient or modern.” In tribute to his patron, he named it Francesca in Latin. And later Nova Gallia: “New France.”
The Dauphine dropped anchor off the coast of present-day North Carolina. She then headed south, before turning back for fear of “getting lost among the Spaniards,” who had already landed in Florida in 1513. (It wasn’t until 1562 that a French expedition ventured into the region.) When he reached Cape Hatteras, Verrazane could hardly contain his excitement: “We could see the Eastern Sea from the ship, halfway between west and north. This is doubtless the one which goes around the tip of India, China, and Cathay.” But instead of the sought-after passage to Asia, he was staring at the Pamlico Sound, which travels inland. This error was not corrected on maps until the 17th century. Initially, the body of water was known as the “Sea of Verrazano”!