The voyage of Verrazzano : $b a chapter in the early history of maritime discovery in AmericaMurphy, Henry Cruse
History
The voyage of Verrazzano : $b a chapter in the early history of maritime discovery in America
Murphy, Henry Cruse
America -- Discovery and exploration -- French; Verrazzano, Giovanni da, 1485-1528
This mistake relates to a map which is found in several editions of
the geography of Ptolemy printed at Basle, supposed to represent the
western sea shortly after the Verrazzano discovery, and consequently
as derived from that source. Mr. Kohl, [Footnote: We are indebted
entirely to Mr. Kohl for our knowledge of the map of Agnese, which
he produces, on a reduced scale, in the Discovery of Maine, (chart
XIV), with an account of the map and its author (p. 292).] in a
chapter specially devoted to the consideration of charts from
Verrazzano, reproduces one (No. XV, a) which he describes as a
sketch of North America, from a map of the new world, in an edition
of Ptolemy printed in Basle, 1530. And he adds: "the map was drawn
and engraved A FEW YEARS AFTER VERRAZANO'S EXPEDITION. The plate
upon which it was engraved, must have been in use for a long time;
for the same map appears both, in EARLIER and much later editions of
Ptolemy. The same also reappears in the cosmography of Sebastian
Munster, published in Basle." Mr. K. finally observes in regard to
it: "this map has this particular interest for us, that it is
probably the first on which the sea of Verrazano was depicted in the
form given to it by Lok, in 1582. I have found no map PRIOR to 1530,
on which this delineation appears." [Footnote: Discovery of Maine,
pp. 296-7.] There is a little confusion of dates in this statement.
Mr. K. states, however, that he had not seen the map of Hieronimo de
Verrazano, and evidently derives his information, in regard to the
sea of Verrazano, from the map of Lok, who alone gives the western
sea the name of Mare de Verrazana, no doubt because he found the sea
laid down on the map presented by Verrazzano to Henry VIII, to which
reference will presently be made. Had Mr. K. seen the Verrazano map
with the absurd legend upon it, in effect declaring the western sea
to have been observed by Verrazzano, he must have arrived at
different conclusions, notwithstanding the map in Ptolemy of the
supposed early date. Mr. Brevoort, in his notes on the Verrazano
map, probably relying on the authority of Mr. Kohl, says, "that the
first published map containing traces of Verrazano's explorations,
is in the Ptolemy of Basle, 1530, which appeared FOUR YEARS BEFORE
THE FRENCH RENEWED THEIR ATTEMPTS AT AMERICAN EXPLORATION. It shows
the western sea without a name, and the land north of it is called
Francisca." [Footnote: Journal of Am. Geog. Soc. of New York, vol.
IV, p. 279.] The inference left to be drawn is that, the presence of
the French in this region, as denoted by the name, Francisca, four
years before the discoveries in that quarter, by Jacques Cartier,
and by the delineation of the western sea upon the Verrazano map,
establish the authenticity both of the voyage of Verrazzano and the
map.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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