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
Upon this map a deep gulf is shown, indenting America from a strait
in the north, which leads from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in the
region of Hudson's straits, in latitude 60 Degrees N. This gulf runs
southerly into the continent as far as latitude 40 Degrees N.,
approaching the Atlantic coast, and in that respect, alone, conforms
to the representation of the western sea on the maps of Verrazano
and Lok. It differs materially, however, from that sea, and
indicates an entirely different meaning and origin. It is simply a
gulf, or deep bay, like Hudson's bay, but reaching further south,
being land-locked on all sides, except the north, as high as
latitude 60 Degrees N.; whereas the western sea, on the other maps,
is, as already observed, an open sea, extending westerly from the
isthmus in latitude 40 Degrees, without intervening land,
uninterruptedly to India. The intention of the delineation of this
portion of the map, is not equivocal. For the first time, on any
map, there is found upon it the name of Francisca, which is placed
above the parallel of 50 Degrees N. latitude and above that of C.
Britonum, designated thus by name, in the proper position of Cape
Breton. It is placed between the river St. Lawrence, which also is
represented but not named, and the gulf before mentioned. This name,
Francisca, [Footnote: Called Francese in the discourse of the French
captain of Dieppe.] or the FRENCH LAND, and the position, indicate
the then recent discoveries in that region, which were due to the
French under Jacques Cartier, and which could properly belong to no
other exploration of the French. The gulf, no doubt, relates to the
great lakes or fresh water sea of which Cartier had heard from the
natives, as he himself mentions. (Hakluyt, III. 225.)
With the correction, therefore, of the date of the Munster map, the
argument in favor of the authenticity either of the Verrazzano
discovery or of the Verrazano map, based upon the recognition by the
Munster map, of that discovery immediately after it is alleged to
have taken place, or after the alleged construction of the Verrazano
map, in 1529, and before any other voyages were made by the French
to that region, falls entirely to the ground. And with the actual
representation upon it of the discoveries of Cartier, without any
allusion to the alleged discoveries of Verrazzano or the pretensions
of the Verrazano map, while giving the latest discoveries in
America, it is fairly to be concluded that both were unheard of, or
utterly discredited by the author of the Munster map.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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