Giovanni da Verrazzano

Giovanni da Verrazzano was born in Val di Greve, south of Florence, the capital and the main city of the Republic of Florence. It is generally claimed that he was born in the Castello di Verrazzano, hence its birth indicator (similar to Leonardo da Vinci). After 1506, he settled in the port of Dieppe Kingdom of France, where he began his career as a navigator.  At the time, Spain and Portugal were the major naval powers and had undertaken several extremely lucrative expeditions to the New World.  King Francis I of France wanted to compete with them.  Verranzano was given four ships and tasked with finding a passage to Asia.  Only one of the ships survived the storms at sea and naval battles.  The Delfina left France on Jan 17, 1524 and landed on the coast of the Carolinas and made its way to New York Harbor arriving on April 17.  Verrazzano made three trips; unfortunately he was eaten by cannibals probably on Guadaloupe on the third.