East Coast Rambler

   Columbus gets all the credit for discovering America. The Vikings were undoubtedly here five hundred years earlier, but didn't have a big government behind them to exploit their findings. And the indigenous peoples who had been here for thousands of years get no credit whatsoever. Had they managed to develop firearms before Columbus arrived, the history of the New World would have been much different.
   In his four voyages Columbus spent most of his time in the Caribbean. Only on his final voyage did he explore the North American mainland between Honduras and Panama. In 1513, twenty years after Columbus' first Voyage, someone finally discovered a part of the present day United States. That was Ponce de Leon in Florida, and he thought it was an island. Amerigo Vespucci after whom the whole place is named only explored the north coast of Brazil. But he figured out it was mostly all one gigantic island.
   John Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497. He may or may not have sailed down the East Coast of the U.S. in 1500. We don't know for sure. We do know that in 1524 the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the coast from North Carolina to Maine, discovering New York City and the Hudson River along the way.
  In the early 1500s the Portuguese and especially the Spanish were getting rich from their American colonies. The New World gold and silver was paying for armies that could dominate all of Europe. Wanting to get in on the action, King Francis I of France hired Verrazanno to find a route across the Atlantic to China. People knew about North and South America by then, but it was a long time before all the imaginary easy passsageways to China were closed up.
   In the Fall of 1523 Verrazzano's fleet of four ships left France for Newfoundland. As often happened in those days, a storm sank two of the ships and the other two had to return to France for repairs. On this day in 1524, Verrazzano's two ships left Brittany. This time the ships headed further south hoping for better weather though this risked capture by the Spanish. Soon one of the ships had to turn back and Verrazzano continued alone in  La Dauphine.
   The ship reached Cape Fear on the coast of North Carolina in early March. Further north, Verrazzano found Pamlico Bay and declared that it was a sea that led to China. He continued north missing the mouths of Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, but he did manage to find New York Harbor on April 17.
   Verrazzano sailed on past Long Island, Rhode Island and Cape Cod, before heading up to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland where the Vikings had spent time so long ago. His encounters with the aboriginal peoples were peaceful.
   Back in France Verrazzano was given a pension by the king for his troubles. He should have retired then because on his third trip west, he was killed and eaten by the natives of Martinique, an island in the ever dangerous Caribbean.
   It took centuries for Verrazzano to get credit for discovering New York. The first settlers there were Dutch and they gave that honor to Henry Hudson who had sailed for them. Finally in 1965 Verrazzano's feat was recognized by having the suspension bridge connecting Brooklyn and Staten Island named after him. It wasn't until just two years ago though that they got the spelling right. In fairness, Verrazzano himself spelled his name several different ways during his lifetime.

Longest Suspension Bridge in the Americas