In the spring of 1524, sailing for François I of France in the caravel La Dauphine, Giovanni da Verrazzano became the first European to describe the New York Bight and the highlands rising behind it. His letter to the French king records the geography of the bluff and spit at what would later be named Sandy Hook — a landfall description that would remain a benchmark on European charts for two hundred years. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the seaward gate of New York Harbor, carries his name.
Appears in
Are you family?
If Giovanni da Verrazzano is part of your story, we want to hear it. Send a photograph, a document, a paragraph of what your family remembered — anything you have that would add to the record.
Local Lookout
Sign up for a monthly note from the archive — new chapters, new voices, new items on the Photo Map. One email a month, or less.