The following pages, intended to show the claim of discovery in America by 
Verrazzano to be without any real foundation, belong to a work, in hand, 
upon the earliest explorations of the coast which have led to the 
settlement of the United States by Europeans. They are now printed 
separately, with some additions and necessary changes, in consequence of 
the recent production of the map of Hieronimo de Verrazano, which 
professes to represent this discovery, and is therefore supposed to afford 
some proof of its authenticity; in which view it has been the subject of a 
learned and elaborate memoir by J. Carson Brevoort Esq. 
 
Certain important documents in relation to Verrazzano, procured from the 
archives of Spain and Portugal by the late Buckingham Smith, on a visit to 
those countries a year or two before his death, are appended. They were 
intended to accompany a second edition of his Inquiry, a purpose which has 
been interrupted by his decease. They were entrusted by him to the care of 
his friend, George H. Moore Esq., of New York, who has placed them at our 
disposal on the present occasion. 
 
The fragmentary and distorted form in which the letter ascribed to 
Verrazzano, appeared in the collection of Ramusio, and was thence 
universally admitted into history, rendered it necessary that the letter 
should be here given complete, according to its original meaning. It is, 
therefore, annexed in the English translation of Dr. Cogswell, which 
though not entirely unexceptionable is, for all purposes, sufficiently 
accurate. The original Italian text can, however, be consulted in the 
Collections of the New York Historical Society, accompanying his 
translation, and also in the Archivio Storico Italiano, in which it is 
represented by the editor to be more correctly copied from the manuscript, 
and amended in its language where it seemed corrupt; but such corrections 
are few and unimportant. In all cases in which the letter is now made the 
subject of critical examination, the passages referred to are given, for 
obvious reasons, according to the reading of the Florentine editor. 
 
We are indebted to the American Geographical Society of New York for the 
use of its photographs of the Verrazano map, and to Mr. Brevoort for a 
copy of the cosmography of Alfonse, from which the chart of Norumbega has 
been taken. And our thanks are due to Dr. J. Gilmary Shea of New York, for 
valuable assistance; and to Dr. E. B. Straznicky of the Astor Library, 
Mons. O. Maunoir of the Societe de Geographie of Paris, Dr. J. Hammond 
Trumbull of Hartford, Hon. John R. Bartlett of Providence, and James Lenox 
Esq. of New York, for various favors kindly rendered during the progress 
of our researches. 
 
BROOKLYN, SEPT. 1875 



CONTENTS:

CHAPTER I. THE DISCOVERY ATTRIBUTED TO VERRAZZANO.

CHAPTER II. THE VERRAZZANO LETTERS NOT GENUINE.

CHAPTER III. THE LETTER UNTRUE. I. NO VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY MADE FOR THE 
KING OF FRANCE, AS IT STATES.

CHAPTER IV. II. MISREPRESENTATIONS IN REGARD TO THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE 
COAST. THE CHESAPEAKE. THE ISLAND OF LOUISE. MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

CHAPTER V. III. CAPE BRETON AND THE SOUTHERLY COAST OF NEWFOUNDLAND, HERE
CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED, WERE KNOWN PREVIOUSLY. PERVERSION OF THE
TEXT OF THE LETTER BY RAMUSIO.

CHAPTER VI. IV. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PEOPLE AND PRODUCTIONS OF THE LAND
NOT MADE FROM THE PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE WRITER OF THE LETTER. WHAT
DISTINCTLY BELONGED TO THE NATIVES IS UNNOTICED, AND WHAT IS ORIGINALLY
MENTIONED OF THEM IS UNTRUE. FURTHER IMPORTANT ALTERATIONS OF THE TEXT BY
RAMUSIO.

CHAPTER VII. THE EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF THE CLAIM. I. DISCOURSE
OF THE FRENCH SEA CAPTAIN OF DIEPPE.

CHAPTER VIII. II. THE VERRAZZANO MAP. IT IS NOT AN AUTHORITATIVE
EXPOSITION OF THE VERRAZZANO DISCOVERY. ITS ORIGIN AND DATE IN ITS PRESENT
FORM. THE LETTER OF ANNIBAL CARO. THE MAP PRESENTED TO HENRY VIII. VOYAGES
OF VERRAZZANO. THE GLOBE OF EUPHROSYNUS ULPIUS.

CHAPTER IX. THE LETTER TO THE KING FOUNDED ON THE DISCOVERIES OF ESTEVAN
GOMEZ. THE HISTORY OF GOMEZ AND HIS VOYAGE. THE PUBLICATION OF HIS
DISCOVERIES IN SPAIN AND ITALY BEFORE THE VERRAZZANO CLAIM. THE VOYAGE
DESCRIBED IN THE LETTER TRACED TO RIBERO'S MAP OF THE DISCOVERIES OF GOMEZ.

CHAPTER X. THE CAREER OF VERRAZZANO. AN ADVENTUROUS LIFE AND IGNOMINIOUS
DEATH. CONCLUSION.
 
APPENDIX 
 
INDEX [omitted in WebRoots.org online version]