The Voyage of Verrazzano - Chapters VIII-IX



CHAPTER VIII. 
II. THE VERRAZANO 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. 

The map of Hieronimo de Verrazano, recently brought to particular notice,* 
is a planisphere on a roll of parchment eight feet and a half long and of 
corresponding width, formerly belonging to Cardinal Stefano Borgia, in 
whose museum, in the college of the Propaganda in the Vatican, it is now 
preserved. It has no date, though, from a legend upon it referring to the 
Verrazzano discovery, it may be inferred that the year 1529 is intended to 
be understood as the time when it was constructed. No paleographical 
description of it, however, has yet been published, from which the period 
of its construction might be determined, or the congruity of its parts 
verified. It may, however, in order to disencumber the question, be 
admitted to be the map mentioned by Annibal Caro in 1537, in a letter to 
which occasion will hereafter be had to refer, and that its author was the 
brother of the navigator, though of both these facts satisfactory proof is 
wanting.** 

(* Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York. 1873 Vol. IV. 
Notes on the Verrazano map. By James Carson Brevoort.)

(** This map was either unknown to Ramusio and Gastaldi or discredited by 
them. Ramusio in his preface, after mentioning to Fracastor that he placed 
the relation of Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier in that volume, adds, that 
inasmuch as Fracastor has exhorted him to make, in imitation of Ptolemy, 
four or five maps of as much as was known up to that time of the part of 
the world recently discovered, he could not disobey his commands, and had 
therefore arranged to have them made by the Piedmontese cosmographer 
Giacomo de Gastaldi. They are accordingly to be found in the same volume 
with the letter of Verrazzano. One of them is a map of New France 
extending somewhat south of Norumbega, but no features of the Verrazzano 
map are to be traced upon it: and no other map of the country is given. 
Fol. 424-5.)

No entirely legible copy of this map has yet been made public. Two 
photographs, both much reduced from the original, have been made for the 
American Geographical Society, from the larger of which, so much as 
relates to the present purpose, has been carefully reproduced here on the 
same scale. It is to be regretted that the names along the coast, and the 
legends relating to the Verrazzano exploration, are not photographed 
distinctly, though the legends and a few names have been supplied by means 
of a pen. But although a knowledge of all the names is necessary for a 
thorough understanding of this map, these photographs, nevertheless, 
affording a true transcript of it in other respects, enable us to 
determine that it is of no authority as to the alleged discovery itself.*

(* This map was first brought to public notice by M. Thomassey, in a 
memoir entitled, Les Papes Geographes et la Cosmographie du Vatican, which 
was published in the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Nouvelle serie, tome 
XXXV. Annee 1853. Tome Troisieme. Paris. We are indebted to this memoir 
for the explanation of our copy of the map of the scale of distances, 
which is illegible on the photographs. According to this explanation there 
should be nine points in the narrower, and nineteen in the wider spaces. 
These being two and half leagues apart, give twenty-five leagues for the 
smaller and fifty leagues for the larger spaces, making three hundred and 
fifty leagues for the whole scale.) 

It will be found, in the first place, to contravene the Verrazzano letter 
as to the limits of the discovery, both north and south, and to indicate 
merely an attempt to reconcile that discovery generally with the 
discoveries of the Spaniards, Bretons and Portuguese, as shown on the maps 
of the period to which it relates. The coast of North America is laid down 
continuously from the gulf of Mexico to Davis straits, in latitude 60 
Degrees N. Beginning at the point of Florida, which is placed in latitude 
33 1/2 Degrees N., more than eight degrees north of its true position, it 
runs northerly along the Atlantic, trending slightly to the west, to a bay 
or river, in latitude 38 Degrees N. On this part of the country, called 
Terra Florida, the arms of Spain are represented, denoting its discovery 
by the Spaniards: and the whole of its coast for a distance of eighty or 
ninety leagues, is entirely devoid of names. 

From 38 Degrees N. that is, from the land of Florida as here shown, the 
coast continues in a northerly direction thirty or forty leagues farther, 
to a point between 40 Degrees and 41 Degrees N. when, turning 
northeasterly, it runs with slight variations, on a general course of east 
north east, for six hundred and fifty leagues to Cape Breton placed in 
latitude 51 1/2 S., five and a half degrees north of it true position. 
Along this part of the coast more than sixty names of places occur at 
intervals sufficiently regular to denote one continuous exploration. They 
are for the most part undistinguishable on the photographs, but nine of 
them, at the beginning, are made legible by hand, the first two of which 
commencing at latitude 38 Degrees, are Dieppa and Livorno. The others, 
proceeding north, are Punta de Calami, Palamsina, Polara flor, Comana, 
Santiago, C. d' Olimpe, and Olimpe, indicating a nomenclature different 
from that used on any other known map of this region. At a distance of 
three hundred leagues from Dieppa, and in latitude 46 Degrees N., is a 
large triangular island, designated by the name of Luisia. Hence to Cape 
Breton the names are illegibly photographed. Along this coast, at three 
points, namely, in latitude 42 Degrees; opposite the island of Luisia, in 
latitude 46; and in latitude 50 Degrees, standards are displayed, the 
nationality of which cannot be distinguished, but which no doubt were 
intended for those of France, inasmuch as over them occurs the name of 
Nova Gallia sive Iucatanet in large, commanding letters, with the 
Verrazzano legend, before referred to underneath it, in these words: 
'Verrazana seu Gallia nova quale discopri 5 anni fa Giovanni di Verrazano 
fiorentino per ordine et comandamete del Chrystianissimo Re di Francia; 
that is, Verrazzana or New Gaul which Giovanni di Verrazzano, a 
Florentine, discovered five years ago by order and command of the most 
Christian king of France.*

(* The names Verrazzana and Verrazzano in this legend are written on the 
photograph by hand, with a double z, though M. Thomassey uses only the 
single z, which is adopted on our copy. It would be a singular 
circumstance, leading to some speculation, if they should really be spelt 
with the two z's on the original. Hieronimo, if he were the brother of 
Giovanni, would hardly have written his own name, as it is inscribed on 
the map, with one z, and that of his brother with two, in the same 
document.)

Over Cape Breton is a representation of the shield of Brittany, denoted by 
its ermines, in token of the discovery of that country by the Bretons, 
which is separated by a bay or gulf from Terra Nova sive Le Molue, the 
latter term being evidently intended for Bacalao (codfish, Fr. morue), the 
received name of Newfoundland. The southerly coast of Terra Nova for an 
hundred leagues, and its easterly coast running to the north, are 
delineated, with the Portuguese name of C. Raso and the island of 
Baccalaos barely legible. The coast runs north from C. Raso to C. Formoso 
in latitude 60 Degrees where it meets the straits which separate it from 
Terra Laboratoris, the country discovered by Gaspar Cortereal on his first 
voyage, but here attributed to the English, and being in fact Greenland.*

(* Mr. Brevoort gives other names as legible on the easterly coast of 
Terra Nova, which we have not been able to distinguish, namely: c. de 
spera, illa de san luis, monte de trigo, and illa dos avos. Mr. B. reads 
Iucatanet, and M. Margry Yucatanet, where our engraver has Iucatania, for 
the general name of the country. The word in either form is apochryphal, 
as Yucatan is designated in its proper place, though as an island; but 
which form is correct cannot be determined from the photograph.)

It is obvious that the discoveries of Verrazzano are thus intended to 
embrace the coast from latitude 38 Degrees N. to Cape Breton, that is, 
between the points designated by the armorial designations of Spain and 
Brittany, and not beyond either, as that would make the map contradict 
itself. That they begin at the parallel 38 is shown by the names of Dieppa 
and Livorno, (Leghorn), which commemorate the port to which the expedition 
of Verrazzano belonged, and the country in which he himself was born. 
These names cannot be associated with any other alleged expedition. They 
are given on the map which contains the legend declaring the country 
generally to have been discovered by him; and are not found on any other. 
There can be no doubt, therefore, that they are meant to indicate the 
beginning of his exploration in the south. 

That his discoveries are represented as extending in the north to Cape 
Breton is proven by the continuation of the names to that point, showing 
an exploration by some voyager along that entire coast, and by the absence 
of any designation of its discovery by any other nation than the French; 
while the distance from Dieppa to Cape Breton is laid down as seven 
hundred leagues, the same as claimed for this exploration. 

But in restricting his discoveries to latitude 38 Degrees N. on the south, 
this map essentially departs from the claim set up in the letter ascribed 
to Verrazzano which carries them to fifty leagues south of 34 Degrees; and 
on the other hand, in limiting them, in the north, to the land discovered 
by the Bretons, it conforms to its Portuguese authorities, upon which, as 
will be seen, it was founded, but, in so doing, contradicts the letter 
which extends them to the point where the Portuguese commenced their 
explorations to the Arctic circle, which this map itself shows were on the 
east side of Terra Nova. Verrazzano the navigator, therefore, could not 
have been the author of the letter and also the authority for the map. 

That this map did not proceed from him is also proven by the 
representation upon it of a great ocean, called Mare Occidentale, which is 
laid down between the parallels within which these discoveries are 
confined. It lies on the west side of the continent but approaches so near 
the Atlantic, in latitude 41 Degrees N., that is, in the vicinity of New 
York, that according to a legend describing it, the two oceans are there 
only six miles apart, and can be seen from each other. This isthmus occurs 
several hundred miles north of Dieppa, and therefore at a point absolutely 
fixed within the limits of the Verrazzano discoveries, and where the 
navigator must have sailed, according to both the letter and the map, 
whether the latitudes on the map be correctly described or not. This 
western sea is thus made by its position a part of the discoveries of 
Verrazzano, and is declared by the legend to have been actually seen; and 
as he was the discoverer, it must be intended to have been seen by him. 
As, however, there is no such sea in reality, Verrazzano could never have 
seen it; and therefore, he could not have so represented; or if he did, 
then the whole story must for that reason alone be discredited. There is 
no escape from this dilemma. Verrazzano could not have been deceived and 
have mistaken some other sheet of water for this great sea, and so 
represented it on any chart, or communicated it in any other way to the 
maker of this map; for he makes no mention of the circumstance in his 
letter to the king to whom he would have been prompt to report so 
important a fact; as it would have proved the accomplishment of the object 
of his voyage,--the discovery of a passage through this region to Cathay, 
or if not a passage, at least a way, which could have been made available 
for reaching the land of spices and aromatics, by reason of its low grade, 
evident by one sea being seen from the other, and its short distance. 

The unauthentic character of this map, and the manner in which its 
representation of the Verrazzano discoveries was produced, distinctly 
appear in its method of construction. Cape Breton and Terra Nova are 
represented as they are laid down on the charts of Pedro Reinel and the 
anonymous cartographer,--reproduced on the first and fourth sheets of the 
Munich atlas and unquestionably belonging to the period anterior to the 
discovery of the continuity of the land from Florida to Cape Breton. They 
bear the names which are found on those maps, importing their discovery 
thus early by the Bretons and Portuguese. In the south, the designation of 
Florida as a Spanish discovery, with its southerly coast running along the 
parallel of thirty-three and a half of north latitude, eight degrees north 
of its actual position, is precisely the same it as it is shown on the 
anonymous Portuguese chart just mentioned. These representations of the 
country, in the north and the south, were thus adopted as the basis of 
this map. But as there were not seven hundred leagues of coast between 
latitude 38 Degrees and Cape Breton, which is the distance it indicates as 
having been explored by Verrazzano, that extent could be obtained only, 
either by changing the latitude of Florida or Cape Breton, or prolonging 
the coast longitudinally, or both. The latitude of the northerly limit of 
Florida having been preserved for the commencement of the discoveries, 
Cape Breton had therefore to be changed and was accordingly carried five 
degrees and a half further north and placed in latitude 51-1/2 instead of 
46, and by consequence the whole line of coast was thrown several degrees 
in that direction, as is proven by the position of the island of Louise, 
which thus falls in 46 Degrees N. instead of 41 Degrees, the latitude 
assigned to it in the letter. Nothing could more conclusively show the 
factitious origin of this delineation and its worthlessness as an 
exposition of the Verrazzano discovery. 

Some importance, however, attaches to this map in its assisting us to fix 
approximately the time of the fabrication of the Verrazzano letter. If it 
were constructed in 1529, as some would infer, with the portions relating 
to the discovery upon it, then it is the earliest recognition of the claim 
to this discovery yet produced, irrespective of the letter. But it is by 
no means certain that it was originally made in that year. Nothing appears 
on the map itself giving that date in terms; but it is left to be inferred 
exclusively from the language of the legend, which states that the 
discovery was made five years ago, without any indication, either in the 
legend itself or elsewhere on the map, to what time that period relates; 
and leaving the discovery, therefore, to be ascertained from extraneous 
sources. If the discovery be assumed to have been made in 1524, then 
indeed the map, according to the legend, would have been constructed in 
1529. But no person, unacquainted with the letter, can determine from this 
inscription, or any other part of the map, the date either of the 
discovery or map; and this precise difficulty Euphrosynus Ulpius 
apparently encountered in attempting to fix the time of the discovery for 
his globe, as will hereafter be seen. Why the time of the discovery should 
have been left in such an ambiguous state, compatibly with fair 
intentions, it is difficult to understand. The year itself could and 
should, in the absence of any date on the map, have been stated directly 
in the legend, without compelling a resort to other authorities. It is not 
unusual, it is true, for valuable maps and charts of this period to be 
left without the dates of their construction upon them; but when, as in 
this case, a date is called for, there seems to be no reason why it should 
not have been given. This circumstance creates the suspicion that the 
legend did not belong to the map originally, but was added afterwards, as 
it now appears on the copy in the Vatican; or if it were upon it then, 
that it was intended to mislead and conceal the true date of the map. But 
whatever may be the secret of its origin, this legend furnishes no 
positive evidence as to the time when the map was made, or pretended to 
have been made; and we are left to find its date, if possible, by other 
means. 

A fact which indicates that this map could not have existed as late as 
1536, in the form in which it is now presented, if it existed then at all, 
is that the western sea is delineated upon a map of the world, made in 
that year, by Baptista Agnese, an Italian cosmographer, without any 
reference to the Verrazzano discoveries, under circumstances which would 
have led him to have recognized them if he knew of them, and which would 
have required him to have done so if this map were his authority. This sea 
is laid down by Agnese in the same manner as it is shown on the Verrazzano 
map, approaching the Atlantic, from the north, along a narrow isthmus 
terminating at latitude 40 Degrees, with the coast turning abruptly to the 
west; the ocean being thus represented open thence from the isthmus to 
Cathay. A track of French navigation, not a single voyage, expressed by 
the words: el viages de France, is designated upon it, leading from the 
north of France to this isthmus, referring obviously to the voyages of the 
fishermen of Brittany and Normandy, to the coasts of Nova Scotia and New 
England. No allusion is made to the voyage of Verrazzano, or to the 
discoveries attributed to him by the Verrazano map. The Atlantic coast on 
the contrary, is plainly delineated after the Spanish map of Ribero, as is 
shown by the form, peculiar to that map, of the coast, at latitude 40 
Degrees, returning to the west. It is apparent, therefore, that the two 
maps of Agnese and Verrazano, both representing the western sea in the 
same form, must have been derived from a common source, or else one was 
taken from the other; and that the map of Agnese could not, in either 
case, have been derived from a map showing the Verrazzano discovery, and 
must consequently have been anterior to the Verrazano map in its present 
form. 

It militates against the authenticity of the Verrazano map and the early 
date which it would have inferred for itself, that there is not a single 
known map or chart, either published or unpublished, before the great map 
of Mercator in 1569, that refers to the Verrazzano discoveries, or 
recognizes this map in any respect before that of Michael Lok, published 
by Hakluyt, in 1582; or any before Lok, that applies the name of the sea 
of Verrazano to the western sea. The unauthenticated and until recently 
unnoticed globe of Euphrosynus Ulpius, purporting to have been constructed 
in 1542, of which we will speak presently, is the only evidence yet 
presented of the existence of the Verrazano map, as it now appears, beyond 
the map itself. The whole theory of the early influence of the Verrazzano 
discovery, or of the Verrazano map, upon the cartography of the period to 
which they relate, and its consequently proving their authenticity, as 
advanced by some learned writers, is therefore incorrect and is founded in 
a misconception of fact. 

This mistake relates to a map which is found in several editions of the 
geography of Ptolemy printed at Basle, supposed to represent the western 
sea shortly after the Verrazzano discovery, and consequently as derived 
from that source. Mr. Kohl,* in a chapter specially devoted to the 
consideration of charts from Verrazzano, reproduces one (No. XV, a) which 
he describes as a sketch of North America, from a map of the new world, in 
an edition of Ptolemy printed in Basle, 1530. And he adds: "the map was 
drawn and engraved a few years after Verrazano's expedition. The plate 
upon which it was engraved, must have been in use for a long time; for the 
same map appears both, in earlier and much later editions of Ptolemy. The 
same also reappears in the cosmography of Sebastian Munster, published in 
Basle." Mr. K. finally observes in regard to it: "this map has this 
particular interest for us, that it is probably the first on which the sea 
of Verrazano was depicted in the form given to it by Lok, in 1582. I have 
found no map prior to 1530, on which this delineation appears."** There is 
a little confusion of dates in this statement. Mr. K. states, however, 
that he had not seen the map of Hieronimo de Verrazano, and evidently 
derives his information, in regard to the sea of Verrazano, from the map 
of Lok, who alone gives the western sea the name of Mare de Verrazana, no 
doubt because he found the sea laid down on the map presented by 
Verrazzano to Henry VIII, to which reference will presently be made. Had 
Mr. K. seen the Verrazano map with the absurd legend upon it, in effect 
declaring the western sea to have been observed by Verrazzano, he must 
have arrived at different conclusions, notwithstanding the map in Ptolemy 
of the supposed early date. Mr. Brevoort, in his notes on the Verrazano 
map, probably relying on the authority of Mr. Kohl, says, "that the first 
published map containing traces of Verrazano's explorations, is in the 
Ptolemy of Basle, 1530, which appeared four years before the French 
renewed their attempts at American exploration. It shows the western sea 
without a name, and the land north of it is called Francisca."*** The 
inference left to be drawn is that, the presence of the French in this 
region, as denoted by the name, Francisca, four years before the 
discoveries in that quarter, by Jacques Cartier, and by the delineation of 
the western sea upon the Verrazano map, establish the authenticity both of 
the voyage of Verrazzano and the map. 

(* We are indebted entirely to Mr. Kohl for our knowledge of the map of 
Agnese, which he produces, on a reduced scale, in the Discovery of Maine, 
(chart XIV), with an account of the map and its author (p. 292).)

(** Discovery of Maine, pp. 296-7.)

(*** Journal of Am. Geog. Soc. of New York, vol. IV, p. 279.)

All this is erroneous. There was no edition of Ptolemy published in 1530 
at Basle, or elsewhere, known to bibliographers. The map to which 
reference is made, and which is reproduced by Mr. Kohl, was first printed 
in 1540 at Basle, in an edition of Ptolemy with new maps, both of the new 
and old world, and with new descriptions of the countries embraced in 
them, printed on the back of each, accompanied by a geographical 
description of the modern state of the countries of the old world by 
Sebastian Munster.* In all the editions of Ptolemy, containing maps of the 
new world, before the year 1540, North America was represented according 
to the mistaken ideas of Waltzemuller on that subject in 1513, and without 
regard to the discoveries which took place after his edition. The maps of 
Munster constituted a new departure of the Ptolemies in this respect, and 
were intended to represent the later discoveries in the new world. They 
were reprinted several times at Basle by the same printer, Henri Pierre 
(Lelewell II. 176, 208). In the first edition, which is now lying before 
us, the map in question, number 45, bears the title of Novae Insalae XVII. 
Nova Tabula. It is an enlarged representation of the portion relating to 
the new world of another map, No. 1, in the same volume, called Typas 
Universalis, a map of the whole world, which appears here also as a new 
map, and represents, for the first time in the Ptolemaic series, the 
straits of Magellan in the south, New France in the north, and the coast 
running continuously, north and northeast, from Florida to Newfoundland. 

(* Geographia Universalis, vetus et nova, complectens Claudii Ptolemai 
Alexandrini enarrationis libros VIII. * * * Succedunt tabulos Ptolemaice, 
opera Sebastiani Munsteri nto paratos. His adjectos sunt plurime novae 
tabulae, moderna orbis faciem literis & pictura explicantes, inter quas 
quaedam antehac Ptolemao non fuerunt additae. Sm. fol. Basiteae apud 
Henricum Petrum Meuse Martio Anno MDXI.)

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,* 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.) 

(* Called Francese in the discourse of the French captain of Dieppe.)

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. 

The map of Agnese stands, therefore, as the earliest chart of an 
acknowledged date showing the western sea, and that is independently of 
the Verrazzano discovery, or the Verrazano map. The hitherto unpublished 
maps produced by Mr. Kohl, also for the purpose of proving the influence 
of the Verrazzano discovery, fail entirely of that object. The first of 
them, in point of date, the sketch (No. XV. c) from the portolano of 1536, 
preserved in the Bodleian library at Oxford, shows a track of navigation 
from the north of France, across the Atlantic, running between the 
Bacalaos and the land of the Bretons, through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to 
the Pacific, and thence to Cathay. There is no representation of the 
western sea, as shown on the Verrazano map, but on the contrary, the whole 
of the western coast of North America is shown conjecturally in a 
different form, by dotted lines. So far as this map affords any indication 
on the subject, it refers to the route of Cartier, and delineates the 
Atlantic coast according to the Spanish map of Ribero, that is, with a 
trending of the coast in a more northerly direction than the Verrazano 
map, and with the peculiar return of that coast westerly, in latitude 40 
Degrees N., given on that map. The next chart (No. XV. d) from a map made 
by Diego Homem in 1540, shows the western sea nearly the same as on the 
map of Agnese, but conjecturally only; while the representation of the 
Atlantic coast has the same characteristics as the Bodleian and Agnese 
maps, showing its derivation from Ribero and not the Verrazano map. The 
remaining sketch given by Mr. Kohl (No. XV. b) from a map made by G. 
Ruscelli in 1544, presenting the same features, as do the two others, in 
regard to the Atlantic coast, puts beyond all question that the map of 
Ribero is its authority, by adopting from it the name of Montagne Verde 
which is applied by Ribero to the hills at the mouth of the river San 
Antonio, in latitude 41 Degrees N., thereby certainly excluding any 
recognition of the Verrazzano discovery or the Verrazano map. 

The first published map which refers to the Verrazzano discoveries, that 
of Mercator in 1569, makes no reference to the Verrazano map, and does not 
recognize it in any manner. Mercator was the first to give the name of 
Claudia to the island of Louise, evidently mistaking the name of the wife 
of Francis for that of his mother, after whom the island was called, 
according to the letter, without stating her name. Mercator gives a legend 
in which he mentions that Verrazzano arrived on the coast on the 17th of 
March 1524, which is the day according to the version of Ramusio, 
following our mode of computation, as before explained. It is evident, 
therefore, that Mercator had the Ramusio version before him, and not the 
Verrazano map, as his authority on the subject. His delineation of the 
Atlantic coast, moreover, is according to the plan of Ribero, and he gives 
no indication of the western sea of the Verrazano map, but mentions in a 
legend the fresh water inland sea spoken of by Cartier, of the extent of 
which the Indians were ignorant. 

The existence of the Verrazano map, much less its date, is obviously not 
proven by any of the maps or charts to which reference has here been made, 
and which are supposed to reflect some of its features, or indicate the 
verity of the Verrazzano discovery. There is, however, some evidence of a 
positive character, both historical and cartographical, which points to 
the existence of this map in two different forms, one originally not 
representing the Verrazzano discovery, and the other subsequently, as now 
presented. 

The existence of a Verrazano map in some form or other, as early as 1537, 
seems to be established by a letter of the commendatory, Annibal Caro, 
written in that year. Caro, who became distinguished among his countrymen 
for his polite learning, was, in early life, secretary to the cardinal, M. 
de Gaddi, a Florentine, residing in Rome. While thus engaged, he 
accompanied his patron on a journey to the mines of Sicily, and there, 
from Castro, addressed a playful letter to the members generally of the 
cardinal's household, remaining at Rome. In this letter, which is dated 
the 13th of October in that year, he writes to them: "I will address 
sometimes one and sometimes another of you, as matters come into my mind. 
To you, Verrazzano, a seeker of new worlds and their marvels, I cannot yet 
say anything worthy of your map, because we have not passed through any 
country which has not been discovered by you or your brother."* This 
passage was supposed by Tiraboschi to have been addressed to the 
navigator, and as proving that he was alive at the time the letter was 
written. But we now know that Verrazzano had then been dead ten years; 
besides, it is not probable, inasmuch as the person addressed was one of 
the servants of the prelate, that the navigator would have occupied that 
position. M. Arcangeli suggests that the name is used by Caro merely as a 
nom de guerre;** but in either case, whether borrowed or not, the remark 
plainly enough refers to a Verrazzano map, which may POSSIBLY have been 
the map of Hieronimo. 

(* "De le lettre familiari des commendatore Annibal Caro," vol. 1. P. 6-7. 
Venetia, 1581.)

(** "Discorso sopra Giovanni da Verrazzano," p. 27, in "Archivio Storico 
Italiano," Appendice vol. IX.)

Hakluyt furnishes testimony which, if correct, shows the probable 
existence of this map before 1529, but not in its present form. In the 
dedication to Phillip Sydney of his "Divers voyages touching the 
discoveries of America, &c.," printed in 1582, he refers to the 
probabilities of the existence of a northwest passage, and remarks that, 
"Master John Verarzanus which had been thrise on that coast in an olde 
excellent mappe, which he gave to King Henry the eight, and is yet in 
custodie of Master Locke, doth so lay it out as is to bee seene in the 
mappe annexed to the end of this boke, being made according to Verarzanus 
plat." Hakluyt thus positively affirms that the old map to which he refers 
was given by Verrazzano himself to the king. What evidence he had of that 
fact he does not mention, but he speaks of the map as if it had been seen 
by him, and probably that was his authority. The map he declares of his 
own knowledge was transferred, so far as regards the western strait, to 
the map of Lok, which he himself publishes. Lok's map represents the 
northwest passage as attempted by Frobisher in his several voyages, and as 
continued from the termination of the English exploration, to a western 
sea, a portion of which lying between the parallels of 40 Degrees N. and 
50 Degrees N. latitude is laid down the same as it appears on the 
Verrazano map, and bears the inscription of Mare de Verrazana, 1524. The 
map of Lok is the first one upon which the western sea is so called. The 
designation was undoubtedly the work of Lok himself, as it is in 
conformity with his practice in other parts of the map, where he denotes 
the discoveries of others in the same way, that is, by their names with 
the dates of their voyages annexed. He no doubt applied the name of 
Verrazzano to this ocean from finding it represented on the old map given 
by Verrazzano to the king, and obtained the date from the letter, of which 
Hakluyt printed in the same volume a translation from the version in 
Ramusio. It is certain that Verrazzano could not have been accessory to 
declaring it a discovery by himself for the reason already mentioned that 
no such sea, as there laid down, existed to have been discovered. 

Lok's map represents on the Atlantic coast, in latitude 41 Degrees N., the 
island alleged in the Verrazzano letter to have been named after the 
king's mother, and gives it the name of Claudia. That it is the same 
island is proven by note to the translation of the letter given in the 
volume in which this map is found. Hakluyt puts in the margin, opposite 
the passage where mention of the island occurs in the letter, the words 
"Claudia Ilande." From whatever source this name was derived by them, 
whether from Mercator or by their own mistake, both Lok and Hakluyt here 
indirectly bear their testimony to the fact, that the name of Luisia was 
not upon the old map given to Henry VIII, which Lok consulted, and Hakluyt 
described. It is thus to be concluded that the map delivered to the king 
showed the western sea, but not any discoveries of Verrazzano on the 
Atlantic coast. 

In another work, as yet unpublished, Hakluyt affords some additional 
information in regard to the old map, which though brief, is quite 
significant. He remarks that it is "a mightie large olde mappe in 
parchment, made as it would seem by Verrazanus, now in the custodie of Mr. 
Michael Locke;" and he speaks also of an "olde excellent GLOBE in the 
Queen's privie gallery, at Westm'r, w'h also seemeth to be of Verrazanus 
making."* Both the map and the globe are thus mentioned as the probable 
workmanship of Verrazzano, from which it is probable that there was no 
name upon them to determine that question positively. The great size of 
the chart, the material upon which it was made, and the authorship of the 
map and globe by the same person, are circumstances which go to prove that 
they were both the work of a professed cosmographer, and embraced the 
whole world; and consequently that the map was not a chart made by the 
navigator, showing his discoveries, but possibly the map of Hieronimo in 
its original form. The construction of this old map, whoever was the 
author, is fixed certainly before 1529, by the statement of Hakluyt, that 
it was presented to Henry VIII by Verrazzano, the navigator, inasmuch as 
Verrazzano came to his death in 1527. The Verrazzano map, in its present 
phase, not claiming to have been made before the year 1529, could not, 
therefore, have furnished the original representation of the western sea, 
or have been the one used by Lok. 

(* MS. in possession of the Maine Historical Society, cited in Mr. Kohl's 
Discovery of Maine, p. 291, note.)

Hakluyt adds to his statement that Verrazzano had been three times on the 
coast of America, which, if true, would disprove the discovery set up in 
the letter. That document alleges that the coast explored by him was 
entirely unknown and had never before been seen by any one before that 
voyage, and consequently not by him; and that, as regards the residue of 
the coast north of 50 Degrees N., the Portuguese had sailed along it as 
far as the Arctic circle, without finding any termination to the land, 
thus giving the Portuguese as his authority for the continuity of the 
northern part of the coast, and excluding himself from it. It is thus 
clearly stated in the letter, that he had not been there before. It was 
impossible that he could have, consummated two voyages to America, and 
another to England, and made his court to the king, after 1524, and before 
his last and fatal cruize along the coast of Spain, as would have been 
necessary to have been done. In asserting that Verrazzano made other 
voyages to America, Hakluyt is corroborated by the ancient manuscripts, to 
which the author of the memoirs of Dieppe refers, as mentioning that one 
Jean Verassen commanded a ship which accompanied that of Aubert to 
Newfoundland in 1508.* It is possible, therefore, that Verrazzano made 
three voyages to Newfoundland, and was well acquainted with that portion 
of the coast, before hostilities broke out between Francis I. and the 
emperor, in 1522; at which time, as will be seen, he entered upon his 
course of privateering; and that during the time Francis was a prisoner at 
Madrid, in 1525-6, and the state of war accordingly suspended, and 
Verrazzano thrown out of employment, he visited England, and laid before 
the king a scheme of searching for the northwest passage; a project which 
Henry had been long meditating, as may be gathered from the proposition of 
Wolsey to Sebastian Cabot in 1519, and the expedition actually sent out 
for that purpose by that monarch under John Rut, in 1527.** It is evident 
that the representation of the western sea, upon the map given to the 
king, was merely conjectural of its existence in connection with the 
supposed strait, laid down upon the map, according to Hakluyt. This 
explanation will serve also to account most readily for the partial 
knowledge which the letter exhibits, in regard to the customs and 
characteristics of the Indians of Cape Breton, which might have been 
collected by the writer, from the journals of those early voyages or other 
notes of Verrazzano in relation to them; although the same information was 
obtainable from others who had made similar voyages to that region, from 
Normandy and Brittany. 

(* Desmarquets. "Memoires chronologiques pour servir a l'histoire de 
Dieppe," I. 100. (2 Vols. Paris, 1785.) It is worthy of remark that this 
annalist seems to regard Verasseu and Verrazzano as different persons, 
which proves, at least, that his authority was independent of any matter 
connected with the Verrazzano claim. That these names really relate, 
however, to the same individual, appears from the agreement with Chabot.)

(** Letter of Contarini, the Venetian ambassador in Spain, to the Council 
of Ten. See "Calendar of State Papers &c. in Venice," 1520- 6. Edited by 
Rawdon Brown. No. 697, London, 1869. Purchas, III. p. 809.)

It is thus established by the same testimony which furnishes the map of 
Lok, taken in conjunction with its own teachings, that it was not derived 
from the Verrazano map in its present shape, and does not represent the 
Verrazzano discovery. 

The only evidence of the existence of the Verrazano map in any 
cosmographical production whatever, book, chart or globe, so far as known, 
independently of its history in the Borgian collection, is a copper globe, 
found by the late Buckingham Smith in Spain, a few years ago, and now in 
the possession of the New York Historical Society. This globe purports to 
have been constructed by Euphrosynus Ulpios in 1542. Inscribed upon it, in 
a separate scroll, is a dedication, in these words; "Marcello Cervino S. 
R. E. Presbitero Cardinali D.D. Rome." Cervinus had been archbishop of 
Florence and was afterwards raised from the cardinalate to the pontificate 
under the title of Marcellus II. This globe represents the western sea in 
the same form as it is on the Verrazano map, and contains a legend on the 
country lying between the isthmus and Cape Breton, in these words: 
"Verrazana sive Nova Gallia a Verrazano Florentino Comperta anno sal. 
M.D." In all other respects it differs essentially from the map in its 
description of the coast. Florida and Cape Breton are laid down in their 
true positions, and the isthmus occurs at the parallel of 33 degrees N. 
latitude, instead of 41 degrees. The direction of the coast, between the 
two points just mentioned, is more northerly, and the length of it 
consequently much reduced. The names along the coast, so far as the 
photograph of the map furnishes the means of comparison, are entirely 
different, except that Piaggia de Calami appears north of the isthmus. 
Dieppa and Livorno are not found upon it. But the legend affords 
indubitable evidence that the Maker had consulted the map. The name of 
Verrazana applied to the land is found no where else no applied, except on 
the map. But the incompleteness in which the date of the discovery is 
left, us if written 15--, proves that the maker was unable to ascertain it 
fully from his authority; the map, therefore, must have been his sole 
authority. 

As to the authenticity of this globe there is no other evidence than that 
it has the appearance of an old instrument, and its representations 
generally correspond with the state of geographical knowledge of the 
period of its date.* Adopting its own story of its construction, it proves 
the existence of the Verrazano map, with the Verrazzano discoveries upon 
it, and consequently the existence of the claim as early as the year 1542. 

(* It measures forty-two inches in circumference. Hist. Mag. (New York) 
1862, p. 202. A map showing so much of it as relates to North America, was 
lithographed for the dissertation of Mr. Smith, and is here reproduced.)

The other references to a Verrazzano map, prove nothing on the subject of 
the discoveries, unless the letter of Annibal Caro, which alludes to 
discoveries by the brothers Verrazzani, in connection with a map, he 
deemed as referring to them. In that case, 1537 would be the earliest 
mention of them, in any known publication. Lok and Hakluyt, as has been 
already seen, clearly do not refer to any map showing the Verrazzano 
discoveries. The period of the fabrication of the letter may therefore, 
possibly, be fixed between 1536 and 1542. But whether this period be 
properly deduced or not, is immaterial; since in no event can an earlier 
date than 1529 be assigned by any evidence outside of the letter, for the 
existence of the Verrazzano claim; which year, as is now to be shown, was 
long after the coast had been discovered and made known to the world by 
another. 



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. 

In the proofs adduced, outside of the letter addressed to the king, no 
direct evidence appears in regard to the discovery. There is no testimony 
to be found of any one who took part in the setting forth or equipment of 
the expedition, or in the prosecution of the voyage, or who was personally 
cognizant of the return of the Dauphiny. No chart or private letter, no 
declaration or statement of the navigator, in regard to the extraordinary 
discovery achieved by him, is produced or mentioned, although he belonged 
to a family of some note in Tuscany, which still existed in the present 
century. In this respect, Italy, the birth place and home of Verrazzano, 
is as blank and barren as France. All that is really shown of any 
pertinency is the single circumstance, that possibly the claim to the 
discovery was advanced in Italy, and in that country alone, at the time of 
the construction of the globe of Ulpius in 1542, but not anterior to the 
year 1529, or until five years after the event, when, according to the 
Verrazano map, if that he accepted as genuine in its present form, and the 
most favorable construction be upon its ambiguous legend, of which that 
inscription is capable, the claim was for the first time announced. And 
thus there is nothing showing that the letter or its pretensions were 
known before the last named year. In view this important fact, and the 
absence of any evidence whatsoever corroborative of the letter or its 
contents, it is not unreasonable to believe that the letter was an attempt 
to appropriate to the Florentine the glory which belonged to Estevan 
Gomez, a Portuguese pilot, who actually discovered and explored this 
coast, in 1525, in the service of the emperor, Charles V, and whose voyage 
and exploration were immediately thereupon made known, both, in Spain and 
Italy. That such, indeed, was the source from which the Verrazzano letter 
was derived is susceptible of demonstration; and for that purpose some 
account of the voyage and discoveries of Gomez and their publication 
becomes necessary. 

Gomez, who was born in Oporto and reared there to a sea-faring life, for 
some reason, unexplained; left Portugal and entered into the Spanish 
service, in which he was appointed pilot in 1518, at the some time that 
Sebastian Cabot was created pilot major in the same service. He proposed 
immediately to the king, to go in search of a new route to the. Moluccas 
or Spice islands recently discovered by the Portuguese, and which, he 
affirmed, were within the limits assigned to Spain by the line of 
demarkation. He exhibited a chart constructed by him showing this fact,* 
from which it may be inferred that he had already made a voyage to those 
islands. The way which he proposed then to take is not mentioned. At the 
same juncture Magellan also arrived in Spain and tendered his services to 
find a new route to the Moluccas, specifically by the west, as delineated 
on a globe which he produced. Magellan prevailed in his suit, which was 
the reason, according to Pigafetta, the historian of the expedition, that 
the emperor did not give Gomez any caravels to discover new lands.** It is 
to be inferred, therefore, that the first route proposed by Gomez was not 
by the west. The fleet of Magellan set sail on his expedition in September 
1519, with Gomez as chief pilot, an arrangement intended to conciliate and 
combine both interests; but it was not a happy one. Actuated, it is 
charged, by a spirit of jealousy and a desire to embarrass Magellan, and 
render his voyage abortive, Gomez at the very moment that success was 
assured, and the fleet was entering the strait which led into the Pacific, 
abandoned his commander; and profiting by the opportunity which was 
offered him in being detached by Magellan with the San Antonio, one of the 
ships, to make a reconnaissance in another direction, joined with certain 
mutineers, seized the captain of that vessel, and returned with her to 
Spain, arriving there in March 1521. The reasons assigned by him for this 
desertion of the expedition, were the severity of the treatment of the 
crew by Magellan, a want of provisions and the unseaworthiness of the San 
Antonio. He was, however, held by the council of the Indies to answer to 
any charges which might be preferred against him by Magellan on his 
return, and in the meantime his pay was sequestered and his property on 
board the ship attached. In September 1522, the Victoria, the only ship of 
Magellan's squadron which succeeded in returning to Spain, arrived with 
the news of Magellan's discovery, and also of his death in a conflict with 
the natives of the island of Tidore. Upon this information proceedings 
against Gomez were discontinued and his property released. 

(* Cespedes, "Regimento de Navigacion," 148.)

(** Primo Viaggio, 38.)

The success of Magellan served the more to stimulate the purpose of Gomez 
to undertake a search for the same object. It was supposed at that time, 
by Sebastian Cabot and others, that the northern parts of America were 
broken up into islands, but nothing positively was known in relation to 
them, except in the region of Newfoundland. Between that country and South 
Carolina, then recently discovered by the joint expedition of the 
licentiates, all was unknown; and it was considered not improbable that a 
passage might be found between those points, through to Cathay and the 
Moluccas, the same as had been discovered in the south, by Magellan. 
Gomez, released from his disabilities, renewed his application to the 
emperor for permission to prosecute his search, proposing now to make it 
through the northern seas; and on the 27th of August 1523 a cedule was 
made to that effect authorizing him to go with a caravel of fifty toneles 
burden on the discovery of eastern Cathay.* In consequence, however, of 
the remonstrance of the king of Portugal against any interference with his 
rights to the Moluccas, Charles suspended the prosecution of further 
voyages in that quarter until the question should be determined to which 
of the two crowns those islands belonged by virtue of the pope's 
demarcation. The voyage of Gomez, and also that of Cabot to the La Plata, 
were delayed until the decision of the junta convened at Badajos by the 
two monarchs for the purpose of making this determination. To this body 
Gomez, in conjunction with Sebastian Cabot and Juan Vespucci as pilots, 
and Diego Ribero as cartographer, was attached,--a circumstance which 
shows the high estimation in which his nautical knowledge was held. The 
proceedings closed in May 1524, too late for Gomez to make his 
arrangements to leave in that year. These were completed, however, in 
February 1525, in which month he set sail from Coruna, in the north of 
Spain, in a single caravel, on his voyage of discovery,** Peter Martyr, 
after mentioning the proposed expedition of Sebastian Cabot to the south, 
thus refers in July 1524, to that of Gomez and its destination. "It is 
also decreed that one Stephanus Gomez, who also himselfe is a skillful 
navigator, shal goe another way, whereby, betweene the Baccalaos and 
Florida, long since our countries, he saith he will finde out a waye to 
Cataia: one onely shippe, called a Carvell, is furnished for him, and he 
shall have no other thing in charge then to search out whether any passage 
to the great Chan, from out the diuers windings and vast compassings of 
this our Ocean, were to be founde."***

(* Herrera, III. Iv. 20. The cedule is still extant in the archives at 
Seville.)

(** Navarrete III. 179. Peter Martyr, Dec. VII. 8.)

(*** Peter Martyr, Dec. VI. 10. Eden's trans.)

Gomez commenced his exploration on the coast of South Carolina, and 
proceeding thence northwardly, reached the Rio de la buelta, where, as 
that name denotes, he commenced his return, on the island of Cape Breton. 
He carefully observed the rivers, capes and bays, which occur within those 
limits, entering the Chesapeake, Delaware, Hudson and Penobscot, to which 
he gave appropriate names, derived from the church calendar, or from some 
characteristic of the locality. He was for a while encouraged to believe, 
in consequence of the great flood of water which he found issuing from the 
Penobscot, or Rio de Gamos, (Stag river), that he had there fallen upon 
the desired strait. Though unsuccessful in the object of his search, he 
nevertheless accomplished an important service for geographical science, 
in determining that no such passage existed within the region he had 
sailed. Taking in a cargo of Indians from the islands of the great bay, he 
continued his course to the south, and running along the coast of Florida, 
returned to Spain by way of Cuba.*

(* Peter Martyr, Dec. VI. c. 10. Herrera, III, VIII. S. Cespedes, Yslario 
General, in MS. Cespedes was cosmographer major of the Indies in Seville 
and wrote many geographical works early in the seventeenth century. His 
Yslario General, embracing a history of the islands of the world, exists 
in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid.)

The authenticity of this voyage is established by Oviedo and Peter Martyr 
both of whom were eyewitnesses of the Indians which Gomez brought home and 
exhibited at Toledo. Both of these writers have given short accounts of 
the voyage, which, as it was not successful in the purpose for which it 
was undertaken and promised no returns of gold, excited no public 
attention. The results were, however, interesting to the hydrographers of 
Spain, who soon prepared charts of the coast, according to his 
exploration, among which that made by Diego Ribero, associate of Gomez at 
the junta of Badajos, and royal cosmographer, will demand especial 
attention. 

The voyage of Gomez and what he had accomplished became immediately known 
to the world at large by printed publications. He arrived home on his 
return in November 1525; and three months afterwards Oviedo published his 
first work, addressed to the emperor, in which he makes the following 
brief mention of the expedition. 

"Shortly after that yowr Maiestie came to the citie of Toledo, there 
arryved in the moneth of November, Stephen Gomes the pylot who the yeare 
before of 1524 by the commandement of yowre maiestie sayled to the Northe 
partes and founde a greate parte of lande continuate from that which is 
cauled Baccaleos discoursynge towarde the West to the XL and XLI degree, 
fro whense he brought certeyne Indians, of the whiche he brought sum with 
hym from thense who are yet in Toledo at this present, and of greater 
stature than other of the firme land as they are commonlye. Theyr coloure 
is much like the other of the firme lande. They are great archers, and go 
couered with the skinnes of dyuers beastes both wylde and tame. In this 
lande are many excellent furres, as marterns, sables and such other rych 
furres, of the which the sayde pilot brought summe with hym into Spayne. 
They have sylver and copper and certeyne other metalles. They are 
Idolaters and honoure the soonne and moone, and are seduced with suche 
superstitions and errours as are they of the firme."*

(* Oviedo de la natural hystoria de las Indias. (Toledo, 15 Feby. 1526), 
fol. 14; and under the title of Relucion Sumaria, p. 16, in Barcia's 
Historiadores primitivas, tome 1. Translated in Eden's Decades of the new 
worlde, fol. 213-14.)

The details of the exploration appear more distinctly upon the charts 
which the royal cosmographers at Seville prepared, with the names given to 
the prominent points of the coast. Two of these maps are still extant, 
bearing the respective dates of 1527 and 1529, the first by an anonymous 
cartographer, and the last by Ribero.* The whole line of coast from the 
river Jordan, in latitude 33 degrees 10', visited by both the expeditions 
of Ayllon, to Cape Breton, is laid down upon them with sufficient 
exactitude. The names indicate the exploration to have been made by Gomez 
the whole distance between those points; for no other navigator of Spain, 
in the language of which they are given, had sailed within those limits up 
to the time these maps bear date. The only question which has been raised 
in this regard relates to the expeditions of Ayllon; but the first of 
these, a joint descent upon the coast to carry off Indians in 1520 by two 
vessels belonging to the licentiates Ayllon and Matienzo of St. Domingo, 
proceeded no further than the Jordan, as we learn from the testimony of 
Pedro de Quejo, the pilot of Matienzo.** The expedition which Ayllon made 
afterwards in 1526, in person, to the same coast, proceeded directly to 
the river Jordan, and after remaining there a few days, ran southwesterly 
along the coast to Gualdape or St Helena, where Ayllon died, and from 
whence it thereupon immediately returned home to St Domingo, without any 
further attempt at exploration.*** 

(* Both these maps, so far as they relate to America, have been 
reproduced, with very valuable notes and illustrations, by Mr. Kohl in Die 
beiden altesten general karten von Amerika. Weimar 1860.)

(** Proceedings before the Auditors at St Domingo, by virtues of a royal 
decree of Nov. 1525, in relation to the dispute between Ayllon and 
Matienzo concerning their discovery, preserved in MS. at Seville.)

(*** tom. III. p 624. (Madrid 1853.) Mr. Kohl states (Discovery of Mains, 
397) that the ships of Ayllon made an extensive survey of the coast, north 
of the Jordan, soon after their arrival in the country. In this he is in 
error; into which he appears to have been misled by Navarrete, a part of 
whose language he quotes in a note, as that of Oviedo. Navarret, referring 
to the portion of Oviedo's history, not then (1899) published, as his 
authority, says on this point that after leaving the river Jordan the 
ships of Ayllon proceeded to Gualdape, "distante cuarenta o cicuenta 
leguas mas al norte" distant forty or fifty leagues more to the north; 
whereas the language of Oviedo, as contained in the recently published 
edition of his work, is, "acordaron de yrse a pohlar la costa delante 
hacia la costa accidental, e fueron a un grand rio (quarenta o quarenta e 
cico leguas de alli, pocas mas o menos) que si dice Gualdape," (ut supra, 
p. 628) they agreed to go and settle the coast further on towards the west 
coast, and sent to a large river (forty or fifty-five leagues from that 
place, a little more or less) which is called Gualdape. The course of the 
coast at these points is northeast and southwest. A westerly course was 
therefore to the south and not to the north. Besides, Oviedo states that 
the Jordan was in latitude 33 degrees 40' and that Gualdape was the 
country through which the river St. Helena ran, which he also calls the 
river of Gualdape, and which in another part of his history he places in 
latitude 33 degrees N., and expressly stating that the Jordan was north of 
the St. Helena, towards Cape Trafalgar, or Cape Fear (tom. II p. 144.) 
Ayllon, therefore did not sail north of the Jordan, and the names on the 
Ribero map, north of that river, are not attributed to his expedition.)

This disastrous expedition, therefore, went no further north, than the 
Jordan or Santee. It demonstrated the falsity of the stories told to Peter 
Martyr by Francis, the Chicorane, as he was called, one of the Indians 
seized in the first expedition and taken by Ayllon to Spain, of the vast 
provinces with uncouth names which were upon his authority transferred to 
the royal cedule granted to Ayllon on the 12th June, 1523.* That region 
remained unknown, therefore, until the voyage of Gomez, and to it and it 
alone can the names on these maps, within the limits before designated, be 
attributed. 

(* P. Martyr, Dec. VII. o.2; Navarrete III. 153.)

These maps passed at once into Italy; and that of Ribero, bearing the date 
of 1529 and the arms of the then reigning pontiff, Clement VII, and his 
successors, the most finished of the three copies known to exist, is still 
to be found at Rome, and is reasonably supposed to have been the original; 
and like the last decade of Peter Martyr in 1526, which mentions the 
discoveries of Gomez, to have been sent to the Holy Father at his desire, 
in order to keep him informed of the latest discoveries.* Other copies of 
the Spanish charts showing the exploration of Gomez, found their way in to 
Italy about the same time, proving that there was then no interdict 
against their exportation from Spain to that country, at least.** This 
appears by a volume which was published in Venice in 1534 under the 
auspices of Ramusio,*** embracing a summary of the general history of the 
West Indies by Peter Martyr and a translation of Oviedo's natural history 
of the Indies of 1526, containing the account of Gomez' voyage, with a map 
of America upon which the discoveries of Gomez are laid down the same as 
upon the Spanish maps of 1527 and 1529, before mentioned. The following 
colophon, giving the origin of this map, is to be found at the end of the 
translation of Oviedo: "Printed at Venice, in the month of December 1534. 
For the explanation of these books there has been made an universal map of 
the countries of all the West Indies, together with a special map, taken 
from two marine charts of the Spaniards, one of which belonged to Don 
Pietro Martire, Councillor of the Royal Council of the said Indies, and 
was made by the pilot and master of marine charts, Nino Garzia de Loreno, 
in Seville. The other was made also by a pilot of the majesty, the 
emperor, in Seville. With which maps the reader can inform himself of the 
whole of this new world, place by place, the same as if he had been there 
himself."**** The special map here referred to is one of Hispaniola, in 
the same volume, and was undoubtedly taken from that of Nuno Garcia, in 
the possession of Peter Martyr. It was therefore made in or before the 
year 1526, since Martyr died in that year. The map of America, by the 
pilot of the emperor at Seville, was probably the anonymous map of 1527 
before mentioned, as it appears not to have had the name of the author 
upon it. These facts prove at least that the map of Ribero was in Italy in 
the year 1529, and that the map of 1527 may have been there before that 
year. 

(* Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Nouvelle series, tome xxxv. Annee 1853. 
Tome troisieme. Paris. Les Papes geographes et la cartographic du Vatican. 
Par R. M. Thomassey. Appendix p. 275.)

(** In regard to the freedom which the charts of the Spanish navigators so 
enjoyed there is confirmatory proof in Ramusio. In the preface to his 
third volume, dedicated to his friend Fracastor of Florence, he writes: 
"All the literary men daily inform you of any discovery made known to them 
by captain or pilot coming from those parts, and among others the 
aforesaid Sig. Gonzalo (Oviedo) from the island of Hispaniola, who every 
year visits you once or twice with some new made chart.")

(*** M. d'Avezac in Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic for July and 
August, 1872.)

(**** This volume has no general title, but contains three books, primo, 
secondo & ultimo della historia de l'India Occidentali. It is very rarely 
found with the large map of America. We are indebted to the kindness of 
James Lonox, Esq. of New York, for the use of a perfect copy in this 
respect.)

It was from the delineation of the coast on one or other of these two 
maps, which are in that respect almost identically the same, that the 
description of it in the Verrazzano letter was derived. This will now be 
made manifest by the application of that description to the map of Ribero, 
so much of which as is necessary, is here reproduced for that purpose. 

In making the proof thus proposed, it is to be borne in mind that the 
letter is positive and explicit as to the extent and limits of the 
discovery or exploration which it describes. It fixes them by three 
different modes which prove each, other: 1. By giving the latitude of the 
commencement and termination of the voyage along the coast; 2. By a 
declaration in two different forms of the entire distance run, and 3. By a 
statement of intermediate courses and distances, from point to point, 
between the landfall and the place of leaving the coast, separately, 
making in the aggregate the whole distance named. There can be therefore 
no mistake as to the meaning of the writer in respect of the extent of the 
exploration. 

As to its limits and extent, we have already had occasion to quote his 
language in impressing upon Francis the great length of the voyage; giving 
both at the same time: "In the voyage," he says, "which we made by order 
of your majesty, in addition to the 92 degrees which we ran towards the 
west from our point of departure, before we reached land in latitude 34, 
we have to count 300 leagues which we ran northeastwardly and 400 nearly 
east, along the coast, before we reached the 50th parallel of north 
latitude, the point where we turned our course from the shore towards 
home." This distance is also mentioned in the total at the end of the 
voyage, where he says: "finding our provisions and naval stores nearly 
exhausted, we took in wood and water, and determined to return to France, 
having discovered 700 leagues of unknown lands." 

The several courses and distances run are described in the letter, from 
point to point, as follows:*

(* The translation of Dr. Cogswell, in N.Y. Hist. Collections, is here 
used, somewhat condensed.)

FIRST. "We perceived that it (the land) stretched to the south and L. 
coasted along in that direction in search of some port in which we might 
come to anchor, and examine into the nature of the country, but for fifty 
leagues we could find none in which we could lie 50 securely." 

SECOND. "Seeing the coast still stretched to the south we resolved to 
change our course and stand to the northward, and as we still had the same 
difficulty, we drew in with the land, and sent a boat ashore. Many people, 
who were seen coming to the sea-side, fled at our approach. We found not 
far from this people another. This country is plentifully supplied with 
lakes and ponds of running water and being in the latitude of 34, the air 
is salubrious, pure and temperate, and free from the extreme both of heat 
and cold. We set sail from this place continuing to coast along the shore, 
which we found stretching out to the west (east?) While at anchor on this 
coast, there being no harbor to enter, we sent the boat on shore with 
twenty-five men to obtain water. Departing hence, and always following the 
shore, which stretched to the north, we came in the space of fifty leagues 
to another land which appeared beautiful and 50 full of the largest 
forests. 

THIRD. "After having remained here three days riding at anchor on the 
coast, as we could find no harbor we determined to depart, and coast along 
the shore to the northeast. After proceeding one hundred leagues, we found 
a very pleasant situation among some steep hills through which a very 
large river, deep at its mouth forced its way 100 to the sea." 

FOURTH. "We took the boat and entering the river we found the country on 
its banks well peopled. All of a sudden a violent contrary wind blew in 
from the sea, and forced us to return to our ship. Weighing anchor, we 
sailed eighty leagues towards the east, as the coast stretched in that 
direction, and always in sight of it. At length we discovered an island, 
triangular in form, about ten leagues from the mainland. We gave it the 
name of your majesty's 80 illustrious mother." 

FIFTH. "We did not land there, as the weather was unfavorable, but 
proceeded to another place, fifteen leagues distant from the island, where 
we found a very excellent harbor. It looks towards the south, on which 
side the harbor is half a league broad. Afterwards, upon entering it, the 
extent between the east and the north is twelve leagues, and then 
enlarging itself, forms a very large bay, twenty 15 leagues in 
circumference." 

SIXTH. "Having supplied ourselves with every thing necessary, on the sixth 
of May we departed from the port and sailed one hundred and fifty leagues, 
keeping so close to the coast as never to lose it from our sight. We did 
not stop to land, as the weather was very favorable for pursuing our 
voyage, and the country presented no 150 variety. The shore stretched to 
the East" 

SEVENTH. "And fifty leagues beyond, more to the north, where we found a 
more elevated country. The people were entirely different from the others 
we had seen, so rude and barbarous that we were unable by any signs we 
could make, to hold communication with them. Against their will we 
penetrated two or three leagues into the 50 interior with twenty-five 
men." 

EIGHTH. "Departing from thence we kept along the coast, steering between 
east and north, and found the country more pleasant and open. Within fifty 
leagues we discovered thirty two islands, all 50 near the mainland." 

NINTH. "We had no intercourse with the people. After sailing between east 
and north one hundred and fifty leagues more we determined to return 
France, having discovered 700 leagues of unknown lands."

Now let the reader trace for himself, these courses and distances, as 
shown on the accompanying sketch of the map of Ribero. According to the 
following scale*, representing the measurements in the letter; which are 
calculated on the basis of 15.625 leagues to a degree, while those on the 
map are 17 1/2 leagues; and he will find, that not only is the whole 
littoral distance between the parallels of 34 degrees and 50 degrees on 
the map about seven hundred leagues, but that the several courses and 
distances, of which this entire distance is composed according to the 
letter, correspond with similar divisions on the map, proving to a 
certainty that this map was the source from which the line of coast 
described in the letter was derived, or the reverse. 

(* omitted in WebRoots.org online version)

It will be observed that the first course, beginning according to the 
letter at the landfall, in latitude 34 N., commences on the map a little 
north of C. Trafalgar as there laid down, now Cape Fear, and proceeds 
southerly fifty leagues to C. de S. Roman. 

The first course being retraced, the second, also of fifty leagues, 
starting from the landfall near C. Traffalgar, extends to C. de S. Juan of 
the map, the well known point of Hatteras. 

The third, runs from C. de S. Juan, one hundred leagues northwardly, to 
the Montana verde, the Navesinks at the mouth of the Hudson, "described as 
the pleasant situation among steep hills, through which a very large river 
forced its way into the sea." The perfect identification of this course 
and distance has already been observed. 

The fourth extends easterly from the Montana verde eighty leagues and 
strikes the islands of the C. de Muchas yllas, or Cape Cod, where, among 
the Elizabeth islands, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, the island of 
Louise is intended by the letter to be placed. This course, easterly, 
fixes the position of that island at this point. 

The fifth course and distance embrace fifteen leagues from the islands of 
C. de Muchas yllas, but the direction is not stated, and is left to be 
inferred from the fact which is stated that they proceeded on to another 
place where they entered a harbor, at the mouth of a large bay opening 
between north and east, of twelve leagues in width. This course must 
therefore have been northerly and proceeded along the easterly shore of C. 
de Muchas yllas or Cape Cod. 

The sixth runs easterly from the harbor on the C. de Muchas yllas, or Cape 
Cod, one hundred and fifty leagues easterly which include the opening of 
the great bay of twelve leagues and proceeds along the Arecifes or C. 
Sable on the coast of Nova Scotia to the Sarcales, probably Cape Canso at 
Chedabucto bay, where the coast trended more northerly. 

The seventh, from the Sarcales, fifty leagues more to the north, extends 
along the tierra de los Bretones or island of C. Breton to the cape of 
that name, passing the R. de la buelta, the easterly limit of the voyage 
of Gomez. From this river easterly the map is compiled, as the names 
indicate, from Portuguese charts. 

The eighth, from C. Breton fifty leagues between north and east, runs 
along the easterly coast of the tierra de los Bretones, to the supposed 
northerly shore of the bay between that land and the tierra de los 
Bacallaos or Newfoundland, but in reality the southerly entrance into the 
gulf of St. Lawrence, 

The ninth from the termination of the last course, embraces one hundred 
and fifty leagues between north and east along the coast of the Bacallaos 
to C. Rasso or Cape Race and thence along the easterly coast of the 
Bacallaos to the Y. de Bacallaos In latitude 50 degrees N., the point of 
departure from the coast, and making the complement of 695 leagues, in 
all. 

Such exact and unexceptional concurrence in the observation of distances 
for over two thousand miles, as this comparison exhibits, by two different 
navigators sailing at different times, under different circumstances of 
wind and weather, and under different plans of exploration, is impossible. 
So far as regards the distances running north and south, such an agreement 
might happen, because the truth in that direction was ascertainable by any 
one, by means of observations of the latitude; but not as regards those 
running east and west; for these, no means of determining them existed, as 
before explained: and accordingly on the Ribero map they are grossly 
incorrect. From the Montana verde to the C. de Muchas yllas, that is, from 
the Hudson to the west end of the peninsula of Cape Cod, the distance 
appears to be eighty leagues, or nearly double its true length; while the 
width of the great bay between the C. de Muchas yllas and the Arecifes, or 
from Cape Cod to Cape Sable is shown to be less than twenty leagues, 
whereas it is more than fifty. And so also from the Arecifes to the 
Sarcales, from Cape Sable to Cape Canso, it is one hundred and thirty-five 
leagues on the map, or twice the actual distance. These great errors show 
how impossible it was at that time to calculate longitudinal distances 
correctly. But two navigators, sailing independently as mentioned, could 
not have fallen into these errors exactly to the same extent, exaggerated 
in the two cases by the same excessive length, and in the other by the 
same extraordinary diminution. Yet in the particulars just described the 
map and the letter correspond precisely. Such a coincidence of mistakes, 
could not have been accidental. 

One of these documents must, therefore, have been the source of the other. 
In determining between them, there can be no mistake in adopting as the 
original, that one which has a certain and indisputable authenticity, and 
rejecting that which is unsupported by any other testimony. The voyage of 
Gomez was long the subject of consideration and preparation, and was 
heralded to the world for months before it was undertaken. The order of 
the king of Spain under which it was made, still exists in the archives of 
that kingdom. The results of the expedition were announced by credible 
historians of the country, immediately after its return; and the nautical 
information which it brought back, and in regard to which alone it 
possessed any interest at the time, was transferred at once to the marine 
charts of the nation, imperfectly it is true, and spread before the world. 
These charts still remain in their original form, as they were then 
prepared. With these incontrovertible facts to sustain it, the discovery 
of Gomez must stand as established in history and, consequently, the claim 
of Verrazzano must fall.*

(* The map of Ribero is not a faithful representation of the exploration 
of Gomez, in many respects. The tierra de Ayllon is made to embrace a 
large portion of the country the coast of which was discovered by Gomez. 
The bay of Santa Maria, or the Chesapeake, is placed two degrees further 
south than it should he, that is, in latitude 35 degrees, instead of 37 
degrees N. The R. de los Gamos, or Penobscot, mentioned by Cespedes, is 
not named at all. The question, however, of its greater or less 
correctness is of no importance on the present occasion; it is sufficient 
that it was followed by the writer of the letter, erroneous as it was.)