Verrazano

Giovanni Verrazano 1485-1528), an Italian navigator and explorer for France, was the first European to sight New York and Narragansett bays. In early 1524 he sailed to the New World and reached Cape Fear, then sailed northward, exploring the eastern coast of North America. He made several discoveries on the voyage, including the sites of present-day New York Harbor, Block Island, and Narragansett Bay, and was the first European explorer to name North American sites after persons and places in the Old World.