Giovanni Da Verrazano was born in 1485 in the area of Italy known as Tuscany. His family was wealthy and Verrazano was sent to Florence for his education. He was a good student and had a special interest in mathematics. He later moved to the port city of Dieppe in order to pursue a career as a navigator. He made several voyages to countries east of the Mediterranean sea and gained a reputation as a master mariner.

During this time, Lyons was the center of the French silk industry. A group of Italian bankers and merchants residing in Lyons hired Verrazano to look for a western sea route to Cathay [China]. A western route would drastically lower the cost to ship silk over a long land route. The bankers formed a syndicate and in March of 1523 large sums of money were spent to outfit the expedition. The bankers won the support of the French king and Verrazano sailed with a commission from King Francis I to explore the coast of the New Land in search of a passage to the Orient.

Verrazano sailed for the New Land in a single caravel named the Dauphine. The ship was one hundred tons, carried a crew of fifty and provisions to last for eight months.

In March 1524, after sailing for forty-nine days, he sighted a low-lying coast we now know as North Carolina. The expedition continued north gathering information to provide Europe with the first known description of the coastline of North America.

The Dauphine continued northward along the coast to Narragansett Bay and up the coast of today's Maine. When the expedition reached the area of Newfoundland provisions began to run low. Verrazano decided to return to France and steered east.

The ship made a speedy passage and returned to Dieppe by July 8, 1524. Verrazano believed that the coast between Florida and Newfoundland belonged to a completely new world. He had found a new land which could be of great value to France. He hoped to return to explore further.