World map on vellum, c.1540 (vellum)

Creator: Brother of Giovanni Verrazano Single sheet. Coloured manuscript drawn on vellum. Prime meridian through Tenerife. Scene depicting the annunciation at the neck. This chart is attributed to the brother of Giovanni Verrazano. The Verrazano brothers, from Florence, were engaged on an expedition sponsored by Francis I of France to search for a passage to Asia. This explored the coast of North America between 1523 and 1528. Verrazano mistook the inner waters of Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, for the Pacific Ocean and drew an imaginary coastline roughly parallel to the Gulf of Mexico to create what is sometimes called the Sea of Verrazano.