Colombo and Verrazzano. Comparing Denominative Strategies

Abstract

The place naming strategies of Christopher Columbus and Giovanni da Verrazzano follow similar criteria: names that express religious devotion, names in honour of the financiers and protectors of their enterprises, names suggested by the characteristics of places, names linked to the personal domain, and so on. In particular those of Columbus aim to emphasise possession for the Spanish Crown, in those of Verrazzano there are references to the Florentine landscape. The study analyses analogies and differences, highlighting the symbolic power of naming as an act of discovery and appropriation.