Editing History of Italy (section)

===Age of Discovery===
Italian{{Efn|Though the modern state of Italy had yet to be established, the Latin equivalent of the [[Italians#Name|term Italian]] had been in use for natives of [[Italian geographical region|the region]] since antiquity. See [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Epistulae (Pliny)|Letters]]'' 9.23.}} [[List of Italian explorers|explorers]] and navigators from the dominant [[maritime republics]], eager to find an alternative route to the Indies to bypass the [[Ottoman Empire]], played a key role in the [[Age of Discovery]] and European colonization of the Americas. The most notable among them were [[Christopher Columbus]], who is credited with discovering the New World;<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, 1993 ed., Vol. 16, pp. 605ff / Morison, ''Christopher Columbus'', 1955 ed., pp. 14ff</ref> [[John Cabot]], the first European to set foot in "New Found Land" and explore parts of the North American continent in 1497;<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007 |title=''Catholic Encyclopedia'' "John & Sebastian Cabot" |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03126d.htm |access-date=17 May 2008 |publisher=newadvent}}</ref> [[Amerigo Vespucci]], who first demonstrated in about 1501 that the New World was not Asia as initially conjectured but a different continent ([[Naming of the Americas|America]] is named after him);<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martone |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHJ1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People |date=2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-6106-9995-2 |page=504}}</ref> and [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]], the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=George Washington |author-link=George Washington Greene |url={{Google books|1qsuAAAAYAAJ|page=PA13|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Life and Voyages of Verrazzano |date=1837 |publisher=Folsom, Wells, and Thurston |location=Cambridge University |page=13 |access-date=18 August 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Marcos de Niza|Marco da Nizza]] explored the region that later became [[History of Arizona|Arizona]] and [[History of New Mexico|New Mexico]] in 1539. [[Henri de Tonti]] explored the Great Lakes region and co-founded New Orleans. Italian missionaries, including [[Alessandro Geraldini]], [[François-Joseph Bressani]], and [[Eusebio Kino]], played a role in establishing Catholic missions in California. Kino explored and mapped the southwest and California.<ref>Rolle, ''The immigrant upraised'' pp. 339–349.</ref> In the beginning of the 15th century, adventurers and traders such as [[Niccolò Da Conti]] travelled as far as Southeast Asia.
{{Gallery|align=center
|width=160 |File:Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio - Ritratto di Cristoforo Colombo (1520).jpg|[[Christopher Columbus]], who is credited with discovering the New World
|File:Amerigo Vespucci (with turban) - cropped.jpg|[[Amerigo Vespucci]], who first demonstrated in about 1501 that the New World was not Asia as initially conjectured but a different continent ([[Naming of the Americas|America]] is named after him)
|File:John-cabot-2.jpg|[[John Cabot]], the first European to set foot in "New Found Land" and explore parts of the North American continent in 1497
|File:Giovanni da Verrazano.jpg|[[Giovanni da Verrazzano]], the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524
}}