16th century in North American history 16th century in North American history The historical record in North America begins in the second half of the 16th century, with ongoing European exploration. Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the East Coast of North America from Florida to presumably Newfoundland in 1524. Jacques Cartier made a series of voyages on behalf of the French crown in 1534 and explored the St. Lawrence River. André Thevet's "The new found worlde, or Antarctike" is an English translation of Thevet's "Les singularitez de la France antarctique", first published in 1558. André Thevet was a Franciscan friar who accompanied Villegagnon in 1555 when he
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day" (1852), which depicts a Catholic woman attempting to convince her Huguenot lover to wear the white scarf badge of the Catholics and protect himself. The man, true to his beliefs, gently refuses her. Millais was inspired to create the painting after seeing Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots". Mark Twain described the massacre in "From the Manuscript of 'A Tramp Abroad' (1879): The French and the Comanches," an essay about "partly civilized races." He wrote in part, "St. Bartholomew's was unquestionably the finest thing of the kind ever devised and accomplished in the world. All the best people took