Giovanni da Verrazzano, the Florentine pirate and navigator employed by France, sailed along much of the northern North American coast in 1524. He visited New York harbor and the lower reaches of the Hudson River; no immediate settlement attempts followed. In 1609, Henry Hudson explored the river that bears his name. Although Hudson was an Englishman, he represented the Dutch, thus giving them a claim to the New Netherland. Between the years 1603 and 1609, the famed Samuel de Champlain explored the northern reaches of New York, which established a claim to the region by France.