John Cabot
Born c. 1450 Genoa, Italy
Died c. 1499 lost at sea
Occupation English maritime explorer
Commonly credited as the first European to discover the North American mainland, in 1497.
When he was 11, he and his family moved to Venice and became Venetian Citizens. Like other Italian explorers of the era, he had to sail from another country because the monarches of Italy were not on the forfront of exploration. For Cabot he chose England, so his explorations were made under the English flag.
His famous voyage took place in 1497, five years after Columbus' discovery of the Caribbean. Again, like Columbus, Cabot's intention had been to find a westerly sea route to Asia. It was probably on hearing of Columbus's discovery of the Indies that he decided to find a route to the west for himself. He went with his plans of discovery to England. He incorrectly thought spices were coming from northern Asia. He knew that the degrees of longitude were shorter the further one is from the equator, so the voyage from Western Europe to eastern Asia would be shorter at higher latitudes near the North Pole.
King Henry VII of England gave him a grant to go on "full and free authorities, leave, and power, to sail to all parties, countries, a see as, of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners and ensignes, with five ships ... and as many mariners or men as they will have in said ships, upon their own proper costes and charges, to seeke out, discover, and finde, whatsoever iles, countreyes, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidelles, whatsoever they bee, and in what part of the world soever they be, whiche before this time have beene unknowen to all Christians."
Cabot went to Bristol to make the preparations for his first voyage. Bristol was the second-largest seaport in England, and during the years from1480 onwards several expeditions had been sent out to look for Hy-Brazil, an island said to lie somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean according to legends. Some people even think Newfoundland may have been found on one of these voyages.
In 1496 Cabot set out from Bristol with one ship. But he got no further than Iceland and was forced to return because of problems with the crew. On a second voyage Cabot again used only one ship with 18 crewmen, the Matthew, a small ship (50 tons), but fast and able. He departed on either May 2 or May 20, 1497 and sailed to Dursey Head, Ireland. From there he sailed due west to Asia - or so he thought. He landed on the coast of Newfoundland on June 24, 1497. His precise landing-place is a matter of controversy, either Bonavista or St. John's. He went ashore to take possession of the land, and explored the coast for some time, and probably departed on July 20. On the homeward voyage his sailors thought they were going too far north, so Cabot sailed a more southerly course, reaching Brittany instead of England. On August 6 his ship arrived back in Bristol.
The location of Cabot's first landfall is not definitely known, due of lack of surviving evidence. Many experts think it was on Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, but others look for it in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Labrador, or Maine.
Cape Bonavista, however, is the location recognised by the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom as being Cabot's official landing. His men may have been the first Europeans to set foot on the American mainland since the Vikings.
Christopher Columbus did not find the mainland until his third voyage a year later, in 1498. Documents referring to a voyage by Amerigo Vespucci in 1497 are generally believed to have been forgeries or fabrications.
Back in England, Cabot was made an admiral, rewarded with £10 and a patent was written for a new voyage. Later, a pension of £20 a year was granted to him.
The next year, 1498, he departed again on his third voyage, with 5 ships this time. The expedition made for an Irish port, because of distress. Except for one ship, Cabot and his expedition were never heard from again and are presumed to have been lost at sea.
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