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Giovanni Caboto (c. 1450 – c. 1499), known in English as John Cabot, was an Italian navigator and explorer commonly credited as the first early modern European to discover the North American mainland, in 1497, notwithstanding Leif Ericson's landing (circa 1000).

Biography

Cabot was born in 1450 in, or around Genoa. When he was 11, he moved to Venice and became a Venetian citizen. He grew up there.

Like other Italian explorers of the era, such as Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo), Cabot made another country his base of operations. For Cabot it was England, so his explorations were made under the English flag. The voyage that saw him and his crew discover the North American mainland – the first Europeans known to do so since the Vikings – 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 to England, because he incorrectly thought spices were coming from northern Asia; and a degree of longitude is shorter the further one is from the equator, so the voyage from western Europe to eastern Asia would be shorter at higher latitudes.

King Henry VII of England gave him a grant to go on "full and free authority, leave, and power, to sail to all parts, countries, a see as, of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners and ensigns, with five ships ... and as many mariners or men as they will have in said ships, upon their own proper costs and charges, to seek out, discover, and find, whatsoever isles, countries, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidels, whatsoever they bee, and in what part of the world soever they be, which before this time have been unknown to all Christians."

Cabot went to Bristol to make the preparations for his voyage. Bristol was the second-largest seaport in England, and during the years from 1480 onwards several expeditions had been sent out to look for Hy-Brazil, an island said to lie somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean according to Celtic 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 disputes with the crew. On a second voyage Cabot again used only one ship with 18 crew, 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, and on August 6 arrived back in Bristol.

The location of Cabot's first landfall is not definitely known, due to 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, in 1498, and letters 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, 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.

John's son, Sebastian Cabot, later made a voyage to North America, looking for the hoped for Northwest Passage (1508), and another to repeat Magellan's voyage around the world, but which instead ended up looking for silver along the Río de la Plata (1525-8).

In 1498-1500 a few Portuguese travelers, Miguel and Gaspar Corte-Real being the most famous participants, visited Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland. In 1501-1505 an English syndicate, consisting of 3 Azoreans and 2 English traders, made voyages to Newfoundland. From 1504, if not before, Breton, Basque, Portuguese and English fishermen crossed the ocean to catch fish on the Newfoundland banks.

Along with Cabot Tower in St. John's, Newfoundland, Cabot is remembered in Bristol, England by the Cabot Tower, a 30-metre tall red sandstone tower of 1897 (the 400th anniversary of the landing) on Brandon Hill near the city center, by a replica of the Matthew built in the city and by a statue of the explorer on the harbourside.

Gallery

• Cabot Tower (Bristol), distant view
• Cabot Tower (Bristol), close up
• Cabot Tower (Bristol), extreme close up. Notice the CCCC on the turret (meaning 400)
• Cabot Tower (Newfoundland) postage stamp
• John Cabot Stamp.
• Letters patent for a voyage to discover new lands granted to John Cabot and his three sons by the king of England, Henry VII, at Westminster on March 5, 1496. Letters patent for a voyage to discover new lands granted to John Cabot and his three sons by the king of England, Henry VII, at Westminster on March 5, 1496.
• A replica of the Matthew in Floating Harbour,Bristol

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• This article incorporates material from http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/cabot.html . Copied with permission.
• Catholic Encyclopedia "John & Sebastian Cabot"
• Gibbons, Henry K. 1997. The Myth and Mystery of John Cabot: The Discoverer of North America. Marten Cat Publishers, Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland. Preface and first chapter
• Derek Croxton, The Cabot Dilemma: John Cabot's 1497 Voyage & the Limits of Historiography, 1990-1991
• The John Day Letter 1497-1498
• Home page of the Matthew replica with information about Cabot and the voyage.
• John Cabot memorial Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
• Script about Vespucci's and Caboto's voyages
• Preface and first chapter *Gibbons, Henry K. 1997. The Myth and Mystery of John Cabot: The Discoverer of North America. Marten Cat Publishers, Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland.

• Italian explorers
• Age of Discovery
• History of Bristol
• Explorers of Canada
• People lost at sea
• 1450 births
• 1499 deaths