John Cabot was the first European to find the coast of North America. He was an Italian navigator and explorer. Cabot chose to sail west from Bristol in May 1497, with the support of English King Henry VII, in order to locate a straight path to Asia. He discovered a territory in June and named it Newfoundland. He thought it was Asia at the time and claimed it for England. After returning to England, he organized his second mission and set sail. In May 1498, he embarked on an expedition to find Japan with a fleet of four or five ships. Cabot is thought to have made it to North America, but he never returned. During his lifetime, Cabot embarked on a number of expeditions. The fate of his final mission is unknown, and several investigations have been conducted to learn more about Cabot’s final voyage. Alwyn Ruddock, a historian, had been researching Cabot and his time for 35 years. She had definite assertions concerning Cabot’s final expedition, and she believed Cabot and his ship came to England safely in the year 1500. On the 500th anniversary of Cabot’s trip, the Canadian and British governments chose Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, as the site of his first landfall. However, a few additional locations have been suggested as well.
Childhood and Adolescence
Around the year 1450, John Cabot was born in Genoa, Italy. Giulio Caboto, his father, was a spice merchant. Piero Cabot was John Cabot’s younger brother.Cabot learnt sailing and navigating from Italian mariners and merchants when he was 11 years old. Cabot was welcomed into the religious confraternity of St John the Evangelist in 1471. This was a prominent confraternity in the city.
Later Years he was granted full Venetian citizenship in 1476, making him eligible for marine trade. This included trade with the eastern Mediterranean, which was Venice’s primary source of riches.According to one document dating from 1483, he sold a slave in Crete whom he met in the Sultan of Egypt’s domains, the majority of which is now Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.
Because of the Mediterranean commerce, Cabot learned more about the origins of oriental (West Asian) goods. This enabled him to cope with spices and silks better than most Europeans at the time.Cabot ran into financial difficulties in November 1488 and was forced to flee Venice due to his debts. He relocated to Valencia, Spain, at the time, but his creditors attempted to have him arrested by mailing “a letter of reference to justice.”He changed his identity to “John Cabot Montecalunya” while in Spain and made plans to improve the harbor. Unfortunately, these ideas were turned down.
He travelled to Seville in early 1494, when he was hired to build a stone bridge across the Guadalquivir River. He worked on the project for five months. This project, too, was shelved on December 24, 1494.
Following this, Cabot requested financing for an Atlantic expedition from Seville and Lisbon. Following that, he relocated to London in quest of financial and political help. He is thought to have arrived in England around mid-1495.
Like all other Italian explorers, Cabot led many commission trips to European states. Many historians believe that when Cabot arrived in England, he went to Bristol, a significant maritime city, to seek financial assistance.
All of John Cabot’s journeys must have started from Bristol, according to his royal patent, implying that his financial backers were from the same city. Historian Ruddock claimed to have discovered proof of this.
Father Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis, a Franciscan, was a deputy to a tax collector named Adriano Castellesi, according to Ruddock. Carbonariis is thought to have joined Cabot on his 1498 mission. Cabot was also introduced to King Henry VII by the monk.Cabot traveled to Bristol, England’s second-largest seaport, to prepare for his expedition. Cabot’s first journey is shrouded in mystery due to a lack of documentation.Some historians believe Cabot sailed from Bristol in 1496 with only one ship.
He was compelled to return due to a lack of food, poor weather, and a disagreement with his crew.His second expedition took place in May 1497, and the information comes from four short letters and an entry in the city of Bristol’s chronicle dated 1565. The trip with Cabot’s ship Matthew on St. John the Baptist’s Day is mentioned in the chronicle entry for 1496/7.Another letter, written in 1497 by a Bristol merchant named John Day and addressed to Christopher Columbus, mentions Cabot’s second journey.
Furthermore, Ruddock claimed to have uncovered another letter written on August 10, 1497. However, this letter has yet to be discovered.Cabot and his men are thought to have landed on June 24, 1497, after sailing around Ireland and then north and west. The exact location of the landing is unknown, however it’s thought to be in southern Labrador, Newfoundland, or Cape Breton.Some speculate that Cabot and his team discovered a plethora of fresh fisheries during their journey in 1497. Cabot witnessed the water “swarming with fish, which could not be taken with a net, but in baskets,” according to the Milanese envoy to England.
The fish was cod, and its abundance on the Grand Banks created the groundwork for Newfoundland’s fishing economy.Cabot met the King when he returned to Bristol, and he was given £10, which was the equal of two years’ wages. Cabot was granted a £20 per year pension in December 1497. In 1498, he was also granted a new letter patent covering the expedition.In May 1498, John Cabot embarked on a new journey with five ships and 300 crew men. The ships contained enough food and some samples of cloth, lace points, and other “trifles,” indicating that they intended to trade.One of the five ships was crippled and had to sail to Ireland, while the others continued on their journey.
The fate of John Cabot and his ships is unclear after this. Some speculate that they were lost at sea for several days.Cabot and his fleet may have returned to England in 1500, according to historian Ruddock. Some historians believe Cabot explored the Canadian coast and stayed in Newfoundland, where he established a mission with the assistance of a priest.The governments of the United Kingdom and Canada selected Cape Bonavista as his “official” landing spot on his 500th anniversary voyages. The duplicate of Matthew of Bristol is claimed to have been welcomed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997.
Achievements of John
Since the Vikings, John Cabot is regarded as the first European to land in North America. For the British, he claimed the island of Newfoundland.
Personal History and Legacy
In 1474, John Cabot married a woman named Mattea. Ludovico, Sancto, and Sebastiano were the couple’s three sons. Sebastinao Cabot, Cabot’s son, followed in his father’s footsteps and became an adventurer.When and how John Cabot died is unknown. Cabot was last recorded in 1508-1509, when he embarked on an expedition with his son Sebastiano. After that, nothing is clear; he could have perished during the journey or after returning from it.To commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot’s voyage, a tower named ‘Cabot Tower’ was built in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1897.
In 1925, an Italian club in Ontario was founded in his honor, the Giovanni Caboto Club.At 1952, a statue of John Cabot was built in Bristol’s Council House.In 1972, John Cabot University, a modest American liberal arts university in Rome, Italy, was named after him.In 1985, Stephen Joyce sculpted a bronze statue of Cabot, which can be found at Bristol Harbourside.In Bristol, a replica of Cabot’s ship Matthew was built. The ‘Matthew of Bristol’ docked in Bristol to commemorate Matthew’s 500th birthday.
In Bristol, England, a John Cabot Academy has been established.Cabot Squares can be found in London and Montreal, while John Cabot Road is located in north Phoenix, Arizona.Cabot Street in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, was named after him by the land that he discovered.Cabot’s bronze statue may be found in St. John’s at the Confederation Building. A bronze statue of Cabot can also be found in Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland.
Trivia
Giovanni Caboto is his Italian name, and John Cabot is his English name.The Cabot Project began in 2009 at the University of Bristol with the goal of uncovering proof for Ruddock’s assertions and conducting research on Cabot and his missions.