John Cabot Research Paper

Introduction

John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. He who was also the first European to discover the coast of North America. John Cabot was born in Genoa, Italy somewhere around in the 1450 and died in 1509 late after his successful voyage he later died in 1509. His father, Giulio Caboto, was a spice merchant. John Cabot had a brother named Piero. John Cabot was 11 years old of age when he learned sailing and navigation from Italian seamen and merchants. In 1471, Cabot was got accepted by the a religious confraternity of St. John the Evangelist.

Family and Early Life

In 1474, John Cabot married a young woman nameds Mattea. The couple had three sons: Ludovico, Sancto and Sebastiano. Sebastiano would later follow in his father’s footsteps, becoming an explorer in his own right. Cabot officially became a Venetian citizen in 1476 and began conducting trade in the eastern Mediterranean. Records indicate that he got

Hearing of opportunities in England, Cabot traveled there and met with King Henry VII, who gave him a grant, who gave him a grant to seek out, discover, and find new lands for England. In early May of 1497, Cabot left Bristol, England, on the Matthew, a fast and able ship weighing 50 tons, with a crew of 18 men. Cabot and his crew sailed west and north, under Cabot’s belief that the route to Asia would be shorter from northern Europe than Columbus’s voyage along the trade winds. On June 24, 1497, 50 days into the voyage, Cabot landed on the east coast of North America. The precise location of Cabot’s landing is subject to controversy. Some historians believe that Cabot landed at Cape Breton Island or mainland Nova Scotia. Others believe he may have landed at Newfoundland, Labrador or even Maine. Though the Matthew’s logs are incomplete, it is believed that John Cabot went ashore with a small party and claimed the land for the King of