John Cabot
John Cabot made the first documented European landfall in North America since the Norse. Born Giovanni Caboto in Italy around 1450, probably in Genoa, he became a Venetian citizen in 1476 after fifteen years' residence, and traded in the eastern Mediterranean, reportedly visiting Mecca to see where spices arrived from. He concluded, as Columbus had, that Asia could be reached by sailing west, and argued additionally that the northern route would be shorter because the degrees of longitude converge. He sought backing in Seville and Lisbon without success, and moved to Bristol around 1495, a port whose merchants had already been sending ships west in search of the island of Brasil. Henry VII granted him letters patent in March 1496 authorising him to sail under the English flag and claim lands unknown to Christians, with the crown taking a fifth of the profits. A first attempt in 1496 turned back. He sailed from Bristol in May 1497 in the Matthew with about eighteen men, and made landfall on 24 June — the location is disputed between Newfoundland, Cape Breton and Labrador. He went ashore once, planted banners, saw signs of habitation but no people, and coasted for about a month before returning in fifteen days. He reported waters so thick with cod that they could be taken in baskets, which drew European fishing fleets to the Grand Banks for centuries. He was rewarded with ten pounds and a pension, and sailed again in 1498 with five ships. One returned to Ireland; the rest, and Cabot, were never reliably heard of again.
- Lived: 1450 CE – 1500 CE
- Nationality: Genoese
- Roles: navigator, explorer
