John+Cabot



** John Cabot **
Sam Hayes: Early Life

Dominic Phillips: Working Life/Editor

Joe Russo: First Voyage

David Vorich: Second Voyage



=__**Early Life**__= John Cabot (about 1450-1499) English explorer and navigator. His given name was Giovanni Caboto, his birth place was Genoa, Italy. His father Guilo Caboto was a spice merchant. His three sons: Ludovico, Sebastiona and Sancto. John Cabot appears in the Venetian records in 1471 when he was accepted into the religious confraternity of St John the Evangelist. 1476, Cabot lived in Venice, Italy, the main trading centre for the entire Mediterranean region. He worked there as a merchant and a navigator. Horrible experiences with Arab traders could have influenced Cabot’s decision to find a sea route to the Far East which would allow merchants to trade directly with Asian traders instead of the Arab traders.

=__**Working Life**__= John Cabot started his working life by studying: cartography, navigation, astronomy, mathematics and seamanship. John Cabot started his first real job when he moved from Genoa to Venice in 1461. He helped out by working for his family spice trading bussiness. John Cabot gained Venetian citizenship on the 28th of March 1476. In the 1490's, Cabot moved to Bristal to start his true career. He was sent on many expeditions to start of with, and then he got to more serious work such as voyages. Cabot was known as an extremely talented voyager who's work will be remembered forever.

=__ First Voyage __=

John Cabot was an experienced seaman, navigator and spice merchant. After the success of Italian Christopher Columbus and his expeditions, John Cabot sought the patronage of the English Tudor King Henry VII so he could do for England what Columbus had done for Spain. 1496 March 5: King Henry VII granted Cabot the right to 'seek’ islands and countries of the heathen towards the west, east, and north' sailing for England. 1497 May 2: John Cabot embarked on his ship, the Matthew, with a crew of 18 including his three sons, to explore the lands across the Atlantic, hoping to find a sea route, a north west passage to the Indies and China even though he was actually going to north America. 1497 June 9: John Cabot reached the ‘New World’ The landing spot is unsure, either being Cape Breton Island or Labrador 1497 August - John Cabot and his crew of the Matthew landed the ship in Bristol, England to great acclaim 1497 August 6: John Cabot achieved fame and glory. He was given a gift of £10* for having "found the new isle." King Henry VII also granted John Cabot a pension of £20* a year
 * The wealthy pay averaged on £5 per year.

According to the laws of discovery in force at that time, when a country discovered an island, that entire island belonged to that country. Since the New World was one continent or landmass from north to south, John Cabot's claim of first discovery extends to the entire New World. Christopher Columbus can claim the islands of Santo Domingo, Cuba and the Caribbean Islands, but that’s all. Therefore it can be said that Cabot was a better explorer.

<The route taken by Cabot

= __**Second Voyage**__ =

When Cabot arrived back in England after supposedly reaching “The Land of the Spices” he was treated as a hero amongst the people. On the 10th of August he was payed £10 which back then was the equivalent to two years pay for the average working man. He was made an Admiral but shortly after his fame the Kings attention was directed to the Second Cornish Uprising. After King Henry’s throne was secure he started to give more thought to Cabot once again. He was awarded with £20 pension per year, and in 1498 he was encouraged to begin a second voyage. In March and April the King made a number of loans to Lancelot Thirkill of London, Thomas Bradley and John Cair who were to accompany Cabot on his second voyage. The newspaper at the time reported that Cabot left with a fleet of five ships from the city of Bristol at the beginning of May. The ships departed carrying merchandise (cloth, caps, lace points etc.) so that suggests that they wanted to trade with the people of the new land. A large storm hit the ships forcing one to land in Ireland but the other 4 kept moving. There are no other records about the voyage and it is believed that he did not return and so this was his final voyage.