john cabot or giovanni caboto as he was known in italian was a famous explorer who sailed from england to modern day canada in 1497. he was the first known european to explore the north american coast since the vikings did so around 1000 a.d while leif erickson and the vikings are remembered for sailing to canada it was john cabot who helped europe and more specifically england stake a claim to the north american territory for reference cabot sailed about 1500 years after leif erickson and the vikings about five years after columbus and nearly 100 years before henry
hudson john cabot was born around 1450 in italy eventually taking up residence in venice and becoming a citizen there historians are mostly in the dark when it comes to cabot's childhood but we do know he eventually took a trade as a venetian merchant where he learned about business trade and ships he likely traded eastern goods like spices silk and potentially even slaves however cabot found himself in some debt and was forced to leave his home in venice he traveled through spain and portugal before eventually settling in england in order to escape these debts once in
england much like columbus who was also born in modern day italy cabot sought to finance a voyage sailing west to find a route to asia across the atlantic ocean not long after arriving in england cabot was able to secure enough money to make a voyage the king of england henry vii provided cabot and his sons with the letters of patton to make his voyage initially he had a ship and about 18 men in his command while the exact details of cabot's voyages are still debated by historians cabot likely made three voyages and they likely weren't
easy as he sailed even farther north than the doomed titanic the first voyage most likely occurred in 1496 with a bout of bad weather forcing him to turn back to england the second voyage was more successful with cabot sailing from bristol england to modern day canada in 1497. he likely landed somewhere near what is now newfoundland here cabot claimed the land for king henry vii in england ultimately believing he had landed it somewhere in asia the sailors didn't encounter any natives but there was evidence that people had lived there in 1498 cabot set out on
a final voyage with five ships and around 200 men one of the ships showed up in ireland damaged most likely from a storm no one knows what happened to cabot after 1498 or the other four ships it is thought that his men were likely lost at sea while cabot never did discover asia his voyage proved that there was a viable short route over the north atlantic ocean his voyage and his claims to north america for england would be of huge importance for england's eventual north american colonies and modern day america you
