Giovanni Caboto, better known as John Cabot, was an English navigator of Italian descent. He held important posts and achieved a lot, but today he is better known as the person who discovered North America.
Biography
Giovanni Caboto was born in Genoa, but later John's father decided to move to Venice, where they settled for a long time. Here, the future sailor lived for many years, managed to get a family: a wife and three children. Subsequently, one of his sons will become a follower of his father and will take part in his expedition.
Living in Venice, Cabot worked as a sailor and merchant. Once in the East, he had the opportunity to talk with Arab merchants, from whom he tried to find out who supplies them with spices.
Career
It was during his travels to the East that John Cabot began to think about reaching unknown lands through the northwest, since the existence of America was not yet known. He tried to inspire the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs with his ideas, but he did not succeed. Therefore, in the early 1490s, the sailor went to England, where he would be called John in the English manner, and not Giovanni.
Soon after Columbus was able to discover new lands, that is, South America, the Bristol merchants decided to organize an expedition, the commander of which was appointed Cabot.
First expedition
In 1496, at that time, the already well-known seafarer managed to get permission from the English king to sail under the English flag. In 1497, he departed from the port of Bristol to reach China by water. This expedition was very successful and quickly yielded results. At the end of June, the ship reached the island, although it was not clear what John Cabot had discovered. There are two versions, one of them was the Labrador Peninsula, the other - Newfoundland.
Since the Normans, this discovery was the first reliable visit to North America by Europeans. It is noteworthy that Cabot himself believed that he almost managed to get to East Asia, but he deviated from the course and went too far north.
Having landed on the terra incognita, Cabot called the new land the possession of the English crown and went on. Heading south-east with the intention to reach China, the navigator noticed large schools of cod and herring in the sea. This was the area that is now known as the Big Newfoundland Bank. Since a very large number of fish is found in this area, after its discovery, English merchants lost the need to go for it to Iceland.
Second expedition
In 1498, a second attempt was made to conquer new lands, and John Cabot was again appointed head of the expedition. The discovery of North America this time did take place. Despite the scarce surviving information, it is known that the expedition managed to reach the mainland, along which the ships passed all the way to Florida.
It is not known for certain how the life of John Cabot ended, presumably, he died on the way, after which the leadership of the expedition passed to his son, Sebastian Cabot. Sailors periodically landed on the shore, where they met people dressed in animal skins who had neither gold nor pearls. Due to a lack of supplies, it was decided to return to England, where the ships arrived in the same year 1498.
The inhabitants of England, however, as well as the sponsors of the expedition, decided that the trip was unsuccessful, because huge funds were spent on it, and as a result, the sailors could not bring anything of value. The British hoped to find a direct sea route to Katay or India, and received only new, almost uninhabited land. Because of this, over the next few decades, the inhabitants of foggy Albion have not made new attempts to find a short road to East Asia.
Sebastian Cabot
John Cabot, Sebastian’s father, obviously had a great influence on his son, given that even after his death, he continued his father’s work and became a navigator. Returning from an expedition where he replaced his father after his death, Sebastian achieved success in his craft.
He was invited to Spain, where he became a helmsman, and in 1526-1530 led a serious expedition that went to the shores of South America. He managed to reach the La Plata River, and then swim inland through the Parana and Paraguay.
After this expedition, under the Spanish flag, Sebastian returned to England, where he was appointed the chief overseer of the naval department, and later became one of the founders of the English fleet. Inspired by the glances held by his father John Cabot, Sebastian also sought to find a sea route to Asia.
These two famous sailors have done a lot for the development of new lands. Despite the fact that in the 15-16th centuries it was not only difficult to make such long and distant journeys, but also dangerous, brave father and son were devoted to their ideas. But, unfortunately, John Cabot, whose discoveries could fundamentally change the life of Europeans, did not know what he managed to accomplish.