What was giovanni caboto famous for

John Cabot was a Venetian explorer and navigator known for his voyage to North America, where he claimed land in Canada for England. In , Verrazzano set out on his second voyage. This time, he commanded a fleet of ships sent on an expedition to South America. Part of his goal was to search for a passage through the continent to the Pacific Ocean.

Verrazano reported that he and his crew were treated well by the Natives they encountered. The Europeans and the Indians shared meals and the Indians often organized sporting games for their mutual entertainment. In Narragansett Bay Indians came on board the ship.

His explorations demonstrated to Europeans that the coast from Florida to Cape Breton was continuous. Historians have long debated exactly where Cabot explored.

The most authoritative report of his journey was a letter by a London merchant named Hugh Say. The rough latitudes Say provided suggest Cabot made landfall around southern Labrador and northernmost Newfoundland , then worked his way southeast along the coast until he reached the Avalon Peninsula , at which point he began the journey home.

He also brought back a snare for capturing game and a needle for making nets. Say also said it was certain the land Cabot coasted was Brasil, a fabled island thought to exist somewhere west of Ireland.

Some believed he had reached another fabled island, the Isle of Seven Cities, thought to exist in the Atlantic. There were also reports Cabot had found an enormous new fishery. Henry VII rewarded Cabot with a royal pension on December and a renewed letters patent in February that gave him additional rights to help mount the next voyage. The additional rights included the ability to charter up to six ships as large as tons.

Despite reports from the voyage of masses of fish, no preparations were made to harvest them. A flotilla of probably five ships sailed in early May. What became of it remains a mystery. Historians long presumed, based on a flawed account by the chronicler Polydore Vergil, that all the ships were lost, but at least one must have returned.

At the time, the westward voyages of exploration out of Bristol between and about , as well as one by Sebastian Cabot around , were probably considered failures.

Their purpose was to secure trade opportunities with Asia, not new fishing grounds, which not even Cabot was interested in, despite praising the teeming schools. Instead of trade with Asia, Cabot and his Bristol successors found an enormous land mass blocking the way and no obvious source of wealth. He had read of fabulous Chinese cities in the writings of Marco Polo and wanted to see them for himself.

He hoped to reach them by sailing west, across the Atlantic. Like Christopher Columbus, Cabot found it very difficult to convince backers to pay for the ships he needed to test out his ideas about the world.

After failing to persuade the royal courts of Europe, he arrived with his family in , to try to persuade merchants in London and Bristol to pay for his planned voyage. Before he set off, Cabot heard that Columbus had sailed west across the Atlantic and reached land. At the time, everyone believed that this land was the Indies, or Spice Islands. King Henry VII would also take his share. He took possession of the land for King Henry, but hoisted both the English and Venetian flags.

Cabot explored the area and named various features of the region, including Cape Discovery, Island of St. John, St. These may correspond to modern-day places located around what became known as Cabot Strait, the mile-wide channel running between southwestern Newfoundland and northern Cape Breton Island. This time, he would continue westward from his first landfall until he reached the island of Cipangu Japan. In February , the king issued letters patent for the second voyage, and that May Cabot set off from Bristol with about five ships and men.

The exact fate of the expedition has not been established, but by July one of the ships had been damaged and sought anchorage in Ireland. It was believed that the ships had been caught in a severe storm, and by , Cabot himself was presumed to have perished at sea. In addition to laying the groundwork for British land claims in Canada, his expeditions proved the existence of a shorter route across the northern Atlantic Ocean, which would later facilitate the establishment of other British colonies in North America.

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