(Lived in England from 1472-1498).
| Map showing the city of Venice, Italy, where John Cabot had lived. |
[21. John Cabot discovers the continent of North America.]—At the time that Columbus set out on his first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492, John Cabot, an Italian merchant, was living in the city of Bristol,[2] England. When the news reached that city that Columbus had discovered the West Indies, Cabot begged Henry the Seventh, king of England, to let him see if he could not find a shorter way to the Indies than that of Columbus. The king gave his consent, and in the spring of 1497 John Cabot, with his son Sebastian,[3] who seems to have been born in Bristol, sailed from that port. They headed their vessels toward the northwest; by going in that direction they hoped to get to those parts of Asia and the Spice Islands which were known to Europe, and which Columbus had failed to reach.
Early one bright morning toward the last of June, 1497, they saw land in the west. It was probably Cape Breton[4] Island, a part of Nova Scotia.[5] John Cabot named it "The Land First Seen." Up to this time Columbus had discovered nothing but the West India Islands, but John Cabot now saw the continent of North America; no civilized man[6] had ever seen it before. There it lay, a great, lonely land, shaggy with forests, with not a house or a human being in sight.
1 Cabot (Cab'ot).
2 See map in paragraph [62].
3 Sebastian (Se-bast'yan).
4 Breton (Bret'on).
5 Nova Scotia (No'vah Sko'she-a).