John Cabot’s voyage to North America
John Cabot, an Italian navigator in English service, crossed the North Atlantic in the small ship Matthew and reached Newfoundland or nearby Cape Breton Island — the first European to do so since the Norse, who had sailed to Vinland in the 11th century.
- Date
- May 1497 – 6 August 1497start: month known; end: exact date · duration: ≈ 3 months
- Place
- Cape Bonavista (presumed landfall)approximate locationtoday: Newfoundland, Canada · North America
- Route
- Bristol → Bristol Channel → Atlantic off the southwestern tip of Ireland → North Atlantic → North Atlantic → Cape Bonavista (presumed landfall) → Along the coast of Newfoundland → Off the northern tip of Newfoundland → North Atlantic (return voyage) → Atlantic off the southwestern tip of Ireland → Bristol
- Participants
- John Cabot, Henry VII, Kingdom of England
- Threads
- Age of Discovery and the New World
- Also known as
- Плавание «Мэтью»; Открытие Ньюфаундленда
Having received letters patent from King Henry VII to search for new lands, Cabot, like Columbus, hoped to reach the rich countries of Asia by sailing west. The Matthew, with a crew of 18 to 20, left Bristol in May 1497 (on 2 May, according to a later Bristol chronicle) and made landfall on 24 June, the feast of St. John the Baptist. Exactly where is unknown: Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island are the most likely candidates, and for the 500th anniversary of the voyage Canada and the United Kingdom recognized Cape Bonavista as the landing site.
Cabot went ashore only once; he raised the papal and Venetian banners and claimed the land for the English king. The sailors met no people but saw traces of campsites, and huge shoals of cod off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. After several weeks of sailing along the coast, the Matthew returned to Bristol on 6 August. The fate of Cabot’s next expedition (1498) is unknown, but the 1497 voyage became the basis of English claims in North America. The route is shown approximately.
Connections
Related events
- First voyage of Christopher Columbus3 August 1492 – 15 March 1493 · Western and Central Europelike Columbus, Cabot sought a western route to Asia; the Bristol merchant John Day’s letter about the voyage of the Matthew was apparently addressed to Columbus
- Voyages of the Corte-Real brothers to Newfoundland1500–1502 · North AmericaCabot’s landfall for England prompted Portugal to explore the North Atlantic
- Jacques Cartier’s second voyage — up the Saint Lawrence River19 May 1535 – 16 July 1536 · North AmericaCabot had reached the shores of Newfoundland 38 years before Cartier; Cartier was the first to push deep into the continent
Same participants
- Battle of Bosworth Field22 August 1485 · Western and Central Europevia Henry VII
Adjacent events in the thread
- Treaty of Tordesillas7 June 1494 · Western and Central Europe
- Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut20 May 1498 · South Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Expulsion and forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal5 December 1496 – October 1497
- Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supperc. 1495 – 1498
- Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India8 July 1497 – between August and September 1499
Eastern Europe
- Sudebnik of 1497September 1497
Africa
- Askia Muhammad’s pilgrimage to Meccabetween 1495 and 1497 – between 1497 and 1498
South Asia
- Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut20 May 1498
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): John Cabot
- Wikipedia (Russian): Кабот, Джон
- Pope P. E. The Many Landfalls of John Cabot. — Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.
- Wikidata: Q120450748