Giovanni Caboto (
c.Circa means "in approximately" , referring to a date...
1450 – c. 1498) known in English as
John Cabot, was a
VenetianVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
navigatorA navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
and
explorerExploration is the act of searching or traveling a terrain for the purpose of discovery, e.g. of unknown people, including space , for oil, gas, coal, ores, caves, water, , or information.Although exploration has existed as long as human beings, its peak is seen as being during the Age of Discovery...
whose 1497 'discovery' of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
is commonly held to be the first European voyage to the continent since
NorsemanNorsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who speak one of the North Germanic languages as their native language. The meaning of Norseman was "people from the North"...
Leif EricsonLeif Ericson was a Norse explorer who is currently regarded as the first European to land in North America 492 years before Christopher Columbus...
's landing in c.1003. The Canadian and United Kingdom government's official position is that he landed on the island of Newfoundland. Reports about Cabot's 1497 voyage are often speculative.
Name and origins
Cabot's birthplace and name are both matters of much controversy. In Italy he is known today as Giovanni Caboto, in Spain as Juan Caboto and in England as John Cabot. The Spanish and English forms are not wrong as such, they merely reflect the way contemporary 15th-century documents described him. As for the way he described himself, only one set of documents have been found with his signature on them. These are Venetian testamentary documents of 1484, on which he signed himself as 'Zuan Chabotto'; Zuan being a form of 'John' typical to
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
. That he continued to use this form in England, at least among Italians, is supported by two letters written from London in 1497. One, from a London-based Venetian, gives Cabot's first name as 'Zuam'. Another, from the Milanese Ambassador, spells his name 'Zoane'.
GaetaGaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
or
Castiglione ChiavareseCastiglione Chiavarese is a comune in the Province of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about 50 km southeast of Genoa....
have both been proposed as birthplaces. The main evidence for Gaeta is that there are records of a Caboto family dwelling there till the mid-15th century but ceasing to be traceable after 1443. On the other hand, Pedro de Ayala, Cabot's contemporary in London, described him in 1498 as 'another Genoese like Columbus'. John Cabot's son, Sebastian, also appears to have believed that his father came originally from
GenoaGenoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000...
. At any rate, Cabot's alien origins are confirmed by his being made a Venetian citizen in 1476, which required a minimum of fifteen years residency in the city. He must therefore have lived in Venice since at least 1461.
Life until 1495
Cabot first appears in the Venetian records in 1470, when he was accepted into the religious
confraternityA confraternity is a lay, Roman Catholic organization created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety.Confraternity may also refer to:*Confraternities of the Cord*Confraternity of Catholic Saints...
of St John the Evangelist. Since this was one of the city's 'great' confraternities, this suggests that he was already a respected member of the community at this stage. Given this, it seems likely that he was born somewhat earlier than 'c.1450', which is the approximate date most commonly given for his birth.
Following Cabot's acquisition of full Venetian citizenship in 1476, he would have become eligible to engage in maritime trade, including the trade to the eastern Mediterranean, which was the source of much of Venice's wealth. He presumably became engaged in this trade shortly thereafter and is certainly mentioned in a document of 1483 selling a slave in
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
that he had acquired while in the territories of the
Sultan of EgyptAl-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872-901 A.H. . He was Circassian by birth, and was purchased by the ninth sultan Barsbay before being freed by the eleventh sultan Jaqmaq...
, which at that time included
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and the Lebannon. By itself, this this does not prove Cabot's later assertion that he had visited
MeccaMecca , sometimes spelled Makkah is the holiest meeting site of the Islamic religion. The city is modern, cosmopolitan and whilst being closed to non-Muslims is nonetheless ethnically diverse.Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants...
, made in 1497 to the Milanese ambassador in London. It does, however, suggest that he would have had much better knowledge of the origins of the oriental merchandise he would have been dealing in (such as spices and silks) than most Europeans at that time.
Zuan Caboto (John Cabot) is mentioned in a variety of Venetian records of the 1480s. These indicate that by 1484 he was married to Mattea and already had at least two sons. Cabot's sons are named in his 1496 royal patent as Ludovico,
SebastianSebastian Cabot was an Italian explorer, probably born in Venice.-Origins:...
, and Sancto. The Venetian sources also contain references to Cabot being involved in house building during his time there. This may be how he acquired the experience that later allowed him to promote himself as a civil engineer in Spain.
Cabot appears to have got into financial trouble in the late 1480s and had left Venice as an insolvent debtor by 5 November 1488. He moved to Valencia where his creditors attempted to have him arrested by sending a ‘lettere di raccomandazione a giustizia’ (‘a letter of recommendation to justice’) to the authorities. While in Valencia 'John Cabot Montecalunya' (as he referred to in local documents) proposed plans for improvements to the harbour. These proposals were rejected, however. Early in 1494 he moved on to
SevilleSeville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos or...
, where he proposed, was contracted to build and, for five months, worked on the construction of a stone bridge over the
GuadalquivirThe Guadalquivir is the second longest river in Spain , and the longest in Andalusia. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers...
river. This project was abandoned following a decision of the City Council on 24 December 1494. After this Cabot appears to have sought support for an Atlantic expedition in Seville and
LisbonLisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and the main city of the Lisbon region...
, before moving on to England. It therefore seems likely that he would have arrived in England around the middle of 1495.
Sponsorship
Like other Italian explorers, including
Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere...
, Cabot was commissioned by another country. Once
Henry the NavigatorHenry the Navigator was an infante of the Kingdom of Portugal and an important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire, being responsible for the beginning of the European worldwide explorations.Henry the Navigator was the third child of King John I of Portugal, the founder of the Aviz...
began searching for a route around Africa, the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain) began to attract Italian navigational talent, especially after
ColumbusChristopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere...
's discovery of "the Indies" (as all Asia was called at the time) by sailing west. After that voyage, a number of explorers headed in that direction; Cabot had a simple plan, to start from a northerly latitude where the longitudes are much closer together, and where, as a result, the voyage would be much shorter.
Historians have generally assumed that, on arrival in England, Cabot went straight to Bristol to seek backers. This seemed logical, given that his expeditions did, indeed, set out from this port and it was the only English city to have had a prior history of undertaking exploration expeditions out into the Atlantic. Moreover, since Cabot's royal patent (1496), stated that all expeditions should be undertaken from Bristol, it seemed that his primary supporters were likely to have come from that city. Yet, while Bristol may have seemed like the logical place for Cabot to go to seek funding, Dr
Alwyn RuddockDr Alwyn Ruddock was a noted historian of the Age of Discovery, best known for her research on the 'English' voyages of the 15th century explorer John Cabot...
, claimed to have found evidence that Cabot actually went first to London and received backing from the Italian community there. In particular, she suggested he found a patron in the form of Fr. Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis, an Augustinian friar who was also the deputy to the papal tax collector
Adriano CastellesiAdriano Castellesi, also known as Cardinal Adrian, Corneto, Adrian of Castello or Adriano de Castello was an Italian cardinal and writer.-Biography:Castellesi was born at Corneto....
. Ruddock suggested that it was Carbonariis, who certainly accompanied Cabot's 1498 expedition and who was on good terms with the King, who introduced the explorer to Henry VII. While some of Ruddock's claims in this respect have now been verified, her research notes can no longer be consulted, since they were all destroyed following her death in 2005.
On 5 March 1496 King
Henry VII of EnglandHenry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty.Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the political upheavals of the Wars...
gave Cabot
letters patentLetters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of an open letter issued by a monarch or government, granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or to some entity such as a corporation. The opposite of letters patent are letters close , which are personal in nature...
with the following charge:
Like his contemporary, King
Francis IFrancis I may refer to:* Francis I, Duke of Brittany * Francis I, Duke of Lorraine * Francis I of France...
of France, who would send Giovanni da Verrazzano to reconnoiter the eastern seaboard of North America, Henry VII may in part have been motivated by the perceived insolence of the division of the world into two halves by
Pope Alexander VIPope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol, later Roderic de Borja i Borja was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his surname became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era...
in the Bull
Inter CaeteraInter caetera was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on 4 May 1493, which granted to Spain all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands.It remains unclear to the present whether the pope was...
in 1493, which followed the success of Columbus's first voyage. In the
Treaty of TordesillasThe Treaty of Tordesillas , signed at Tordesillas , 7 June 1494, divided the "newly discovered" lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands...
(1494), this division had been modified slightly. Nevertheless, it still retained the principal that rights of exploration and exploitation of the non-Christian world were to be split between Spain and Portugal, with the Portuguese getting the eastern half and the Spanish the western half.
Explorations
Cabot went to Bristol to make the preparations for his voyage.
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
was the second-largest seaport in England, and during the years from 1480 onwards several expeditions had been sent out to look for
Hy-BrazilBrazil, also known as Hy-Brazil or several other variants, is a phantom island which features in many Irish myths. It was said to be cloaked in mist, except for one day each seven years, when it became visible but could still not be reached. It probably has similar roots to St. Brendan's Island...
, an island said to lie somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean according to Celtic legends. Bristol may have been particularly interested in seeking this island because it appears to have been believed that Bristol men had discovered the island at earlier date but then lost it. Since it was said to be a source of 'brazilwood' (from which a valuable red dye could be obtained) the merchants had a sound economic motive for seeking the isle.
First voyage
In 1496 Cabot set out from Bristol with one ship, but was forced to return following disputes with his crew.
Second voyage—reaching the new world
Nearly everything that is known about the 1497 voyage comes from three short letters and a brief chronicle entry. The chronicle entry, which dates from 1565, states in its entry for 1496/7 that 'This year, on St. John the Baptist's Day [24 June 1497], the land of America was found by the Merchants of Bristow in a shippe of Bristowe, called the Mathew; the which said ship departed from the port of Bristowe, the second day of May, and came home again the 6th of August next following.' Although the source is late, some of the details can be corroborated from sources that the Bristol chronicler cannot have known about. It is thus generally assumed that he had copied the main details from some earlier chronicle entry, perhaps merely substituting 'new found land', or something similar, for 'America', which had become a common term by 1565. Given that various of the details in the chronicle can be corroborated, it is generally assumed to be reliable.
If the 1565 chronicle is helpful when it comes to the key dates and the name of the ship, the three letters add more colour. The first is a letter from a Venetian merchant on 23 August 1497. The letter has a slightly gossipy air to it, written by a man who may or may not have talked to Cabot directly.
The second letter is from Raimondo de Raimondi de Soncino, Milanese ambassador in London to the Duke of Milan on 18 December. It is more serious in tone and appears to be based on personal conversations the ambassador has had with Cabot and his Bristol compatriots.
The third letter is the 'John Day letter', which was written during the winter of 1497/8 by a Bristol merchant, John Day (alias Hugh Say of London) to a man who can almost certainly be identified as
Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere...
. The letter is useful in that it is written by a man who would presumably have had access to all the key players and had assembled all the detail of the voyage that he could. Columbus was presumably interested in the voyage because, if the lands Cabot had discovered lay west of the meridian laid down in the
Treaty of TordesillasThe Treaty of Tordesillas , signed at Tordesillas , 7 June 1494, divided the "newly discovered" lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands...
, or if the Venetian intended to sail further west, then the English voyages would have represented a direct challenge to the monopoly rights Columbus possessed for westwards exploration.
In addition to these letters, Dr
Alwyn RuddockDr Alwyn Ruddock was a noted historian of the Age of Discovery, best known for her research on the 'English' voyages of the 15th century explorer John Cabot...
claimed to have found another, written on 10 August 1497 by the London-based bankers of Fr. Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis. This letter has yet to be found, since the archive in which Ruddock located it is unknown. From various comments made by Ruddock it seems, however, that the letter, which appears to have been from a Venetian bank, did not contain a detailed account of the voyage. On the other hand, she did claim that it contained 'New evidence supporting the claim that seamen of Bristol had already discovered land across the ocean before John Cabot's arrival in England.' This would make the letter a valuable find. On the other hand, even if the letter does demonstrate that the Venetian bankers
believed that Cabot had merely re-discovered a land previously found by men from Bristol, this does not necessarily mean that they were right about this.
As is often the case, the known sources do not agree with each other on all aspects of the events and none can be assumed to be entirely reliable. Nevertheless, drawing the main points, they suggest that, as on the 1496 voyage, Cabot again used only one 'little ship', of 50 tons burden, called the
MatthewThe Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America, presumably Newfoundland. After a voyage which had got no further than Iceland, Cabot left again with only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship , but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 people. The...
of Bristol (according to the 1565 chronicle). It was said to be laden with sufficient supplies for 'seven or eight months'. The ship departed in May (the sources don't agree on the precise date), with a crew of either eighteen men according to Soncino or twenty, according to the John Day letter. The crew included Cabot, an unnamed Burgundian and a Genoese barber, who had presumably accompanied the expedition as the ship's surgeon, rather than as a hairdresser. There were also Bristol companions who were of sufficient status to join Cabot at court in London, which suggests that at least two Bristol merchants had accompanied the expedition. One of these was probably
William WestonWilliam Weston was a 15th-century English merchant from Bristol and is thought to have been the first Englishman to lead an expedition to North America. Weston was married to Agnes Foster, daughter of prominent merchant John Foster, known in Bristol as the founder of Foster's Almshouses...
, given that he received a reward from the King in January 1498 and Weston is known to have undertaken an independent voyage to the New Found Land, probably under Cabot's patent, in 1499. The typical working crew for a fifty-ton vessel in this period would have been about ten men, although it might have been deemed wise to take a few extra mariners on such a long voyage.
Leaving Bristol, the expedition sailed past Ireland and across the Atlantic making landfall somewhere on the coast of North America on June 24, 1497. The exact location of the landfall has long been a matter of great controversy, with different communities vying for the status of being the location of the landing. At various times historians have proposed Bonavista, St. John's in Newfoundland,
Cape Breton IslandCape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the French word "Breton", referring to Brittany.Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada...
,
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
,
LabradorLabrador is a region of Atlantic Canada. Together with the island of Newfoundland from which it is separated by the Strait of Belle Isle, it constitutes the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The region is part of the much larger Labrador Peninsula on the Canadian mainland...
, and
MaineThe State of Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is the northernmost portion of...
as possibilities.
Cape BonavistaCape Bonavista is a headland located on the east coast of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.Cape Bonavista is located at the northeastern tip of the Bonavista Peninsula, which separates Trinity Bay to the south from Bonavista Bay to the north.The...
in Newfoundland, however, is the location recognised by the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom as being Cabot's 'official' landing place. As such, it was chosen, for instance, as the place where Queen Elizabeth II greeted the replica
Matthew of Bristol, following its celebratory crossing of the Atlantic in 1997. Wherever Cabot landed, it is, at any rate, generally supposed that they were the first Europeans to set foot in North American since the Vikings, whose voyages half a millennium earlier were probably unknown to the Bristol explorers.
Cabot is only reported to have landed once during the expedition and did not advance 'beyond the shooting distance of a crossbow'. Both Paqualigo and Day agree that no contact was made with any native people, but they found the remains of a fire, a human trail, nets and a wooden tool. The crew only appeared to have remained on land long enough to take on fresh water and to raise the banners and arms of the King of England and the Pope. By so doing they claimed the land in the name of England, while recognising the religious authority of the Roman Catholic church. After this landing, Cabot followed the land back towards Europe for some weeks 'discovering the coast'. In the process they noted the vast multitude of codfish in the sea. John Day's letter suggests that they headed back towards England once they reached the point of the land closest to
Dursey HeadDursey Island lies at the southwestern tip of the Beara Peninsula in the west of County Cork in Ireland. Dursey Island is 6.5 km long and 1.5 km wide. The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow stretch of water called Dursey Sound which has a very strong tidal race...
in south-west Ireland. On the homeward voyage Cabot's crew incorrectly thought they were going too far north, so they took a more southerly course, reaching
BrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Brittany was previously a kingdom and then as a duchy it was a fief of the Kingdom of France. It was at one time called Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
instead of England. On August 6 the expedition returned to Bristol.
Final voyage
Back in England, Cabot appears to have ridden directly to see the King, who was then hunting at
Woodstock PalaceWoodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. The title of "palace" was first used to refer to it during the twelfth century, when it was favoured by King Henry I of England. In about 1120, he created a zoo in the grounds. His grandson, Henry II was also...
. On 10 August, he was given a reward of £10 — equivalent to about two-years pay for an ordinary labourer or craftsman. Over the next few months Henry's attention would have been occupied entirely by the
Second Cornish Uprising of 1497The Second Cornish Uprising is the name given to the Cornish uprising of September 1497 when the pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck landed at Whitesand Bay, near Land's End, on 7 September with just 120 men in two ships...
, led by
Perkin WarbeckPerkin Warbeck was a pretender to the English throne during the reign of King Henry VII of England. Traditional belief claims that he was an imposter, pretending to be Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV of England, but was in fact a Fleming born in Tournai...
. However, once Henry's throne was secure he gave some thought to Cabot once more. In December 1497 the explorer was awarded a pension of £20 per year and in February 1498 he was given an additional patent to help him prepare a second expedition. In March and April the King also advanced a number of loans to Lancelot Thirkill of London, Thomas Bradley and John Cair, who were all to accompany Cabot's expedition.
The
Great Chronicle of London reports that Cabot departed with a fleet of five ships from Bristol at the beginning of May, one of which had been prepared by the King. Some of the ships were said to be carrying merchandise, including cloth, caps, lace points and other 'trifles'. This implies that they hoped to engage in trade. The Spanish envoy in London reported in July that one of the ships had been caught in a storm and been forced to land in Ireland, but the other ships had kept on their way.
Nothing more has been found (or at least published) that relates to this expedition and it has often been assumed from this that Cabot's fleet was lost at sea. On the other hand, it has long been known that at least one of the men who had been scheduled to accompany the expedition, Lancelot Thirkill of London, is recorded as living in London in 1501. More recently it has been revealed that
Alwyn RuddockDr Alwyn Ruddock was a noted historian of the Age of Discovery, best known for her research on the 'English' voyages of the 15th century explorer John Cabot...
apparently found evidence to suggest that Cabot and his expedition returned to England in the Spring of 1500. She claimed that this followed an epic two-year exploration of the east coast of North America, which took Cabot and his compatriots right down into the Spanish territories in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, she suggested that a religious colony was established in Newfoundland by Fr. Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis and the other friars who a accompanied the 1498 expedition. That Carbonariis had accompanied the expedition has long been known and his missionary intent can be inferred from a rather disparaging reference to him, by the Spanish Ambassador in London, as being 'another Friar Buil' — this being a reference to Fr. Bernard Buil, who accompanied Columbus on his 1493 expedition and celebrated the first mass in the Americas. On the other hand, if Ruddock's belief that Carbonariis did establish a settlement in North America is correct, this would certainly be the first Christian settlement on the continent, complete with the first (and only) medieval church to be built there. It appears this church may have been named after
San Giovanni a CarbonaraSan Giovanni a Carbonara is a church in Naples, southern Italy. It is located at the northern end of via Carbonara, just outside what used to be the eastern wall of the old city...
in Naples, which was the mother church of the 'Carbonara', a group of reformed Augustinian friars. A search to find the evidence on which these claims rested is now being undertaken by Dr Evan Jones and Margaret Condon of the
University of BristolThe University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876...
. Condon and Jones claim to have found further evidence to support aspects of Ruddock's case, particularly in relation to the return of the 1498 expedition. The evidence for this has, however, yet to be published.
Alwyn RuddockDr Alwyn Ruddock was a noted historian of the Age of Discovery, best known for her research on the 'English' voyages of the 15th century explorer John Cabot...
also claimed that William Weston of Bristol, a supporter of Cabot, undertook an independent expedition to North America in 1499, sailing north from Newfoundland up to the
Hudson StraitHudson Strait links the Atlantic Ocean to Hudson Bay in Canada. It lies between Baffin Island and the northern coast of Quebec, its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley and Resolution Island. It is long...
. If correct, this was probably the first North West Passage expedition. That William Weston (who was not previously known to have been involved in the expeditions) did lead an expedition to the 'new found land' in 1499 has now been confirmed. This underlines the point that Dr Ruddock's claims about Cabot's 1498-?1500 expedition need to be treated seriously.
Sebastian's voyage
John's son,
Sebastian CabotSebastian Cabot was an Italian explorer, probably born in Venice.-Origins:...
, later made at least one voyage to North America, looking for the hoped for
Northwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
(1508), as well as another to repeat
MagellanFerdinand Magellan was a maritime navigator and explorer. Ferdinand Magellan was born circa 1480 at Sabrosa, near Vila Real, in the province of Tras-os-Montes, one of the wildest districts of Portugal...
's voyage around the world, but which instead ended up looking for
silverSilver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
along the
Río de la PlataThe Río de la Plata —always rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries— is the river formed by the combination of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River...
(1525-8).
Reception and memorialisation
In recent decades John Cabot has attracted a fair amount of attention from those interested in
reception historyAccording to Harold Marcuse , reception history is "the history of the meanings that have been imputed to historical events. It traces the different ways in which participants, observers, historians and other retrospective interpreters have attempted to make sense of events both as they unfolded...
. Most history is concerned with why or how things happened in the past, or in the impact particular people or events had on subsequent historical developments. Reception history, by contrast, is concerned with the way historical figures or events have been interpreted or used by later societies and cultures for their own ends. Cabot provides rich pickings for those interested in this type of history, given that, despite being famous for four centuries, relatively little is known about the explorer. This has made him peculiarly malleable as a historical personage, a man whose actions and image is particularly open to manipulation and interpretation — often by those with clear political ends in mind.
Cabot is also well suited to
reception historyAccording to Harold Marcuse , reception history is "the history of the meanings that have been imputed to historical events. It traces the different ways in which participants, observers, historians and other retrospective interpreters have attempted to make sense of events both as they unfolded...
studies because of the degree to which he has been memorialised in various ways. This has included the creation of civic statues, paintings and buildings over the last two centuries. It also, however, includes the creation of 'Cabot' branded products, institutions and companies — ranging from scaffolding companies, to schools, pubs and shopping centres.
For those interested in the reception of Cabot, the best introduction is Peter Pope's,
The Many Landfalls of John Cabot (Toronto, 1997). While the title of the book concerns Pope's examination of the long, drawn-out and highly politicised disputes about exactly where Cabot landed on his first voyage in 1497, the book also provides a good general overview of the ways in which Cabot has been interpreted, particularly in Canadian history.
Noted Memorials to John Cabot include:
- A 1762 painting of 'Giovanni Caboto' on the walls of the Ducal Palace in Venice.
- Cabot Tower
Cabot Tower was built in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland, and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It is located on top of Signal Hill overlooking the city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador...
in St. John's, Newfoundland, constructed in 1897 to commemorate the four-hundredth anniversary of Cabot's voyage.
- Cabot Tower
Cabot Tower is a tower in Bristol, England, situated in a public park on Brandon Hill, between the city centre, Clifton and Hotwells. It was built in 1897 in memory of John Cabot, 400 years after he set sail in the Matthew from Bristol and landed in what was later to become Canada. The architect...
, in BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
, EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. This is a 30-metre tall red sandstone tower also begun in 1897 to mark the 400th anniversary of the landing). It is located on Brandon HillThe English city of Bristol has a number of parks and public open spaces.-Large parks:Bristol City Council own or manage three major parks: The Downs, Blaise Castle and Ashton Court....
near the city centreThe central area of the city of Bristol, England, is the area south of the central ring road and north of the Floating Harbour, bordered north by St Pauls and Easton, east by Temple Meads and Redcliffe, and west by Clifton and Canon's Marsh...
and was begun as a fraternal response to the earlier decision of Newfoundland to construct their tower.
- The Giovanni Caboto Club, an Italian club located in Windsor, Ontario, established in 1925.
- A 1952 statue of the explorer at the entrance to Bristol's Council House
The Council House has been the seat of local government in Bristol, England since 1956. It is situated on College Green, opposite the Cathedral and at the foot of Park Street in Bristol city centre . Throughout its history it has been home to Bristol city council.It was designed in the 1930s but...
— albeit one that the city council decided in 1956 to designate as a 'symbolic figure of an Elizabethan seaman'. This was despite the fact that the sculptor Sir Charles WheelerSir Charles Thomas Wheeler KCVO RA was a British sculptor, and the first sculptor to hold the Presidency of the Royal Academy ....
exhibited the work in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1952 as 'Number 1423, John Cabot — sketch model for the statue on the New Council House, Bristol'. In addition, it may be noted that the figure is dressed in fifteenth-century clothing, has a fifteenth-century navigational instrument (astrolabe) hanging from his belt and is clutching what is clearly meant to be John Cabot's letters patentLetters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of an open letter issued by a monarch or government, granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or to some entity such as a corporation. The opposite of letters patent are letters close , which are personal in nature...
. The reason for the Council's 're-designation' of the statue is not recorded, but may be related to its decision to name the new council house after Elizabeth II, who went on to open the building in April 1956.
- A 1985 bronze statue of the explorer by Stephen Joyce, located on the Bristol Harbour
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It has existed since the 13th century but was developed into its current form in the early 19th century by installing lock gates on a tidal stretch of the River Avon in the centre of the city and...
side .
- A replica of the Matthew of Bristol
The Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America, presumably Newfoundland. After a voyage which had got no further than Iceland, Cabot left again with only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship , but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 people. The...
built to commemorate the the five-hundredth anniversary of the 1497 voyage.
- John Cabot University
John Cabot University is a private American liberal arts university located in Rome, Italy. Founded in 1972, it was named after the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto.-Location:...
is an American university established in 1972 in RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
.
- The scenic Cabot Trail
The Cabot Trail is a highway and scenic roadway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.It is located in northern Victoria County and Inverness County on Cape Breton Island....
in the Cape Breton HighlandsThe Cape Breton Highlands, commonly called the Highlands, refer to a 'highland' or 'plateau' of ancient rock across northern Cape Breton Island, Canada, and is an extension of the Appalachian mountain chain...
is named after the explorer.
- John Cabot Academy is an independent school in Bristol.
- Cabot Ward
Cabot is a council ward that covers the centre of Bristol. It gets its name from the Cabot Tower - a memorial tower on Brandon Hill that was built to commemorate John Cabot's voyage and "discovery" of North America.-Areas:...
is an electoral district in Bristol, albeit one that gets its name from Cabot TowerCabot Tower is a tower in Bristol, England, situated in a public park on Brandon Hill, between the city centre, Clifton and Hotwells. It was built in 1897 in memory of John Cabot, 400 years after he set sail in the Matthew from Bristol and landed in what was later to become Canada. The architect...
, which lies in the ward, rather than directly from the explorer.
- Cabot Square
Cabot Square is one of the central squares of the Canary Wharf Development in London's Docklands.The square includes a fountain and several works of art, and is the address for the London Offices of Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and others....
in London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and the smaller Cabot Square, Montreal.
- Cabot Circus
Cabot Circus is a shopping mall in Bristol, England. It is located next to Broadmead, the main shopping district in Bristol city centre. The Cabot Circus development area contains shops, offices, a cinema, hotel and 250 apartments. It covers a total of floor space, of which is retail outlets and...
, a shopping mallA shopping mall, shopping centre or shopping center is a building or multiple buildings consisting of a complex of shops representing leading merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a convenient parking area – a modern,...
opened in Bristol in 2008 was named following a city-wide poll, thus demonstrating the enduring popularity of the explorer in Bristol
Sources
- J.A. Williamson, The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery Under Henry VII (Hakluyt Society, Second Series, No. 120, CUP, 1962)
External links
- The Cabot Project. A research project at University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876...