27 Facts About John Cabot

1.

John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer.

2.

John Cabot continued to use this form in England, at least among Italians.

3.

John Cabot was referred to by his Italian banker in London as "Giovanni", in the only known contemporaneous document to use this version of his first name.

4.

In 1476 John Cabot was made a citizen of the Republic of Venice, which required a minimum of fifteen years' residency in the city; thus he must have lived in Venice since at least 1461.

5.

In 1471 John Cabot was accepted into the religious confraternity of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista.

6.

Once he gained full Venetian citizenship in 1476, John Cabot would have been eligible to engage in maritime trade, including the trade to the eastern Mediterranean that was the source of much of Venice's wealth.

7.

The Venetian sources contain references to John Cabot's being involved in house building in the city.

8.

John Cabot moved to Valencia, Spain, where his creditors attempted to have him arrested by sending a lettera di raccomandazione a giustizia to the authorities.

9.

John Cabot sought financing and royal patronage in England, in contrast to Columbus' expeditions being financed mainly by the Spanish crown.

10.

John Cabot planned to depart to the west from a northerly latitude.

11.

Historians had thought that, on arrival in England, John Cabot went to Bristol, a major maritime centre, to seek financial backers.

12.

John Cabot further suggested that the friar, on good terms with the King, introduced the explorer to King Henry VII.

13.

Beyond this, Ruddock stated that John Cabot received a loan from an Italian banking house in London.

14.

The John Cabot Project was formed at the University of Bristol in 2009 to research John Cabot and the Bristol expeditions.

15.

John Cabot's sons are believed to have still been minors at that time.

16.

John Cabot went to Bristol to arrange preparations for his voyage.

17.

John Cabot was described as having one "little ship", of 50 tons' burden, called Matthew of Bristol.

18.

In 2018, Condon and Jones published a further article that showed that Weston and John Cabot had been jointly rewarded by the king in January 1498, suggesting that the explorers were working together before the start of the second voyage.

19.

John Cabot is reported to have landed only once during the expedition and did not advance "beyond the shooting distance of a crossbow".

20.

On return to Bristol, John Cabot rode to London to report to the king.

21.

John Cabot suggested that Cabot and his expedition successfully returned to England in the spring of 1500.

22.

John Cabot claimed their return followed an epic two-year exploration of the east coast of North America, south into the Chesapeake Bay area and perhaps as far as the Spanish territories in the Caribbean.

23.

John Cabot's evidence included the well-known world map of the Spanish cartographer Juan de la Cosa.

24.

John Cabot's chart included the North American coast and seas "discovered by the English" between 1497 and 1500.

25.

Ruddock claimed that William Weston of Bristol, a supporter of John Cabot, undertook an independent expedition to North America in 1499, sailing north from Newfoundland up to the Hudson Strait.

26.

John Cabot married Mattea around 1470, and had issue including three sons:.

27.

John Cabot became diverted by searching for silver along the Rio de la Plata in Argentina.