Cabot, John, fl. 1461–98, English explorer, probably b. Genoa, Italy. He became a citizen of Venice in 1476 and engaged in the Eastern trade of that city. This experience, it is assumed, was the stimulus of his later explorations. Like Columbus (though there is no evidence that either influenced the other), he apparently believed that the riches of East Asia might be more easily reached by sailing west. He went to England, probably in the 1480s, and resided chiefly at Bristol, a port then promising as a base for discovery. Under a patent granted by Henry VII (Mar. 5, 1496), Cabot sailed from Bristol in 1497 and discovered the North American coast, touching at Cape Breton Island or Newfoundland. In 1498 he again sailed for America to explore the coast. The fate of the expedition is unknown, although there is presumptive evidence that it reached America and that some of its members returned. The English claims in North America were based on his discovery. His son was Sebastian Cabot Cabot, Sebastian, b. 1483–86?, d. 1557, explorer in English and Spanish service; son of John Cabot . He may well have accompanied his father on the 1497 and 1498 voyages, and he was for many years given the credit for his father's achievements. In the 19th cent.
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Bibliography

See C. R. Beazley, John and Sebastian Cabot: The Discovery of North America (1964); R. C. Howard, Bristol and the Cabots (1967); D. Goodnough, John Cabot and Son (1979).

Cabot, John

orig. Giovanni Caboto

(born c. 1450, Genoa?—died c. 1499) Italian navigator and explorer. In the 1470s he became a skilled navigator in travels to the eastern Mediterranean for a Venetian mercantile firm. In the 1490s he moved to Bristol, Eng., and, with support from city merchants, he led an expedition in 1497 to find trade routes to Asia. After landing somewhere in North America, possibly southern Labrador or Cape Breton Island, he took possession of the land for Henry VII and conducted explorations along the coastline. On a second expedition in 1498, he may have reached America but probably was lost at sea. His two voyages for England helped lay the groundwork for the later British claim to Canada. Sebastian Cabot was his son.