My Background

     Hi, I'm Giovanni Caboto, better known as John Cabot. In 1450, I was born is Genoa, Italy. In 1474, I married Mattea and had three sons, Ludivico, Sebastiano, and Sancto. In 1476, I was made a Venetian citizen after living in Venice since 1461. I soon became involved with the trade in Venice which expanded my great knowledge. However, my basic knowledge came from my father, Gulio Caboto. His teachings about the spice trade have always interested me. Life was not always smooth sailing for me. I had many financial issues in the late 1480s. I fled Venice and went from place to place. In Valencia, I was almost arrested by sending a letter to the authorities. There, I proposed a new plans to improve the harbour, but they were rejected. Then, in 1494, I went to Seville where I had wanted to build a stone bridge over the Guadalquivir river. However, this was canceled by the City Council. In 1495, I had finally settled down in England. There I proposed an idea of finding a shorter route to "the Indies." In 1496, I went straight to Bristol to seek financial aid to fund my new idea. The greatest day for me was on March 5, 1496 when King Henry VII of England gave me permission to explore under the support England. In 1497, I started my first voyage which was a total disaster. I had one ship, a bad crew, shortage of supplies, and to top it off, bad weather. With all these complications, I headed back to England. On my second voyage, I sailed to North America. So, I made sure I kept some entries of what happened. In one of them, I wrote, "This year, on St. John the Baptist's Day, the land of America was found by the Merchants of the Bristow in a shippe of Bristowe, called the Mathew; the which said the ship departed from the port of Bristowe, the second day of May, and came home again the 6th of August next following." I also wrote letters to the Duke of Milan and Christopher Columbus. Although this sounds exciting, my journey to North America was painful. I had a small ship, small crew, and few supplies to last me the voyage. When I arrived, I helped claim the land as England's and recognized the Roman Catholic Church. I had spent some time exploring the coast. There I found so much fish off the coast! Later, I returned back to Bristol on August 6. On August 10, I was rewarded for my finding by the King. In March and April of 1498, the King gave loans to Lancelot Thirkill of London, Thomas Bradley, and John Cair, who were to accompany me on my new expedition. I was thrilled. We had departed with five ships this time, much better than my first two expeditions. Only Lancelot Thirkill and I made it back safely. Lancelot came back in 1501 while I returned in 1500. My other crew was lost at sea. However, we did discover a new part of the Americas, but it was Spanish territory.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabot
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/john-cabot.htm
http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Cabot_John.html