John Cabot (
Giovanni Caboto; fl. 1450–1498) was a
Venetian navigator and
explorer commonly credited as one of the first
early modern Europeans to land on the
North American mainland, aboard the
Matthew in
1497. Giovanni Caboto left his birthplace for Venice, Italy in 1461, and was naturalized on
28 March 1476. Although Venice is not his place of birth, for this reason he is known as a Venetian by force of government rights. It is here he acquired his experience with navigation on commercial voyages to Arabia, as well as the idea to sail westward to find a different route to the Spice Islands, the Northern Passage, as it was imagined.
In 1490, with his 3 sons: Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sancto, he left for
Bristol, England, and would remain there for the remainder of his life. It is unknown whether he had a hand in the failed expedition of 1491, but it is certain that after the success of Columbus the following year, that he decided to offer the same opportunity to Henry VII, and England, rather than to his other adoptive home in Venice, or to any of the Italian city states. Finally, on
6 March 1496, Henry VII issued
letters patent awarding Cabot and his three sons the right to seek islands and countries of the heathen towards the west, east, and north, with five ships under the English flag.