John Cabot Reaches Newfoundland for England
An Italian sailor working for Henry VII crosses the North Atlantic in a single small ship and gives England its first claim in North America
Quick facts
- Navigator
- John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto)
- Sponsor
- King Henry VII of England
- Ship
- The Mathew, out of Bristol
- Landfall
- Likely Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia (disputed)
What happened
The Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto, known in England as John Cabot, sailed from Bristol on 20 May 1497 in a single three-masted caravel called the Mathew, about 24 meters long. King Henry VII of England had sponsored the voyage in hope of finding a sea route to Asia. After five weeks crossing the Atlantic, Cabot most likely reached Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, around 24 June, and explored the coast for about a month before favorable winds carried him back to Bristol by 6 August. Like Columbus, he believed he had reached the edge of Asia, calling the land Newe Founde Launde.
Why it matters
Cabot's landfall became the basis for England's later claims to North America, even though nearly a century passed before England mounted serious colonization efforts. He never found the Asian trade route Henry VII had funded him to find, and his exact landing point remains disputed among historians.
How we know
The World History Encyclopedia's entry on Cabot dates the departure, the likely landfall, and the return to Bristol, based on period English and Italian correspondence describing the voyage.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. John Cabot · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- EBSCO Research Starters. John Cabot's Voyages · General sourceebsco.com · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Related timelines
- The Vikings → · The Norse reached Newfoundland at LAnse aux Meadows around 1000 CE, five centuries before Cabot