John Cabot
John Cabot (1450-99), Italian explorer and navigator. A Venetian citizen, he went to England in 1484 to raise support for a voyage to Asia, and was finally sponsored by Henry VII in 1496. The following year Cabot sailed from Bristol and reached the Labrador coast of Newfoundland. A second expedition in 1498 unsuccessfully attempted to discover a westward route to Japan. His son Sebastian Cabot (1476-1557), also a navigator, became cartographer to Henry VIII. In 1525 he sailed to South America, hoping to find treasure. As governor of the English Merchant Adventurers he organized expeditions to search for the north-east passage to Asia and succeeded in establishing trade with Russia.
