Cabot, John, a Venetian navigator, and first discoverer of North America. He visited Arabia, and in 1491 was employed by some merchants in Bristol, England, in hunting for the mythical island of the seven cities and Brazil. In 1495, in one of these private voyages, he saw land. Encouraged accordingly, he petitioned Henry VII., King of England, to grant unto him and his three sons Lewis, Sebastian and Sanctius, a charter to discover and possess new lands. The letters patent passed the seals on March 5, 1496, and on May 2, 1497, John Cabot sailed from Bristol with a small ship and 18 persons. Having reached the continent of North America, somewhere about Cape Breton Island, he coasted down 300 miles. He was three months on the voyage, and on his return received much honor, and the people, we are told, "ran after him like mad," for enlistment in his voyages. To show where he landed he made a chart and globe with the place designated. The King gave him presents and a pension out of the customs of the port of Bristol. Aided by Henry, Cabot sailed on a second voyage in the beginning of summer, 1498,with five ships, but it is probable that he died on the voyage, as the expedition seems to have returned under the charge of his son, Sebastian Cabot, Columbus never saw any part of the territory of the United States, and as a nation we trace back to the discoveries of John Cabot.
