Back to the Houses Of Lancaster And York calendar
This was the beginning of the age of exploration. European ships began to sail to places they had never been. In 1492
Christopher Columbus, believing the world was round, had set sail from Spain to sail to India by going west. When, after several months, he discovered land, he
thought he had made it. In fact he had come across some of the islands off the continent we now call America.
Most of these explorers needed to find sponsors to pay for their voyages and Kings and Queens, hoping to benefit from possible riches in faraway
places, were eager to offer help.
In 1497 an Italian explorer called John Cabot, his real name was
Giovanni Caboto, was given a grant by Henry VII to “seek out, discover and find” new lands for England. Like Columbus, Cabot believed if he sailed west he would
reach Asia. Cabot left Bristol in May 1497 aboard his ship called Matthew. Two months later he landed in Newfoundland in what is now Canada and claimed it for
Henry VII.
He arrived back in Bristol on August 6 and was rewarded with a pension of £20 by King Henry. The next year he set off again, this time with 5 ships
and 300 men. No one seems to know what happened except that one ship had problems and went to Ireland. Of the others there is no real record. Some people believe
that Cabot did in fact return to London but, if so, no great fuss was made of him. What he had done though, was claim part of this new American continent for England.
