Today we will be reviewing the lives of John Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci.
Cabot is known as the first European to visit the mainland of North America since the Vikings. He was commissioned by King Henry VII of England. He landed on the island of Newfoundland in 1497. Born in 1450, Cabot was the son of a merchant. As a boy he learned much about sailing and navigation. Cabot became a citizen of Venice in 1476, and moved to England in 1488. Intrigued by the voyages and sudden riches of earlier explorers, Cabot wanted to go exploring. The first crew he set out with had just 18 men on board (Mathew). 50 days after setting out, they landed in North America. However, Cabot believed he was in Asia just like Columbus had thought. After returning to England, Cabot made a second journey to America the following year. This second journey consisted of five ships and 300 men, and ended in the mysterious disappearance of the expedition.
Another important Italian was named Amerigo Vespucci. He ventured across the Atlantic in 1499. He was the first to claim that the New World was not part of Asia but a different continent, which he was of course right about. The continent of America is named after Vespucci because of this. Vespucci was born in 1454 and raised in Florence, Italy. Vespucci did not go off to a university, but instead learned the trade of a merchant. He was hired by Lorenzo Medici to be a clerk. His work took him to Spain where he had the chance to supply several of Christopher Columbus’s journeys to the New World. He also met Columbus and was inspired to visit the New World himself. In 1499, King Manuel I of Portugal asked Vespucci to accompany him on several voyages to South America. Vespucci kept a record of his journey and published the book on his return to Europe. In 1507, Martin Weissmuller designed a map from the book and named it (The New Continents America). Vespucci became the master navigator of Spain until his death in 1512 from malaria.
While Italy itself did not establish any overseas colonies, several of the earliest explorers came from Italy. Columbus, Cabot, and Vespucci all played important roles in the early exploration of the New World.
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