Facts About John Cabot

John Cabot's ship was called the Matthew, after his wife Mattea.

The Italian word for John Cabot's original last name Caboto means "a coastal seaman"; apparently, this name was given to sailors and navigators.

He learned cartography and navigation during his time in Venice, where he apparently became interested in reaching Asia by going west instead of east.

John Cabot has a statue in Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland - it is where the government recognizes he and his crew first landed and claimed it as English land.

Bonavista is historic for Cabot's first contact with North America since the Vikings (although some say that he is second to Christopher Columbus). Bonavista was named after the words he said when he first landed in what is now Newfoundland, "O buono vista!", meaning "Oh happy sight!" in English.

Sebastian Cabot, one of John Cabot's sons, followed in his father's footsteps and also expedited to North America.