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SEBASTIAN CABOT
Sebastian
Cabot was the son of the explorer John Cabot.
His father, John, had discovered Newfoundland in 1496
when Sebastian was with him.
Just as with his father John, trying to find accurate
information about the life of Sebastian is difficult.
What is known is that Sebastian Cabot was born around
1474. He was a
skilled navigator and because of this, in much demand.
Cabot had many other talents to include being an
explorer and mapmaker.
During
his life, Cabot lived in Venice, London, and Seville. He worked primarily as a mapmaker for King Henry VIII of
England but he was also a captain for Spain’s King
Ferdinand V, performed a number of explorations for
England’s King Henry VII, and some believe he secretly
went into Venice on explorations.
Historians
believe Cabot was a part of several Arctic voyages, along
with expeditions to the West Indies.
Around 1508, Cabot headed out on instruction from
Britain, searching for the Northwest passage going across
North America. Then,
another voyage was started for Spain in 1526, which was a
voyage meant to sail to China and the Moluccas, otherwise
known as the “Spice Islands” of Indonesia.
However, he took great interest in the River Plate
(Rio e la Plata), which is a river running between Uruguay
and Argentina in South America.
With fighting erupting, Cabot abandoned some of his
crew.
Then
around 1526, Cabot spent time exploring the Parana River but
with angry natives and a lack of food, he was forced to
return to Spain. Everyone called the voyage a huge failure and his sponsors
were very displeased. With
this, Cabot was banished from Spain to Africa for two years.
However, in 1553, he was again able to work for the
English and decided to search for a water passage that would
go across the north of Asia.
During this particular voyage, Cabot sailed as far
away as the White Sea, which is in the northwest region of
Russia. Even
though he was not near his intended goal, this trip resulted
in a trade agreement being established between England and
Russia.
Most
of the journals kept accounting his life were lost and only
one map still exists, one drawn by Sebastian in 1544.
Historians also suspect that he made a number of
undocumented trips while others have doubt about the trip in
1508 even occurring.
Regardless, Sebastian Cabot did what he set out to do
by leaving his mark on history.
In 1548, he was awarded a large pension from King
Edward VI, just prior to his death.
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