john cabot was the italian navigator sailing for england that explored the eastern coast of north america.
who was the italian navigator sailing for england that explored the eastern coast of north america?
john cabot
the ancient egyptians and phoenicians explored the mediterranean and red sea with the egyptian hannu reaching the arabian peninsula and the african coast around 2750 bc. in the 1st millennium bc, phoenicians and greeks established colonies throughout the mediterranean and the black sea around 500 bc, the carthaginian navigator hanno left a detailed periplus of an atlantic journey that reached at least senegal and possibly mount cameroon. in the early mediaeval period, the vikings crossed the north atlantic and even reached the northeastern fringes of north america. novgorodians had also been sailing the white sea since the 13th century or before. meanwhile, the seas along the eastern and southern asian coast were used by arab and chinese traders. the chinese ming dynasty had a fleet of 317 ships with 37,000 men under zheng he in the early fifteenth century, sailing the indian and pacific oceans. in the late fifteenth century, western european mariners started making longer voyages of exploration in search of trade. bartolomeu dias rounded the cape of good hope in 1487 and vasco da gama reached india via the cape in 1498. christopher columbus sailed from cadiz in 1492, attempting to reach the eastern lands of india and japan by the novel means of travelling westwards. he made landfall instead on an island in the caribbean sea and a few years later, the venetian navigator john cabot reached newfoundland. the italian amerigo vespucci, after whom america was named, explored the south american coastline in voyages made between 1497 and 1502, discovering the mouth of the amazon river. in 1519 the portuguese navigator ferdinand magellan led the first expedition to sail around the world.
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the governor of guatemala also determined to build a pacific fleet on the west coast of guatemala, for use in an attempt to cross the pacific to asia. ferdinand magellan, the portuguese explorer sailing for spain, had shown in 1521 that the pacific ocean could be crossed from south america. hence, beginning in 1536, using hardware from spain (such as anchors) hauled across the isthmus of central america, and local hardwoods, a flotilla of some thirteen ships was built over the next four years. after much difficulty, the larger number of these ships (under the command of ruy lópez de villalobos) was ordered to make the first crossing of the pacific ocean from north america to the philippines. a smaller number was placed under the command of juan rodríguez cabrillo, a portuguese navigator sailing for the spanish crown. cabrillo was ordered north along the west coast of north america to explore the expected coastal route to reach the asian mainland, as well as attempt to find the strait of anián.
history of the west coast of north america