Venetian Merchants Research Articles

Old Found Lands in North America

When on the 24th June, A.D. 1497, John Cabot and his son Sebastian, the rich Venetian merchants of Bristol, in their ship the Matthew, came upon the island of Newfoundland, St. John's, and the continent of North America, it was thought they had added a lustre to the reign of their royal patron, Henry VII., and a promise of wealth to his kingdom by their discoveries, such as England had never before dreamt of. Their voyage seemed as important as that of Christopher Columbus, in a different latitude, some five years before, and it has proved so in the result. It is probable, however, that these adventurous Venetians may have heard of the voyage of their countrymen, Nicolas and Antonio Zeni, to the same lands in A.D. 1380, and who published a map of them, though some take this account of the Zeni to be spurious, and written after the voyage of the Cabots.