Category Social Sciences

                After returning from his expedition, in late 1497, Cabot sought permission from King Henry VII to set out on a second voyage across the North Atlantic.

               His intention was to continue sailing westwards from Newfoundland, until he reached the island of Cipangu in Japan. In February 1498, the king ordered Cabot to command the fleet. Thus John Cabot departed in May 1498.

               In July, one of his ships was caught in a fatal storm and got damaged. This disaster, and later the demise of John Cabot, had not left any proof for clarification. However, it was believed that in 1499, Cabot himself perished at sea.

               Even though the second voyage ended in misery, Cabot’s discovery of North America helped England to establish trade across the North Atlantic.

               In addition to contributing to the plan for British land claims in the North American continent, his findings helped in establishing other British colonies there.

               His expeditions also proved the existence of a shorter route across the northern Atlantic Ocean.

            John Cabot was a Venetian navigator and explorer, who lived in England. He got a commission from King Henry VII to make an expedition to North America. It was the first European encounter with the North American continent since Leif Eriksson and the Vikings explored the area they called ‘Vinland’ in the 11th century.

            John Cabot was skilled in navigational techniques, and he seemed to have been inspired by Christopher Columbus. He researched the possibility of reaching Asia by sailing westward.

            In 1496, the king granted permission to John Cabot to set out on an expedition of discovery and to open up more trading posts.

            Cabot sailed out of Bristol on a small ship, but had to return soon.

            Later, in May 1497, he set out on another voyage. The expedition made landfall in the Newfoundland. He took possession of the land for the English King.

            When Cabot arrived back to Bristol, he received a hearty welcome. On that occasion, Cabot announced his plan to set out on another voyage to Newfoundland, and to Japan which was regarded as the haven of spices. 

               The fleet arrived at Kappad near Calicut, India, on 20th May 1498. They were welcomed with traditional hospitality by the King of Calicut, the Zamorin. The presents that Gama brought for the king were four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six hats, four branches of corals, seven brass vessels, two barrels of oil, and a cask of honey. These gifts failed to impress the rich Zamorin.

               The king turned down Vasco da Gama’s request to leave a small group of his crew behind him in charge of the product he could not sell. King insisted that Gama pay customs duty like any other trader. Gama was totally annoyed by this response. His fleet left Calicut on 29th August 1498. He reached Lisbon on September 9th 1499. Gama’s expedition was successful, because it brought in cargoes worth sixty times the cost of the expedition. 

               Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd was a Welsh prince, who sailed to America in 1170, more than three hundred years before Christopher Columbus’s voyage in 1492.

               Madoc was the son of Owain Gwynedd, the King of Wales. The king died in 1170, and soon Wales degenerated into a state of civil war as his sons fought over the throne. At one point, Madoc couldn’t bear the pain of his family fighting, and he decided to start a voyage to the west. He set up a successful settlement at Mobile Bay in modern Alabama.

               The ‘Madoc story’ has always been the subject of much speculation in the context of possible pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. No conclusive archaeological proofs about Madoc could ever be found.

               However, speculation abounds, connecting him with certain sites, such as Devil’s Backbone, located on the Ohio River at Fourteen Mile Creek near Louisville, Kentucky. The township of Madoc, Ontario, and the nearby village of Madoc, are both named in the prince’s memory.

            Like the Polynesians, the Vikings too gave importance to their water crafts as they helped them in expanding their territory. Ships were an integral part of Viking culture. They facilitated everyday transportation across seas to establish colonies in coastal regions.

            The Viking ships had religious importance too. There were basically three types of Viking ships: long-ships, heavy freight carrying merchant ships and light freight carrying merchant ships. Prominent among these ships was the long-ship. They had a long, narrow hull and shallow draught to facilitate landings and troop deployments in shallow water.

            The Vikings were brilliant ship designers and builders, and are undoubtedly among the greatest voyagers of all time. 

               Leif Erikson, son of the Norse explorer Erik the Red, was the first European known to have discovered continental North America excluding Greenland, before Christopher Columbus. He established a Norse settlement at Vinland, tentatively identified with the L’Anse aux Meadows, on the northern tip of Newfoundland, in modern-day Canada.

               After spending a winter in Vinland, Leif sailed back to Greenland, and never returned to North American shores.

               The location of Vinland had been debated over the centuries, and various spots along the northern Atlantic Coast had been cited. In the early 1960s, excavations at L’Anse aux Meadows produced evidence of the base camp of the 11th-century Viking exploration.

               The voyage by Leif Erikson was marked as an exceptionally remarkable one. Unfortunately, the death of Leif Erikson had not been mentioned in the sagas of Greenland.

        The American mainland was later discovered by Christopher Columbus of Spain.