More Clues to 1st English-led Expedition to New World

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October 3, 2018

A combination of high-tech scanning and low-tech tenacity has resulted in the development of new information about the first English-led expedition to North America.

John Cabot

Italian Giovanni Caboto, better known as John Cabot, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean under the employ of England's King Henry VII in 1497, reaching North America in the summer of that year, becoming the first European since Leif Ericson in the 11th Century to do so. It was five years after the first expedition of Christopher Columbus (and four years after his second), and the powers of Western Europe were suddenly interested in sailing west, across the Atlantic. The exact landing spot that Cabot made in June 1497 has yet to be determined. What is known is that he was in the employ of England's king and of some other wealthy Englishmen, some of whom may have gone on the voyage as well.

William Weston letter

Two scholars associated with the University of Bristol now say that they think that a Bristol merchant named William Weston went himself to the New World. Evan Jones, who works in the university's history department, published in 2009 a long-lost letter from King Henry VII to his Lord Chancellor, John Morton, that mentions Weston as shortly departing for "the new land." Jones, along with the university's Cabot Project's Margaret Condon, conducted further research and found that the king had given Weston a large reward in 1500 for his exploration efforts.

Bristol tax records

Condon found the notice of the reward by combing through official tax records, which are huge rolls of fragile parchment. On some of the rolls, the writing is so faint that it can be read only under ultraviolet light.

Further, Condon and Evans found, King Henry VII had given both Cabot and Weston rewards as early as January 1498, suggesting an association between the two that predates Weston's 1499 expedition.

William Weston

Cabot went on a second voyage in 1498 but never returned. Weston then headed up his own voyage a year later, likely sailing along the coast of Newfoundland.

The most recent findings of Condon and Jones findings appear in the latest edition of Historical Research, an online publication of the University of London's Institute of Historical Research.

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Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2018
David White

Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2019
David White