In this episode of pplpod, we chart the course of John Cabot (born Giovanni Caboto), the Italian navigator who—under the flag of King Henry VII—conducted the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse. We discuss Cabot’s origins as a Venetian citizen and merchant who, after fleeing debts in Venice and attempting engineering projects in Spain, eventually secured royal letters patent in England to find a northern passage to Asia,,.

Join us as we examine the famous 1497 voyage of the Matthew, where Cabot and his crew made landfall—likely in Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island—and claimed the territory for England and the Catholic Church,,. Finally, we dive into the theories surrounding his final 1498 expedition: Did Cabot and his five ships perish at sea, or does lost evidence suggest he succe ...