Such is the power of vision and collaboration. This is a response to a request from a grade six student who had asked a question about John Cabot. John and Sebastian Cabot John Cabot was born in Genoa in 1450 and moved to England in 1484. Like Columbus and Magellan, Cabot thought there was a better route to the riches of the Orient by heading west instead of east. The Matthew left Bristol sometime in May, 1497.
Some scholars think it was early in the month, others towards the end.
The date and place of his birth are not known. There is very little precise contemporary information about the 1497 voyage. If Cabot kept a log, or made maps of his journey, they have disappeared. John Cabot's voyage of 1498 Henry VII's northern Columbus returned to Bristol on 6 August 1497. Cabot and everyone else thought that a new, shorter route to Asia had been found.