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John Cabot

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The Resume

    (circa 1450-circa 1499)
    Born in Genoa, Italy
    Became a citizen of Venice (1476)
    Commissioned by King Henry VII to sail for England (1496)
    Landed in Newfoundland (June 24, 1497)

Why he might be annoying:

    He is also referred to as Giovanni Caboto in Italy, Jean Cabot in France and Juan Caboto in Spain.
    In his only surviving signatures, he makes the 'none of the above' choice Zuan Chabotto.
    As a trader in the Mediterranean, he sold slaves.
    He ran into financial troubles and fled Venice for Spain to escape his creditors (1488).
    His first voyage was aborted due to bad weather and disagreements with the crew (1496).
    Like Columbus, he insisted that he had reached Asia ('the country of the Grand Khan') instead of a new continent.
    He left for a final expedition to the New World (July, 1498), after which he seems to drop out of the historical records, leading most historians to conclude that he was lost at sea.

Why he might not be annoying:

    As a merchant in Italy he gained a reputation as 'a most expert mariner.'
    He was the first European to reach North America since the Vikings.
    He established the grounds for the British claim to part of the New World.
    Historian Alwyn Ruddock claimed to have found evidence that Cabot did return to England following an extended two-year exploration of the North American coast from Newfoundland south to the Caribbean. (However, Ruddock never published her proposed book about Cabot and ordered that her research papers be destroyed, so no one as of 2011 has proven the claim.)

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 10 Votes: 30.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 12 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 31.58% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 78 Votes: 60.26% Annoying