Jason Thomas Jr., age 14, of Shreveport, La., for his question:
WHO FIRST EXPLORED THE AMERICAN CONTINENT?
The first man to explore the continent of America was, like Christopher Columbus, a Genoese navigator. His name was John Cabot and he sailed with the blessings and backing of England's King Henry VII in 1497.
Cabot, like Columbus, wanted to find a short route to the East. When the news of Columbus' discovery in the West Indies became known, Cabot was in England making his plans for a westward voyage.
King Henry approved the trip with these words: "Find isles, countries, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidels, which before this time have been unknown to all Christians."
Henry promised Cabot and his three sons the right of all trade with these lands on condition that they took possession of them for England. Their two voyages gave England its claim to North America.
Giovanni Caboto was John Cabot's real name. He was born in Genoa and became a citizen of Venice. He had heard the stories of the wealth of the Great Khan and wanted to find a short route to the East.
Cabot sailed a tiny ship called the Mathew into the Atlantic on May 2, 1497. He landed on what was probably Cape Breton Island seven weeks later. On his way back to England he discovered the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Happy to hear that the rich Orient was only 2,100 miles west of Ireland, King Henry financed a second expedition.
In the spring of 1498 Cabot set out with several ships. He reached Greenland and Baffin Island as well as Labrador and Newfoundland. He may have traveled as far south as Delaware.
Like Columbus, Cabot thought that the land he found was Asia.
Cabot died in England shortly after he returned from his second trip. The records aren't clear whether or not his three sons, Sebastian, Lewis and Santius, were with him on his journeys of discovery. But Sebastian went on a few years later to become the chief pilot to the king of Spain.
After John Cabot's last voyage, the king named him "The Great Admiral."
In 1508 Sebastian Cabot sailed to North America in command of two English ships. He was looking for a Northwest Passage, which would be a route to Asia through the Arctic Ocean. He reached the mouth of Hudson Bay in what is now Canada and thought that he had found the passage. But his crew refused to sail farther west.
In 1526 Sebastian set sail for Asia in four ships from Spain. His plan was to go to the Spice Islands, in what is now Indonesia. But hearing of gold and silver to be found, he instead sailed up the river Plata south of Brazil and stayed there nearly five years. On his return he fell out of favor with the king of Spain.
In 1549 with a pension having been granted by King Edward VI, Sebastian settled in London. Two years later he became the first governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, which arranged for many voyages of discovery.