15 – John Cabot and Newfoundland

“Voyages of discovery launched from Bristol to North America from c.1470–1508”

Updated: June 29, 2024.

“Unvisited, Unblessed”. Really?

During the Victorian era (the 1800s), the British and even North Americans saw the Americas in the 15th Century as an “unvisited, unblessed” land awaiting rescue by the “gracious and enlightened British peoples”. This view persists even to this day. Yet the reality is far different than the myth.

To begin with, in 1492 - Columbus’ famous date with destiny - more humans inhabited North, Central and South America than all of Europe combined. When Christopher Columbus first landed in the Americas, the peoples he encountered were the Carib people of the Lesser Antilies but he confused them with people from India. This was the beginning of a series of errors, many of which persist to this day. For example, as a child I could never understand why the native peoples of North America were called Indians. Were the people of India named after these indigenous peoples by mistake? It was all very confusing.

Columbus would go on and encounter hun…