<Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Mattea </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Children </Th> <Td> Ludovico, Sebastian, and Sancto </Td> </Tr> <P> John Cabot (Italian: Giovanni Caboto; c. 1450--c. 1500) was a Venetian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England was the first European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century . To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, as representing Cabot's first landing site . However, alternative locations have also been proposed . </P> <P> Cabot is known today as Giovanni Caboto in Italian, as Zuan Chabotto in Venetian, as John Cabot in English, as Jean Cabot in French, and as Juan Caboto in Spanish . The non-Italian forms are derived from how his name was recorded in related 15th - century documents . In Venice he signed his names as "Zuan Chabotto", Zuan being a form of John typical to Venice . He continued to use this form in England, at least among Italians . He was referred to by his Italian banker in London as' Giovanni Chabbote', in the only known contemporary document to use this version of his first name . </P>

The first known european to set foot on north america was