两天前远在加国的儿子凌晨两点还在写作文，他立志“要写得惊天地，泣鬼神~ ”（http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4a031e970100077e），现把完稿发表于此。   

             John    Cabot

     (1450 ~ 1498?)       

  John Cabot was an explorer who discovered the east coast of the North  America. John Cabot was born in Genoa, Italy in 1450. His father was Julio Cabot, a seaman and a merchant. In 1461, when John was 11, his family moved to Venice. John’s father owned a spice shop and John helped his father sometimes. John had a dream of exploring the world when he was a kid, because his father Julio told    him many stories about the orient country.  Absolutely the most famous story is about Marco Polo.

   At that time, the north of Italy was the center of business in Europe. Venice is the most important distributing center. So John’s father wanted his son to learn how to be a businessman. But, just like the swan is not a duck, his father’s small spice shop also can not durance a mind of an explorer. With the productivity and the merchandise of economic development, the north of Italy appeared to be the bud of capitalism. So, the European needs more and more noble metal to adapt the development’s economic. As well, it also increased the demand of market. With the kingdom of Turkey’s mightiness, the only way of business Silk Road was under control by that kingdom. So the Europeans had to find a new way to get business with the eastern.

    With the Revival of Learning’s in-depth, have more and more people believe the Earth is global and the human was yea the value of themselves. They became aroused from the darkness of the middle ages. At that time, the naval architecture and the sea craft were in mature, the compass from China was used in everywhere. The century of discovery was began.

In 1966, John went to Mecca to learn sailing and mapping, he also met a beautiful girl named Mattea. In 1477 John and Mattea got married. They had 3 sons, Lewis, Sebastian and Sanctus. John moved his family to Bristol, England. At that time, he want to search a sponsor to began his voyage. He narrated his plan with the kings of Spain and Portugal, but they do not have any interest with his sailing plan. At last, the King of England Henry VII agreed with his plan and gave him permission to sail on March 5, 1496.

John got a ship and 18 shipmen from the king. The ship’s name was called Matthew by Henry VII. We can find an interested thing to explain why they went on this voyage from the ship’s name. At that time, the community of western absolutely is a community of Christianization. So, craze for diffuse the Christianity is the ubiquity phenomenon of the explorations in the century of discovery. Hanker for the gold and spice also is the other root to sail.

 John choose the west way to sail, because he was convinced the west way was the simple way to sail to the eastern.

    John Cabot set out on his first voyage on May 2, 1497 from Bristol harbor. The Matthew was not very big, so the crew had to eat, sleep and work on the deck. Only John and his officers had a room to sleep. Two very important jobs on the ship were to pump the water out of the ship and the other was to lookout on the watchtower. This was a place to look for rocks, iceberg and other dangers to the ship.

About five weeks later, the Matthew arrived in north America. John believe he already arrived to the country of the Great Khan in Asia. He named the land the ” new found land”. It is the origin for today’s Newfoundland. When John landed on the land he said: O! Buono Vista! This means Oh! What a happy sight. So, today we call the cape, the Cape of Bonavista. John noticed the ocean near the Newfoundland was full of fishes. Now, the fishery of Newfoundland is the largest fishery in the world, because the warm current of Mexico and the cold current of Labrado crossed there. But, I do not think John knows that. However, in the time to mapping the coast of Newfoundland, John and his friends just like the King Neptunian. 

John and his friends sailed back to England on July 20,1497. He decided to sail back again the following year.  When the merchants heard his story, they named him the great admiral. King Henry was pleased and gave him an award of 10 pounds.

    John Cabot left on his second voyage sometime in the year of 1498. He had 5 ships and about 300 men with him. But it is the time to say farewell to John, because when John Cabot left the Bristol harbor, he had not came back. Well, fall asleep in the ocean it is the best way to going to nirvana for a shipman I think.

    In 1997, the Canadian government found a 10 cents coin to remember the explorer John Cabot. The English government also built a ship named John Cabot’s flagship Matthew and then got a sailing from England to Newfoundland for remember the explorer John Cabot explore the North American 500 years.

    The century of discovery is very important for the history of humans. After this century, the state of isolation between the continents was broken. The world becomes more and more a whole new world in relation. It is the precondition of the market of the world. The revolution of business and the revolution of price were happening in the Europe. The bourgeoisie got on the arena of history.

     At last, I appreciate the explorers who live in the discovery century. They pushed the wheel of human and history.

Bibliography

Books

Toynbee Arnold. A Study of History

Marx Karl. Manifesto of the Communist Party

Internet http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/cabot.html

http://www.matthew.co.uk/index.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabot

http://www.wordplay.com/gullages/cabot.html

注:文中还配有十几副图片,因系统原因无法上传,遗憾!