Hello there and welcome to today's history lesson, I'm Mr. Moss, I'm really passionate about history and I'm also, really looking forward to teaching you.

With you today, you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains.

As well as that, having something to write with and write on and someone or something to talk to would also be really helpful.

All right then, let's get straight into today's history lesson.

In this history lesson, we're going to be looking at John Cabot's journeys across the Atlantic Ocean.

Our outcome will be, I can describe the journeys of John Cabot.

Here are the key words for today's learning.

My turn, your turn.

Make sure, I can hear you saying these back to me, Atlantic Ocean, Americas, Asia.

Keep an eye and ear out for these keywords today, let's talk about what they mean then.

The Atlantic Ocean is the ocean between Europe and the Americas.

The Americas are the continents of North and South America.

And the continent to the east of Europe is called, Asia.

So today, we are going to be looking at the voyages and journeys of an explorer called, John Cabot, and the fact that he journeyed to the Americas in the hope that he would find Asia.

Today's lesson is gonna be a fascinating combination of history and geography.

So John Cabot's journeys across the Atlantic Ocean.

We're going to split today's learning into two parts, two cycles.

First off, we're going to answer the question, who was John Cabot and what did he do? And then in the second part of the lesson, we're going to consider what happened on John Cabot's journeys.

As I said previously, this is a really fascinating lesson about early explorers.

It's a combination of both history and geography, so let's get on with answering the question.

Who was John Cabot and what did he do? So around 525 years ago, King Henry VII was the King of England.

Here we have a painting of King Henry VII.

During this era is when John Cabot was exploring.

Here we have an image, a painting of John Cabot.

John Cabot was an Italian seafarer, so someone who travelled by sea, who lived in a place called, Bristol in the west of England.

So key points for us to remember here are, he was an Italian seafarer, so he was quite an expert traveller by sea, and he lived in the west of England in a place called, Bristol.

This was during, remember the reign of King Henry VII.

King Henry VII asked John Cabot to go on journeys to explore a part of the world called, Asia for him.

Remember, an explorer is a person who travels to new and unfamiliar places.

John Cabot would've done his exploring by sea because he was a seafarer.

And King Henry VII wanted him to go to Asia, that continent, which is to the east of Europe.

Can you please, from the learning that we've done so far, match the person to the correct description? We have two people named here, John Cabot, Henry VII, and the descriptions are the King of England around 525 years ago, an Italian explorer who lived in England, match the person now to the description.

Off you go.

Good job team.

You clearly know who these two gentlemen are.

John Cabot was an Italian explorer who lived in England.

In particular, he was living in Bristol in the west of England.

Henry VII was the King of England around 525 years ago.

I remember the relationship between these men was that King Henry VII commissioned John Cabot to explore.

He wanted him to explore the continent of Asia for him.

So for centuries, so for hundreds of years, explorers in Europe had travelled east to reach Asia.

We can see our map of the world here that east in that direction, the west in that direction.

And you can see that the continent of Asia, a huge expansive continent is to the east of Europe.

Now, if you look carefully, we can see the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean Basin.

This would've been one of the quicker ways to get there, however, to get to certain parts of Asia, you would've had to have gone south and then around Africa and back up.

This would've taken quite some time and been quite a lengthy journey.

So we can see here circled in this part of Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

This was where John Cabot would've done his travelling from his seafaring.

Some explorers thought it might be quicker to sail west to get to Asia.

At this time, they did not know that the Americas existed.

Earlier, Norse travellers, the Vikings had travelled there, but there were no records in history about 525 years ago during the reigning of King Henry VIII that the Americas existed.

So explorers who are people that travel knew in unfamiliar ways to get to places, thought that they might explore towards the west in the hope that they could reach Asia quicker.

So you can see by the arrow here, they thought travelling from Europe to the west might help them reach Asia.

Instead, they would reach the Americas.

What problem would they face, if they tried to get to Asia by sailing west? Pause the video now and have a think.

Absolutely, rather than reaching Asia, they would hit the landmass of the Americas.

If they tried to get to Asia by sailing west, they would land somewhere in the Americas instead of Asia.

So true or false, explorers from Europe could easily sail west to get to Asia? Absolutely, this is false.

And why was this false? Well, let's consider the maps that we just looked at or what would they hit.

They did not know that they would reach the Americas instead.

And this is exactly what happened to John Cabot.

John Cabot set out on his journey from Bristol heading west into the my turn, your turn, Atlantic Ocean.

This is the ocean that sits between Europe and the Americas.

He believed that he was heading for Asia because remember at this time, during this period in history, people didn't know that the Americas were there.

So he travelled westward across the Atlantic Ocean, and you guessed it, he would've hit the Americas.

Which direction did John Cabot sail in when he left Bristol to go to Asia? Did he sail south? Did he sail west? Or did he sail north? Pause the video now and select the correct direction.

Good job team, he sailed west.

He didn't sail south and he didn't sail north.

He sailed in a westerly direction across the Atlantic Ocean.

So for our practise task now, what I'd like you to do for me is to complete the labels on this map, we have a variety of keywords here.

We have the words, my turn, your turn, Asia, that continent, that is to the east of Europe.

We have Atlantic Ocean, that ocean that sits between Europe and the Americas.

And finally, we have Americas.

Could you look at our map of the world here and could you add these labels to them to show your geographical understanding of where these places were? Off you go.

Fantastic job team, you have really good geographical sense and you've clearly been paying a lot of attention.

So hopefully, your answers look like this and you can make any corrections as we go along.

So we have Asia, which is this huge continent to the east of Europe.

This is the continent, remember, that John Cabot was commissioned to travel to by King Henry VII.

We have the Atlantic Ocean, that ocean that sits between Europe and the Americas.

And then we have to the west of Europe across that Atlantic Ocean, the Americas.

Remember, this is the continent or continents that John Cabot would end up reaching in his attempts to travel west to reach Asia.

So for the second part of our practise task now, what I'd like you to do is to talk to a partner.

Could you use the same words below to describe John Cabot's journey? You can use the map that we've looked at also to help you.

And we have these key words, America's, Atlantic Ocean, and Asia.

I want you to describe the voyage or journey that John Cabot would have taken.

Where was he hoping to find? What direction did he travel in? What ocean did he travel over? And where did he end up? Pause the video now and talk to your partner.

Off you go.

Excellent job, I really loved hearing your descriptions there of the journey that John Cabot took.

So you may have said, and I think I heard many of you say these things.

John Cabot sailed West across the Atlantic Ocean, that ocean that sits between Europe and the Americas, he wanted to see, if he could reach Asia by sailing westward.

Yes, he thought that he was going to Asia, which is where he'd been sent by King Henry VII, but he was sailing towards the Americas instead.

Remember that the Americas during this period of history were not known of.

They were effectively at this point in history, undiscovered by the people that lived then.

So we have looked at who John Cabot was.

He was an Italian seafarer who was commissioned by King Henry VII of England at the time to explore and travel towards Asia.

He did this by travelling westward, and we know that he would've then hit the Americas.

I can't wait to find out what happened on his journeys, let's have a look then and see if we can now answer this question, what happened on John Cabot's journeys? So John Cabot sailed on the Atlantic Ocean.

Can you remind me, which two continents did the Atlantic Ocean sit between? Pause the video and have a think.

Great job team, it's the ocean that sits between Europe and the Americas.

You would travel westward from Europe over it.

We have here a drawing of stormy weather at sea.

The Atlantic Ocean can be quite treacherous and stormy.

And John Cabot's first journey failed when his large ship was damaged in a storm.

Remember ships during this period had wooden holes and would have had sails.

They would've been quite tricky to sail through great storms. They ran outta food for the sailors and argued about what to do.

To avoid any form of mutiny and the sailors and the ship rising up against him, they decided to return home.

So on John Cabot's first voyage, it was effectively a failure.

He had to turn back.

On his second voyage, his second journey, which was in 1497 on a smaller ship called, The Matthew.

Can you say that for me, The Matthew? We have here an illustration of John Cabot's ship, The Matthew, this was smaller than the larger ship he had sailed before, they had less sailors on the ship and the boat was able to move better if there were storms in the Atlantic Ocean.

So The Matthew was a smaller ship than on the first voyage, and this voyage was a success.

The ship used for John Cabot's second journey was A, bigger, B, smaller, or C, heavier? Pause the video and finish the sentence now.

Off you go.

Fantastic, the ship used for John Cabot's journey was smaller, it was smaller and had less men on it.

It was called, The Matthew.

And as a result of being smaller and with less men than his first voyage, it did far better in the stormy wavy seas of the Atlantic.

On his second journey, John Cabot reached land and he believed that it was Asia.

He believed that it was that continent that, if he travelled by land would be to the east of Europe, but it wasn't, he travelled westward, remember.

It was the country known today as Canada in the continent of North America.

He actually touched land in a place that is now called, as you can see from the map here, Newfoundland, can you say that for me? Newfoundland, if we break that word down, we have new found land.

Land that was newly found.

Land that up until this point had not been known about.

He was an explorer who thought he had found it for the first time, hence it being called, Newfoundland, John Cabot called this place, Newfoundland.

When John Cabot returned from Newfoundland, King Henry VII was very pleased with him because he had discovered new land.

It was in his name that John Cabot had found these places, and this opened up new opportunities for King Henry VII.

So true or false, John Cabot reached Asia and made King Henry VII very happy? This is absolutely false, he didn't reach Asia.

Where did he reach instead team? He reached the Americas, he found a part of Canada that he named, Newfoundland instead of Asia, remember, he was hoping to travel to Asia westward, but had discovered the Americas instead.

So the next year, King Henry the VIII asked John Cabot to explore further than he had ever before.

Remember, explorers would've been excited at the prospect of finding new and unfamiliar places and ways.

Now, this also shows us the dangers of being an explorer during these periods of history.

Seafaring can be dangerous.

Sadly, John Cabot never returned home from that mission that he was sent on by Henry VII.

He was lost at sea with his ship and sailors and was never found.

Today, John Cabot is remembered in Newfoundland and in Bristol, in England, there are statues, postage stamps, and places named after him.

He was a significant figure because he was the person who had discovered Newfoundland.

So we can see here on the left, a stamp commemorating he in 1497 and his crew on their ship, The Matthew seeing Newfoundland for their first time of the Cape of Bonavista.

We can see here also, a photo of a statue, which we can see the date, 1497 when he discovered Newfoundland on.

These are two ways to commemorate significant historical figures.

So could you select the images that show how John Cabot is remembered? How you remember the significant historical figure, A, postage stamp, B, statue, or C, painting? Pause the video now and select the correct images, off you go.

Okay, so the ways that we've looked at in this learning cycle about how John Cabot is remembered as a historical significant figure is a postage stamp and a statue.

Brilliant.

So what I'd like us to do now for our final practise task is to decide if each sentence about John Cabot is true or false.

Consider the learning that we've done throughout this whole lesson.

Prove yourself to be an expert.

Put a tick for true and a cross for false.

Let's read the sentences first.

John Cabot was an English explorer.

John Cabot sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

John Cabot reached the Americas on his first journey.

John Cabot sailed to Asia.

John Cabot called the place he arrived at in North America, Newfoundland.

Pause the video now, decide if each statement or sentence is true or false, off you go.

Great job team.

So your answers should look like this.

Check as we go along.

John Cabot was an English explorer, this is cross, false.

He was an Italian explorer who lived in England in Bristol and was commissioned by King Henry VII to go on voyages.

John Cabot sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, this is true, he sailed westward from Europe across the Atlantic Ocean.

John Cabot reached the Americas on his first voyage, this is false.

The large ship that he sailed got into trouble in the stormy seas in the Atlantic Ocean.

He and his men began to run out of food, so they decided to turn back.

John Cabot sailed to Asia, this is false.

He wanted to sail to Asia, but as he sailed westward across the Atlantic Ocean, he found the Americas and John Cabot called the place he arrived at in North America, Newfoundland, this is true.

Brilliant, how did you get on there? Make any corrections now, off you go.

I've really enjoyed our history/geography lesson today team, it's been really fascinating learning about John Cabot's journeys across the Atlantic Ocean.

John Cabot was an Italian explorer who lived part of his life in Bristol in England.

John Cabot was sent on journeys by King Henry VIII who wanted him to travel to Asia.

Cabot's first journey failed because there was a great storm in the Atlantic Ocean.

The crew did not have enough food and they argued, so they turned back.

On Cabot's second journey, however, he reached the Americas when he landed in Canada, and he called the place, Newfoundland in June, 1497, remember, this was a surprise to him, he was expecting to find Asia, but he didn't, he found the Americas.

Cabot never returned from his final voyage that he was sent on as he and his crew were lost at sea, likely because of a storm.

Keep up the great history learning and I'll see you again soon.