Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's history lesson.

My name is Mr. Merrett, and I'll be guiding you through today's lesson.

So, let's get started.

Today's lesson is looking at John Cabot's journeys across the Atlantic Ocean.

And by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to describe the journeys of John Cabot.

Now, to help us do that, we are going to need to use some key terms.

So I'm gonna say the key term, I'll leave a space, and I'd like you to repeat it after me.

So our first key term is Atlantic Ocean.

Well done if you manage to repeat that.

Now, the Atlantic Ocean is the ocean between Europe and the Americas.

Our second key term is Americas.

And the Americas are the continents of North and South America.

And our final key term for today is Asia.

And Asia is the continent to the east of Europe.

Very well done if you manage to repeat all of those key terms.

We are going to start today's lesson by thinking about who was John Cabot and what did he do.

So let's get going.

Now, around 525 years ago, the King of England at the time was King Henry VII.

And on the screen in front of you, there's an image there of King Henry VII.

And you may have already heard of him.

If you haven't, it's not a problem.

You'll find out a little bit more about him today.

But our lesson is all about John Cabot.

So let's focus in on him.

Now, he was a seafarer who lived in Bristol, which is a town in England, to the west.

You may have heard of it, you may live there.

And he lived there at the same time as King Henry VII was alive, about 525 years ago.

John Cabot, though, wasn't actually English.

He was an Italian who had moved to Bristol.

His real name was Giovanni Caboto, but he changed his name to John Cabot when he came to England.

At that time, other European countries were sending out explorers on journeys to try and find quicker roots to reach a part of the world known as Asia.

So explorers are very brave people who go out and they try to find new places or new ways to get to other places to help other people.

They're very brave because what they do can be very dangerous.

Not all explorers managed to return home.

A lot of people wanted to get to Asia so that they could trade with the people who lived there.

A lot of things that grew or were made in Asia didn't grow or couldn't be made in Europe.

So if you could manage to trade with Asia, you could make a lot of money.

The English king at the time, Henry VII, wanted to try to do the same thing as these other European kings and queens, so he asked John Cabot to sail to Asia.

Let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So I'd like you to match the person to the correct description.

So the two people on the screen are John Cabot and Henry VII.

And one of them was the King of England around 525 years ago.

And the other one was an Italian explorer who lived in England.

But which was which?

Pause a video while you work that one out.

And I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on fine with that task.

Let's see if you managed to correctly label these two people.

So John Cabot was an Italian explorer, who lived in England.

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

Very well done if you managed to get those two correct.

Now, on the screen in front of you here, we've got a map of the world, and I've circled the British Isles for you.

And you can see the British Isles in Europe is in the center of our map.

And if we want to go to Asia, then we need to travel east, which is the direction that that arrow is pointing.

At that time, some explorers had an idea that because the world is round, it might actually be quicker to travel in the opposite direction to get there.

So it might be quicker to go west in order to get to Asia.

They thought that they could sail to Asia by going west.

If you look at the map on the screen, you can see that the best way to get to Asia here is by going over land, not by sailing.

If you wanted to sail to Asia, we had to go all the way down to the bottom of the map, all the way to the south, all the way around Africa and get to Asia that way.

But that's a really, really long and dangerous journey.

Now, for those explorers who thought it would be quicker to sail west in order to get to Asia, they would have to sail across the ocean to the west of Europe.

And this is the Atlantic Ocean.

But what those explorers didn't know at the time was that the Americas are in the west, and they were heading straight for them.

So what I would like you to think about, what problems would these explorers face if they tried to get to Asia by sailing west?

Have a little think about it and see what ideas you can come up with.

Okay, so there are several problems that these explorers didn't know that they're about to face, but the most obvious problem is that if they tried to sell to Asia by going west, they would land in the Americas instead of getting to Asia.

So hopefully you came up with that idea as well.

Okay, let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So I have a statement here, I want you to say whether it's true or false.

So the statement is, explorers from Europe could easily sail west to get to Asia.

Is my statement true or is it false?

Have a little think about that now.

Okay, if you said that my statement was false, then very well done.

You are absolutely correct.

But why is that a false statement?

Have a little think about that as well.

All right, if you said that my statement is false because the explorers didn't know that they would reach the Americas instead, then congratulations.

You are absolutely correct.

Very well done.

Now, John Cabot was one of those explorers who thought it might be easier to sail west to get to Asia.

So he set out on his journey from Bristol in England.

He headed west into the Atlantic Ocean, believing that his next stop would be Asia.

Let's have another check for understanding now.

Which direction did John Cabot sail in when he left Bristol to go to Asia?

Did he go, A, south, B, west, or C, north?

Have a little think about that question now.

Okay, if you said that John Cabot sailed B, west, then congratulations.

You are absolutely correct.

Okay, let's have our first task for today.

So I've got a map of the world in the screen here, and what I would like you to do is to complete the labels on the map of the world.

So there are three labels that you need to complete.

And I've left the labels on the screen at the top there.

So one of them is Asia, another one is the Atlantic Ocean, and the final one is Americas.

So pause the video whilst you label this map, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got an okay with that task.

Now, hopefully your map looks a little bit like mine, so we can see that on the screen there, the Americas are to the left hand side.

Got the Atlantic Ocean, that large ocean in the middle between the Americas and Europe and Africa.

And off to the right hand side there, we've got Asia.

And hopefully you've got the same labels that I do.

Right, for our next task, I'd like you to talk to a partner, and I'd like you to use the same words below to describe John Cabot's journey.

So the words are Americas, the Atlantic Ocean, and Asia.

So how could you use those words to describe John Cabot's journey?

Pause the video while you do this.

And I'll see you again in just a moment.

Welcome back.

So hopefully you had lots to say to your partner about John Cabot's journey.

You might have said that John Cabot's sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean.

He wanted to see if he could reach Asia by sailing west.

That's a really good statement there.

Well, you might have said yes, he thought he was going to Asia, but he was sailing towards the Americas instead.

That's another great response to that first statement.

Now, maybe you said something similar.

Maybe you said something entirely different.

But as long as you use those key words and you described exactly what John Cabot did, then I'm sure your statement is perfectly fine as well.

Very well done.

Okay, let's move on to the next part of our lesson today, which is what happened on John Cabot's journeys?

Now John Cabot made more than one attempt at the journey to Asia.

Each time he started by sailing into the Atlantic Ocean.

His first attempt was not successful because his crew were not prepared for some problems that they had at sea.

There were fierce storms in the Atlantic Ocean and the boat was not strong enough for the bad weather.

The storm caused a lot of damage and flooding to some parts of the boats, which made it difficult for the crew to live on boats.

The crew were hungry because there was not food to eat and there were arguments about what to do next.

So they decided to return home.

This is one of the dangers of seafaring for most of history.

These storms could be really, really fierce and really, really dangerous.

So sailors were naturally worried about coming across these storms.

They could sink the boats, and that would be it.

So John Cabot made the decision that rather than put them through any more danger, this time, he would return home.

And that's exactly what he did.

John Cabot's second journey was made with a smaller ship, had a smaller number of sailors.

So he didn't give up just because his first attempt didn't work.

He tried again, and he tried something slightly different this time.

This second ship was called The Matthew.

And there were only 18 people.

so it was a very small ship and a very small crew.

This time they managed a sail across the whole Atlantic Ocean.

And in June, 1497, they reached some land.

They thought they'd made it to Asia not knowing that the Americas were in the way.

They called the place where they landed New Found Land, or Newfoundland as it became known.

Okay, let's have a quick check for understanding.

The ship used for John Cabot's second journey was, A, bigger, B, smaller, or C, heavier?

Have a little think about that now.

Okay, if you said that the ship used for John Cabot's second journey was, B, smaller, then very well done.

That is absolutely correct answer.

Now in fact, the place that John Cabot found was not Asia.

It was an island in North America, part of the country we call Canada today.

John Cabot returned to England with news about what the place was like and what they had found there.

It was a cold place and some people already lived there, but they lived and dressed very differently to the English people.

They wore animal furs and they knew how to hunt and how to farm.

These people were Native Americans.

People that had always lived in the Americans before the arrival of Europeans.

The King of England, Henry VII, was very pleased, so he sent John Cabot on another mission to try and travel even further than he had them before.

Let's have another check for understanding now.

So a quick true or false statement here.

John Cabot reached Asia and made King Henry VII very happy.

Is my statement true or is it false?

Have a little think now.

Okay, if you said that my statement is false, then congratulations, you are correct.

But why is that a false statement?

Have a little think now.

All right, if you said that my statement was false because John Cabot found a part of Canada instead of Asia, then you are absolutely right, very well done.

If instead of saying Canada, you said it was part of a North America or the Americas, then that's equally as good an answer as well.

So very well done for that too.

Now, on John Cabot's final journey, unfortunately, he and his crew were lost at sea and they never made it home.

Historians think that there was probably another big storm and John Cabot's ship was destroyed because of it.

This was one of the dangers that seafarers faced and explorers faced for hundreds and hundreds of years when there were trying to travel across oceans like the Atlantic Ocean.

John Cabot knew the dangers when he set out on his voyages, but he undertook them anyway.

He was a very brave man, who really wanted to find out more about the world.

So it was a very sad ending for John Cabot and his crew.

However, they've not been forgotten.

Today, John Cabot is remembered in Newfoundland and in Bristol, as well as other places around the world.

But predominantly in those two areas.

There are statues, there are postage stamps, and there are places named after him.

And on the screen in front of us here, we can see that there's a photo of John Cabot Tower in Bristol.

And there's also a photo of a John Cabot statue in Bristol as well.

So although he is gone, his memory is remembered.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding now.

So I'd like you to select the images that show how John Cabot is remembered.

Is he remembered through, A, this building, B, this statue, or C, this drawing?

Make your choice now.

All right, if you said that John Cabot is remembered through A, this particular building, and B, this particular statue, then very well done.

You are absolutely correct.

All right, let's go for another task now then.

I'd like you to decide if each sentence about John Cabot is true or false.

So if you think it's true, put a tick next to the statements.

But if you think it's false, put across next to it.

Pause a video whilst you do this and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you enjoyed that task.

Let's see if you managed to get these statements correct.

So our first statement was that John Cabot was an English explorer.

And that is a false statement.

John Cabot was Italian who lived in England.

John Cabot sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

That statement is true, so hopefully you remembered that.

Our next statement is that John Cabot reached the Americas on his first journey.

And that is not true.

His first journey was unsuccessful, but he didn't give up, and he managed to reach the Americas on his second journey.

So hopefully you remembered that as well.

Our next statement is that John Cabot sailed to Asia.

And that's not true either, although if you'd asked him, I think he would say that he did, because he believed that he had landed in Asia.

As we now know though, that's not the case.

Our final statements is that John Cabot called the place he arrived at in North America Newfoundland or New-found-land.

And that statement is true.

So hopefully you got all of these answers correct.

You remembered which of these statements are true and which are slightly incorrect.

Okay, let's summarize today's lesson now then.

So 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 VII, 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.

On Cabot's second journey, he reached the Americas when he landed in Canada and called the place Newfoundland in June, 1497.

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

Thank you very much for joining me.

Hopefully you enjoyed today's lesson, and hopefully I'll see you again next time.

Bye-bye.