edHelper.com
Explorers

John and Sebastian Cabot

John and Sebastian Cabot
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.53

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    navigator-explorers, seamanship, assured, fateful, monopoly, bounty, refused, port, better, temperate, triumphant, opening, route, attempt, direct, exploration
     content words:    Christopher Columbus, Giovanni Caboto, John Cabot, Mediterranean Sea, Middle East, King Henry VII, North America, Nova Scotia, Northwest Passage, Hudson Bay

Print John and Sebastian Cabot
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print John and Sebastian Cabot  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on John and Sebastian Cabot
     Leave your feedback on John and Sebastian Cabot  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

John and Sebastian Cabot
By Mary Lynn Bushong 		  
1     It was the beginning of the race to reach Asia. Who was better suited to lead this race than the Italian traders and merchants who already held the monopoly? They had proven themselves in their seamanship. You already know the name of Christopher Columbus. One of the other great navigator-explorers of the time was Giovanni Caboto-- or John Cabot as he became known in England.
 
2     No one knows for sure when Cabot was born in Italy, but most historians guess the year to be about 1450. As a young man, he lived in Venice and learned to be a trader. Traveling around the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East, he bought and sold silks, spices, and precious stones.
 
3     He hungered to find a more direct route to Asia, but no one in Italy wanted to pay for exploration. The leaders of that were Spain and Portugal. In about 1490, Cabot moved his family and business to Spain. If he wanted to be hired, he had to move where the jobs were.
 
4     Unfortunately, no one in Spain wanted to listen to his ideas. No one wanted to pay for the cost of that exploration. Columbus' triumphant return in 1493 did not make things easier. Finally, Cabot found the support he craved in England.
 
5     Cabot settled in the port of Bristol. There the merchants were willing to support him in a bid for opening up access to markets in the east. Then when King Henry VII became involved, Cabot's success seemed assured.

Paragraphs 6 to 11:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper