John Cabot (in Italian Giovanni Caboto) was probably born in Genoa but may have been from a Venetian family. In around 1490 he moved to England, settling in the port of Bristol. In May 1497, with the support of the English king Henry VII, Cabot sailed west from Bristol on the Matthew in the hope of finding a route to Asia. On 24 June, he sighted land and called it New-found-land. He believed it was Asia and claimed it for England.