Early Cartography of Newfoundland and Labrador--Exploration--Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web

Information about English and French exploration in the early 16th century.

John Cabot may have discovered an ocean route from Europe to North America, but this information did little to clarify the geography of eastern Canada.

Navigators in the 1500s had few tools to work with: the magnetic compass, the log, the lead line, the quadrant, and dead reckoning.

The Portuguese pioneered the European exploration of the Atlantic Ocean. Some historians believe that Portuguese mariners reached Newfoundland before Cabot.

Extract from 'The voyage of Master Charles Leigh...,' by Richard Hakluyt, dated 1597, and dealing with cod, fisheries, ships, and boats.

One of John Cabot's sons, Sebastian, is bound up with his father's story, and the story of the European exploration of North America.