Gilbert Islands 1 dollar 2015 The ship Matthew

Gilbert Islands 1 dollar 2015 Matthew.

When in Europe it became known about the discoveries made by Columbus, many companies, as well as individuals who had sufficient funds, began to equip ships that were supposed to set off after fabulous riches supposedly hiding in uncharted lands. So, in 1497, British merchants from the city of Bristol prepared one small ship "Matthew" with a crew of 18 people and invited as the head of the expedition a captain John Cabot, a native of Genoa.
May 20, 1497 Cabot sailed from Bristol to the west and all the time kept to the north of 52 ° N. w. Swimming passed in quiet weather, but frequent fogs and numerous icebergs made it difficult to move. On the morning of June 24, the ship "Matthew" approached a land named after Terra Prima Vista, which in Italian means "the first land seen". In fact, it was the northern extremity of the island of Newfoundland, east of the Gulf of Pistol. In one of the nearest harbors, Cabot descended to the shore and declared the island the possession of the English king. Then the British took a course to the southeast, walked along the heavily rugged coastline, rounded the Avalon peninsula and saw huge shoals of herring and cod. This was the case with the discovery of the Great Newfoundland Bank - a vast sandbank in the Atlantic, which is of great value from the point of view of fishing.
On the island of Newfoundland, archaeologists discovered an ancient Norman settlement. This finding is irrefutable proof that long before Columbus and Cabot, Europeans knew about the existence of lands in the West.
Cabot stayed near the coast of Newfoundland for about a month, and then went to the shores of Europe, still adhering to 52 ° N. w. Safely returning to England, Cabot spoke about his discoveries, but the British somehow decided that he had been in the "kingdom of the great Khan", ie, in China.

At the beginning of May, 1498, a second expedition headed by John Cabot came out of Bristol to the west, at the disposal of which this time was a flotilla of five ships. However, Cabot died on the way, and his son Sebastian Cabot took over the leadership. English ships reached the North American continent and passed along its east coast far to the southwest. Sometimes the sailors landed on shore and met people "dressed in animal skins, who had neither pearls nor gold" (North American Indians). Because of a lack of supplies, Cabot turned back and returned to England in the same year, 1498.

The Gilbert Islands are a group of islands in the western Pacific Ocean, in Micronesia. They were part of the English colony of the Gilbert Islands and Ellis. Currently belong to the State of Kiribati. Include 16 coral atolls. The administrative center of Tarawa.