Every Day Is Special: June 24 - Discovery Day in Newfoundland and Labrador

June 24 - Discovery Day in Newfoundland and Labrador

(Monday closest to June 24)

Posted on June 24, 2019

June 24 is St. John's Day - honoring John the Baptist (see Jāni, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, and Joninės in "Also on this date," below).

But Newfoundland and Labrador's Discovery Day honors another John altogether:

John Cabot.

John Cabot is credited as being the first European to land on the portion of North America that is north of Mexico since the Vikings explored Vinland (probably Newfoundland) some 500 years before Columbus.

Historians believe that, on this date in 1497 (about 5 years after Columbus's first New World landfall), Cabot landed in what is now Newfoundland, Canada. However, it's possible that his landing was actually in Maine, or Nova Scotia, or Labrador.

This is the location of the province of Labrador (on the mainland
of Canada) and Newfoundland (islands off shore).

Cabot and his crew just didn't do much where they landed, only staying long enough to discover a few signs that people lived there (such as the remains of a fire and a human-made trail) and to take on fresh water. So Cabot and crew didn't end up leaving any physical evidence of their landing. Also, whatever Cabot wrote about the journey, while on the journey or afterwards, vanished long ago. (Some historians think it's possible his son destroyed the records out of jealousy.) The crew left no writings. So historians have to rely on stuff that others wrote about the journey.

It's strange to think that we actually have more evidence of the Norse landing, so many centuries before!

This picture glorifies the explorers.
Also, I saw no account that Cabot
posted an English flag in the soil
of what would become Newfoundland,
although one account did mention
him erecting a cross there.

John Cabot was sailing for England when he "discovered" Newfoundland, but he was an Italian navigator and explorer. His birth name was Giovanni Caboto. Just as Cristoforo Colombo was actually Italian, but was sailing for the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella when he explored Central America and the Caribbean islands, Giovanni Caboto was sailing for Henry VII of England.

We have a LOT of uncertainty about Cabot / Caboto. We aren't sure when and where he was born (best guess is around 1450 near Naples OR Genoa), nor when and where he died (some evidence points to his death on his final voyage to the New World, in 1498, but there is some evidence he may have returned to England and died somewhere in Europe, by 1501.

Some 30,000 people descended on the
small town of Bonavista (around 4,500
people) for Cabot-500 Day. Queen
Elizabeth II attended - as did First Nation
representatives (aka Native Americans),
who were protesting the celebration
because Cabot's "discovery" brought
devastation and misery to their ancestors.

The 500th anniversary of Cabot-and-crew's landing, June 24, 1997, was BIG-time celebrated! Especially in Bonavista, Newfoundland (since we cannot know for sure exactly where Cabot landed, one likely site was selected as the official landing site).

Ever since then the Monday closest to June 24 has been celebrated in Bonavista and in other towns in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well.

Here are some of the features of Bonavista's Discovery Day:

Kids Walking Parade

A motorcade of about 100 cars

Visits to the Matthew legacy site. Cabot's ship (a caravel) was named Matthew, and a replica was built in England and then sailed to Newfoundland in time for the 500th anniversary. During that 1997 voyage, the same number of crew members (18) sailed the replica ship and took the same amount of time to make the voyage (6 weeks)!

I assumed that the replica ship was still in Newfoundland, at the legacy site - but that particular ship returned to England. Folks in Newfoundland built their own caravel, however, which resides at the legacy site along with other exhibits.