The inscription below this plaque explains that it was placed in Halifax, Nova Scotia harbour to commemorate the 500th year since the landing of Giovanni Caboto from the Veneto area of Italy. This came as a shock to me as in school we were taught that this man's name was Jean Cabot (French pronunciation) or John Cabot as the English name of this explorer. Just goes to prove the Italians had more to do with our country's founding than we learned in class. Just as Christopher Columbus was sometimes portrayed as Spanish because he travelled under the auspices of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand & Isabella, his real name was Cristoforo Colombo and he hailed from Liguria, Genoa, & Savona Italy. In fact his actual origins are a bit clouded in history, but most historians believe he was from Genoa.
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