Though the exact details of his life and expeditions are the subject of debate, John Cabot (or Giovanni Caboto, as he was known in Italian) may have developed the idea of sailing westward to reach the riches of Asia while working for a Venetian merchant. By the late 1490s, he was living in England, and gained a commission from King Henry VII to make an expedition across the northern Atlantic. He sailed from Bristol in May 1497 and made landfall in late June. The exact site of Cabot’s landing has not been definitively established; it may have been located in Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island or southern Labrador. After returning to England to report his success, Cabot departed on a second expedition in mid-1498, but is thought to have perished in a shipwreck en route.