![[Pasted image 20250201175033.png]] It's possible that even during the Little Ice Age, Europeans continued to venture when they could into the icy Atlantic and many probably sailed most of the way to the new world.[ Basque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_(autonomous_community)) fishing fleets, for example, began crossing the North Atlantic to visit the Grand Banks in the middle of the fifteenth century. The Banks are areas of shallow water on the edge of the North American continental shelf which are warmed by the [[Gulf Stream]]. These warm, shallow waters are an ideal home for bottom-dwelling species like Cod and Lobster. Whoever first discovered the rich fisheries of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland and [[Georges Bank]] off Cape Cod (the odds are high it was the Norse), by the late 1400s thousands of Europeans were crossing the ocean to take advantage of the bounty. Venetian navigator [[Giovanni Caboto]] (who Anglicized his name to John Cabot) reported in 1497 that Grand Banks cod were so abundant that you could almost walk across the water’s surface on their backs. ![[20230609_140402s.jpg]] *Cod drying on racks in Norway* Cod had been fished in the North Atlantic at least since the period of Viking exploration, 800 to 1000 CE. The Vikings and the Basques used similar techniques, catching fish close to shore and then drying them on wooden racks assembled on nearby beaches. They probably landed regularly on the coastlines near the fishing grounds, to dry fish and to replenish their supplies of fresh water. While the locations of prime fishing grounds were closely-guarded trade secrets, by the late 1400s the Portuguese had found out and had begun sending their own fleets to the Grand Banks. [Salted Cod](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dried_and_salted_cod) is still an important element of Portuguese cuisine, although nowadays they get their fish from Iceland and Norway. --- Next: [[2.5 Portuguese Explorers]] Back: [[2.3 Little Ice Age]]