On John Cabot’s voyage when he landed in the Americas, him and his crew found evidence of settlement and fire but there were no people there when they arrived. Although they had not seen anyone and assumed that they could claim the land, it was very likely that the Beothuk were living in the area. The Beothuk were a native group of people that had lived in the area of Newfoundland for maybe thousands of years before the time of European colonization. Beothuk means “the people” or “true people” in their now extinct language. When the Europeans did land in the 16th century, they moved from the area to avoid them and avoid conflict. It is likely that the group of natives had come up against vikings which caused them to be cautious of the new people coming to their land. Although the earliest record of contact was in 1501 after Cabot had left the land and after he had supposedly died, it seemed unlikely that was first contact anyone had had with them. Because the land was already claimed, other explorers brought some of the Native American people back to Europe to be slaves which was written about by Alberto Cantino in 1501. Unfortunately, because of European contact and the bringing over of diseases, all of the Beothuk have died due to illness. Although John Cabot had not himself made any encounters with the Beothuk, it is very likely it was their settlements he landed on when coming to the Americas.