The correct answer to this open question is the following.
I think that the event that encouraged John Cabot to sail west was to equal or improve the accomplishments of previous explorers such as Christopher Columbus of Americo Vespucio. That is why he went to meet English King Henry VII to ask for his support. King Henry VII supported him because he ambitioned more land and riches for the crown of England.
John Cabot, an Italian Sailor, believed that traveling west he could find a better and shorter route to Asia. In one of his travels, he arrived at the North American coasts in 1497. Cabot thought that he had found a better route to Asia and that is what he reported to the King when he got back to England.
