John Brereton (c. 1571/1572 – c. 1632) was a gentleman adventurer and chronicler of the 1602 voyage to the New World led by Bartholomew Gosnold. Brereton recorded the first European exploration of Cape Cod and its environs. His account, published in 1602, helped promote the possibilities of English colonisation in what was then known as "the North part of Virginia" and would later become known as New England.