Exploration

Pedro Àlvares Cabral

t is believed Cabral was born in Belmonte, Portugal in about 1460. In about 1500 he was commissioned to sail a fleet of merchant ships to India. Kind Emmanuel of Portugal made him commander of a thirteen-ship fleet. His 1000 men crew was to follow Vasco da Gama's route around southern Africa. However, he took a slightly more westerly route in order to avoid the Cape of Good Hope's notorious storms, and winds blew his fleet further and further westwards until in April 1500 he landed in Brazil, at what is today known as Bahia State. He sent a ship to Portugal to report to the court the claimed land and discovery.

Another Theory

In 1494 at the Treaty of Tordesillas, a line demarcating discovery rights had been set up. Any land discovered to the west of this Demarcation Line was to belong to Spain; anything east was the property of Portugal. In order to claim some land of the New World, the Portuguese had appealed to move this line as far west as possible. Pope Alexander the sixth had approved of the line. Some believe that Cabral purposefully traveled too far west in order to claim some American soil for Portugal. Brazil was later officially part of Portugal's commonwealth.

After his claim on Brazil was in effect, he continued on his designated route to the East. After a storm near the Cape of Good Hope had robbed the expedition of four ships, the party eventually landed in Calicut, India. Cabral established a trade deal with Calicut's ruler, as well as a Portuguese trading post.

In 1501 Cabral returned to Portugal. Little is known of his doings from then on, and he died in circa 1526.