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Pedro Alvarez Cabral
Portuguese Navigator
 In 1500, King Manuel of
Portugal appointed Cabral, son of a nobleman, to head a trade expedition
to India. He was to proceed along Vasco de Gama’s route along the Cape
of Good Hope with 13 ships and a crew of over 1,000 men.
Cabral headed westward, wanting to stay in calm waters, but was blown
further west until he came upon a land he named the “Island of the True
Cross.” It later became know as Brazil due to the region’s valuable red
dye-wood called pau-brasil, one of the area’s main exports. Realizing it
was far enough east to fall within Portugal’s sphere of influence
granted by the Treaty of Tordesillas, he claimed possession of the
territory and sent a ship home to report news of the great discovery.
After just 10 days in Brazil, Cabral set out eastward for India, but the
voyage was rough. Cabral lost four ships off the Cape of Good Hope,
including one captained by Bartolomeu Dias, the Portuguese explorer who
first rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. The remaining ships made it
through the treacherous waters to Calcutta, India only to find
opposition from Muslim traders. Moving further south to attempt trade in
other markets for precious spices, Cabral was finally successful. On the
return trip, however, two more ships were lost before the survivors of
the expedition returned to their homeland of Portugal in 1501.
Though Cabral’s expedition was deemed a success, further expeditions
were delegated to de Gama, while Cabral retired to his estate and live
the remainder of his life in relative obscurity |
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