PEDRO ÁLVARES CABRAL: BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, DISCOVERIES - ARTE - 2025

Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467-1520) was a Portuguese navigator who is credited with the discovery of Brazil in the year 1500, allegedly accidentally during a commercial expedition ordered by the Portuguese kingdom to India.

Álvares Cabral demonstrated his leadership and mettle skills in the face of the tragic and challenging experiences that he had to face during this journey marked by shipwrecks, murders, material losses and revenge.

The original uploader was Dinx at Dutch Wikipedia.

His legacy as a navigator and explorer has reserved an important place for him in the so-called 'Age of Discoveries' that lasted between the 15th and 17th centuries, being also one of the most important figures in navigation.

Biography

Early years

Pedro Alvares Cabral was born in Belmonte, Portugal in 1467. He was the second son of Fernão Cabral and Isabel de Gouveia, noblemen with a long tradition in the service of the Portuguese Crown.

In this environment, young Pedro received an education commensurate with his noble position, studying humanities, learning to fight with weapons and embarking on exploratory trips to North Africa, as was the custom among young people of his social status at that time..

Many details of his personal life are not exactly known, but historians point out that he had ten brothers who also lived in the Portuguese Court and that from a very young age he learned to stand out in this highly competitive world.

By 1497 he had earned the esteem of the recently crowned King Manuel I of Portugal (1469-1521) who assigned him a subsidy of thirty thousand reales, gave him the title of Fidalgo and Knight of the Order of Christ.

It is thought that this closeness to the monarch was the reason why in 1500 he was appointed Major Captain in charge of the second expedition from Portugal to India, despite not having the necessary maritime experience for a project of such magnitude.

However, at that time it was common for inexperienced nobles to be chosen to lead expeditions, as there were always trained personnel on board to command major actions.

Travels and discoveries

The trip to India that landed in Brazil

On March 9, 1500, Alvares Cabral left Lisbon with thirteen boats and 1200 men between soldiers and civilians with rubo to India.

The purpose of this expedition was to establish commercial agreements for the purchase of spices that would be sold at a very good price in Europe. Álvares Cabral himself had permission to purchase a considerable quantity of merchandise for his own benefit, which he could sell duty-free upon his return to Portugal.

The first of these expeditions from Portugal to India was commanded between 1497 and 1498 by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) who traced the most reliable and fastest route known until then.

This route was also used by Álvares Cabral, who received instructions from da Gama himself to travel a little further west after passing the islands of the Cape Verde archipelago to avoid storms.

This detour was precisely the cause of the apparently accidental discovery of Brazil on April 22, 1500.

In the following image you can see the route of Álvares Cabral's expedition represented by a red line. This can be compared with the route followed by da Gama three years earlier and which is distinguished by a blue line.

Cabral_voyage_1500.svg: * Cabral_voyage.png: Lecen (based on work created by Castoro

Discovery of Brazil

In this way, and six weeks after having set sail from Lisbon, Alvares Cabral's expedition landed in a place that the navigator initially mistook for an island that he called “Tierra de Vera Cruz” and that today is part of the State of Bahia., Brazil.

Immediately, the expedition established contact with the natives of the area who showed no signs of aggression against the Portuguese expedition that arrived unexpectedly on their beaches.

Reports of the historic trip indicate that the Portuguese handed crucifixes to the indigenous people, presumably belonging to the Tupiniquim tribe and that several of them were even invited to board the boats.

Álvares Cabral asked to build an altar, where the priest Henrique de Coimbra officiated a mass on April 26, historically considered the first Catholic ceremony held in Brazil and which was attended by the indigenous people who very curiously observed the liturgy attentively.

Alvares Cabral sent one of the ships back to Lisbon to announce the news of his discovery to King Manuel I. Later, he went 65 kilometers north of the coast, chose a place that he called Puerto Seguro and there he erected a seven-meter cross with which he declared that land in the name of Portugal.

Victor meirelles

Controversy over legitimacy of the discovery

Some historians do not agree with the version of the find from Brazil, stating that the Spanish navigators Vicente Yánez Pinzón and Diego de Lepe had already explored these lands previously.

They estimate that the arrival of Álvares Cabral was part of their itinerary to formalize the declaration of these lands, which had already been assigned to Portugal after the signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas. This was an agreement established in 1494 between Spain and Portugal on the distribution of the Atlantic navigation zones and the lands of the New World.

Other historians continue to support Álvares Cabral as the legitimate discoverer of Brazil, since the other explorers who possibly arrived in that area previously never proclaimed the land in the name of their country or kingdom, as the Portuguese navigator did.

Continuation of the trip to India

The discovery of Brazil did not change the initial plans established on the route to India. After spending only ten days in Brazil, Álvares Cabral resumed the trip, heading to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

However, on May 29, 1500, the expedition faced storms so strong that four of the vessels sank, killing their occupants. This great mishap caused several of the ships to separate from the fleet, again delaying Álvares Cabral's plans.

Before arriving in India, he dealt with repairing the remaining ships that had survived the storm and disembarked at various points on the African coast such as Sofala, Mozambique, Kilwa and Melinde, where he hired a guide for their arrival in India.

Finally on September 13, 1500, Álvares Cabral and his vessels reached Calicut, known today as Kozhicode, India. In that city the Zamorín dynasty reigned, which allowed the Portuguese to establish warehouses for their trade.

Death in India

At first everything was going well, but eventually clashes with Arab merchants also established in the area arose. On December 17, 1500, they attacked the Portuguese stalls, causing the death of fifty of the Portuguese merchants.

Álvares Cabral's revenge was forceful, he captured ten Arab vessels and executed the crew. He then bombed the city in rejection of the null security offered by the local authorities. Historians point out that at least 600 people, belonging to both sides, died that night.

From there, Álvares Cabral left for southern India, visiting the ports of Cochín, Carangolos and Cananor, where he was received without problems and where he was able to continue developing his commercial treaties.

Return to Portugal

On January 16, 1501, he began his return trip to Portugal. On the way he found two ships that he had given up for lost and five months later, on June 23 of that same year, he arrived in Lisbon.

Despite the material and human losses, it is said that King Manuel I was very pleased with the results of the trip, to the point of promising Álvares Cabral that he would put him in charge of the next expedition, but finally it was the navigator Vasco da Gama who chosen for that task a few days after the third expedition set sail.

Historians point out that da Gama possibly objected to the appointment of Álvares Cabral, criticizing the results of his trip and considering himself more senior than him to command the third expedition from Portugal to India.

After his famous expedition to India, Cabral had no other position of authority in the service of King Manuel I and disappointed he withdrew from the court.

Last years

After these events Álvares Cabral married Isabel de Castro in 1503, with whom he had six children; He lived a quiet life away from the dangers of the sea and died in 1520 in Santarém, Portugal at the age of 53.

Álvares Cabral's life continues to be studied, especially given the lack of information around it, but his name and legacy remain in the collective's memory.

A statue with his image was erected in his native Belmonte and a Brazilian municipality, Santa Cruz de Cabralia, was named in his honor. This place was possibly the point of arrival of the navigator to the South American country, although it has not been possible to verify, since two other municipalities dispute the geographical landmark.

His tomb in Santarem was identified in 1848 by the Brazilian historian Francisco Adolfo Varnhagen.

References

1. Antonio Carrasco Rodríguez. (2012). Transoceanic navigation: Pedro Álvares Cabral discovers Brazil. Taken from blogs.ua.es
2. Daniel Salgado. (2013). The story of Pedro Álvares Cabral. Taken from pedritoelportugues.blogspot
3. The Treaty of Tordesillas. Taken from unesco.org
4. Tabea Tietz. (2014). Pedro Álvares Cabral and the Discovery of Brazil. Taken from schi.org
5. Pedro Calmon. (2019). Pedro Álvares Cabral. Taken from britannica.com
6. Foundation for medieval Genealogy. Sanches de Baéna, Viscount of (1897) or Discoverer of Brazil: Pedro Alvares Cabral. Taken from fmg.ac