Pedro Álvares Cabral

Pedro Álvares Cabral[A] (European Portuguese: [ˈpeðɾu ˈaɫvɐr(ɨ)ʃ kɐˈβɾaɫ] or Brazilian Portuguese:
[ˈpedɾu ˈawvaɾis kaˈbɾaw]; né Pedro Álvares de Gouveia; c. 1467 or 1468 – c. 1520) was a Portuguese
nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of
Brazil. In 1500 Cabral conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South
America and claimed it for Portugal. While details of Cabral's early life remain unclear, it is known
that he came from a minor noble family and received a good education. He was appointed to head
an expedition to India in 1500, following Vasco da Gama's newly-opened route around Africa. The
undertaking had the aim of returning with valuable spices and of establishing trade relations in India
—bypassing the monopoly on the spice trade then in the hands of Arab, Turkish and Italian
merchants. Although the previous expedition of Vasco da Gama to India, on its sea route, had
recorded signs of land west of the southern Atlantic Ocean (in 1497), Cabral led the first known
expedition to have touched four continents: Europe, Africa, America, and Asia.[2]
His fleet of 13 ships sailed far into the western Atlantic Ocean, perhaps intentionally, and made
landfall (April 1500) on what he initially assumed to be a large island. As the new land was within the
Portuguese sphere according to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, Cabral claimed it for the Portuguese
Crown. He explored the coast, realizing that the large land mass was probably a continent, and
dispatched a ship to notify King Manuel I of the new territory. The continent was South America, and
the land he had claimed for Portugal later came to be known as Brazil. The fleet reprovisioned and
then turned eastward to resume the journey to India.
A storm in the southern Atlantic caused the loss of several ships, and the six remaining ships
eventually rendezvoused in the Mozambique Channel before proceeding to Calicut in India. Cabral
was originally successful in negotiating trading rights, but Arab merchants saw Portugal's venture as
a threat to their monopoly and stirred up an attack by both Muslims and Hindus on the Portuguese
entrepôt. The Portuguese sustained many casualties and their facilities were destroyed. Cabral took
vengeance by looting and burning the Arab fleet and then bombarded the city in retaliation for its
ruler having failed to explain the unexpected attack. From Calicut the expedition sailed to the
Kingdom of Cochin, another Indian city-state, where Cabral befriended its ruler and loaded his ships
with coveted spices before returning to Europe. Despite the loss of human lives and ships, Cabral's
voyage was deemed a success upon his return to Portugal. The extraordinary profits resulting from
the sale of the spices bolstered the Portuguese Crown's finances and helped lay the foundation of a
Portuguese Empire that would stretch from the Americas to the Far East.[B]
Cabral was later passed over, possibly as a result of a quarrel with Manuel I, when a new fleet was
assembled to establish a more robust presence in India. Having lost favor with the King, he retired to
a private life of which few records survive. His accomplishments slipped mostly into obscurity for
more than 300 years. Decades after Brazil's independence from Portugal in the 19th century,
Cabral's reputation began to be rehabilitated by Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. Historians have long
argued whether Cabral was Brazil's discoverer, and whether the discovery was accidental or
intentional. The first question has been settled by the observation that the few, cursory encounters
by explorers before him were barely noticed at the time and contributed nothing to the future
development and history of the land which would become Brazil, the sole Portuguese-speaking
nation in the Americas. On the second question, no definite consensus has been formed, and the
intentional discovery hypothesis lacks solid proof. Nevertheless, although he was overshadowed by
contemporary explorers, historians consider Cabral to be a major figure of the Age of Discovery.

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Pedro Álvares Cabral[A] (European Portuguese: [ˈpeðɾu ˈaɫvɐr(ɨ)ʃ kɐˈβɾaɫ] or Brazilian Portuguese:

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