Estêvão Gomes: Difference between revisions

Estêvão Gomes (c. 1483 – 1538), also known by the Spanish version of his name Esteban Gómez, was an Afro-Portuguese cartographer and explorer. He sailed at the service of Castile (Spain) in the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan, but deserted the expedition when they had reached the Strait of Magellan and returned to Spain in May 1521. In 1524, he explored present-day Nova Scotia. While historical accounts vary, Gomes may have entered New York Harbor and seen the Hudson River.^{[citation needed]} Because of his expedition, the 1529 Diogo Ribeiro world map outlines the east coast of North America with great accuracy.

Gomes was born a black Portuguese subject,^{[1][better source needed]} probably in Porto in northern Portugal. He sailed in the Portuguese India Armadas during his youth. In 1518, he moved to Castile, where he was appointed a pilot for the Casa de Contratación in Seville.^[2]

In 1519, Gomes sailed with the Magellan expedition as the pilot major of the fleet aboard the San Antonio. His real ambition, however, was to become captain of the ship. Gomes frustration grew when he was passed over for promotion in favor of Magellan's inexperienced nephew, Alvaro de Mesquita. Near the Strait of Magellan, Gomes overpowered Mesquita, took control of the San Antonio and sailed back to Spain in May 1521. Upon their return, Gomes claimed his mutiny was justified by Magellan's abuses and poor management. The mutineers were thrown in jail while their claims were investigated, but within six months all except Mesquita were freed.^[3]

In 1523 Gomes received authorization from the Spanish Crown to search along the North American coast for an alternate passage to Cathay that would be quicker and easier than the Strait of Magellan.^[4] A 50-ton caravel, La Annunciada, was built for the purpose and set sail from Corunna on 24 September 1524 with a crew of 29 men.^[2]

He arrived in Cuba and then sailed north.^[5] Since there is no written account of the voyage, and only a map, there is considerable disagreement about Gomes's itinerary. Gomes may have gotten as far northeast as the Cabot Strait and Cape Breton in the present Canadian province of Nova Scotia. He also entered New York Bay and the Hudson River, which he named the "San Antonio". However, whether he traveled north to south or searched from south to north is disputed.^[6] In either direction, he passed through Maine, where he thought the estuary of the Penobscot River to be the Northwest Passage. Gomes returned east to Spain on 21 August 1525.^[2] During his voyage, Gomes abducted over 50 natives and took them back to Spain as evidence of a potentially lucrative slave trade. Charles V was reportedly horrified and set them free.^[7]

As a result of his expedition, the 1529 Diogo Ribeiro world map outlines the east coast of North America with great accuracy. For a long time, the northern American coast was labelled on Spanish maps as the "land of Estêvão Gomes" (Tierra de Esteban Gómez).^[8]

In 1535, Gomes joined Pedro de Mendoza's expedition to the Río de la Plata. He was killed by natives of the Paraguay River in 1538.^[9]

• Giovanni da Verrazzano
• Lists of explorers and cartographers

• Bergreen, Laurence (2009), Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, Harper Collins.
• Bradley, Peter (2007). "Gomes, Estêvão". The Oxford Companion to World Exploration. Oxford University Press.
• Ellis, Edward Robb (1966), The Epic of New York City.
• Ganong, W.F. (1964), Crucial Maps in the Early Cartography and Place-Nomenclature of the Atlantic Coast of Canada, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Guillemard, Francis Henry Hill (1890), The Life of Ferdinand Magellan, G. Philip & Son.
• Howgego, Raymond John, ed. (2003). "Gomes, Estevão". Encyclopedia of Exploration to 1800. Hordern House. ISBN 1875567364.
• Hunter, Douglas (2010), Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 978-1-60819-098-0.
• Joyner, Tim (1992). Magellan. Camden, Me.: International Marine. pp. 276–277. ISBN 0-87742-263-X.
• Lawson, Russell M. (2015), The Sea Mark: Captain John Smith's Voyage to New England, University Press of New England, ISBN 9781611687170.
• Quinn, David Beers (1977). North America from earliest discovery to first settlements : the norse voyages to 1612 (1986 ed.). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-132061-7.
• Vigneras, L.A. (1979) [1966]. "Gomes, Estêvão". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
• Portuguese Exploration along the Northeast Coast of North America, Washington: Library of Congress, 2023.
• Francoeur, Arsène; et al. (2017), Estéban Gomez et Mathieu Dacosta: Marins Noirs sur l'Atlantique (XVIe et XVIIe Siècles) (in French), Edilivre, ISBN 9782414167166.