Christopher Columbus

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This article is about the explorer. For other uses, see Christopher Columbus (disambiguation).

"Cristoforo Colombo" redirects here. For other uses, see Cristoforo Colombo (disambiguation).

Christopher Columbus

Portrait of a Man, Said to be Christopher Columbus.jpg

Posthumous portrait of Christopher Columbus by Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519. There are no known authentic portraits
of Columbus.[1]

1st Governor of the Indies

In office

1492–1499

Appointed by Isabella I of Castile

Succeeded by Francisco de Bobadilla

Personal details

Born Before 31 October 1451

Genoa, Republic of Genoa

Died 20 May 1506 (aged c. 54)

Valladolid, Crown of Castile

Resting place Seville Cathedral, Seville, Spain

Spouse(s) Filipa Moniz Perestrelo

Domestic partner Beatriz Enríquez de Arana

Children Diego

Fernando

Parents Domenico Colombo

Susanna Fontanarossa

Relatives Brothers:

Giovanni Pellegrino

Giacomo (also called Diego)[2]

Bartholomew

Sister:

Bianchinetta Columbus
Occupation Maritime explorer

Signature

Military service

Rank Admiral of the Ocean Sea

Christopher Columbus[a] (/kəˈlʌmbəs/;[3] before 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator,
and colonist who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of
Spain. He led the first European expeditions to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, initiating the
permanent European colonization of the Americas. Columbus discovered the viable sailing route to the Americas, a
continent which was not then known to the Old World. While what he thought he had discovered was a route to the Far
East, he is credited with the opening of the Americas for conquest and settlement by Europeans.

Columbus's early life is somewhat obscure, but scholars generally agree that he was born in the Republic of Genoa and
spoke a dialect of Ligurian as his first language. He went to sea at a young age and travelled widely, as far north as the
British Isles (and possibly Iceland) and as far south as what is now Ghana. He married a Portuguese woman and was
based in Lisbon for several years, but later took a Spanish mistress; he had one son with each woman. Though largely
self-educated, Columbus was widely read in geography, astronomy, and history. He formulated a plan to seek a western
sea passage to the East Indies, hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade.

After years of lobbying, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain agreed to sponsor a journey west, in the name of the Crown of
Castile. Columbus left Spain in August 1492 with three ships, and after a stopover in the Canary Islands made landfall in
the Americas on 12 October (now celebrated as Columbus Day). His landing place was an island in the Bahamas, known
by its native inhabitants as Guanahani; its exact location is uncertain. Columbus subsequently visited Cuba and
Hispaniola, establishing a colony in what is now Haiti—the first European settlement in the Americas since the Norse
colonies almost 500 years earlier. He arrived back in Spain in early 1493, bringing a number of captive natives with him.
Word of his discoveries soon spread throughout Europe.

Columbus would make three further voyages to the New World, exploring the Lesser Antilles in 1493, Trinidad and the
northern coast of South America in 1498, and the eastern coast of Central America in 1502. Many of the names he gave
to geographical features—particularly islands—are still in use. He continued to seek a passage to the East Indies, and the
extent to which he was aware that the Americas were a wholly separate landmass is uncertain; he gave the name indios
("Indians") to the indigenous peoples he encountered. Columbus's strained relationship with the Spanish crown and its
appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and removal from Hispaniola in 1500, and later to
protracted litigation over the benefits that he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown.

Columbus's expeditions inaugurated a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for centuries,
helping create the modern Western world. The transfers between the Old World and New World that followed his first
voyage are known as the Columbian exchange, and the period of human habitation in the Americas prior to his arrival is
known as the Pre-Columbian era. Columbus's legacy continues to be debated. He was widely venerated in the centuries
after his death, but public perceptions have changed as recent scholars have given attention to negative aspects of his
life, such as his role in the extinction of the Taíno people, his promotion of slavery, and allegations of tyranny towards
Spanish colonists. Many landmarks and institutions in the Western Hemisphere bear his name, including the country of
Colombia.

Early life
Further information on Columbus's birthplace and family background: Origin theories of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus at the gates of the monastery of Santa María de la Rábida with his son Diego, by Benet Mercadé
The name Christopher Columbus is the Anglicisation of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. His name in Ligurian is
Cristòffa Cómbo, in Italian Cristoforo Colombo and in Spanish Cristóbal Colón.[4] He was born before 31 October 1451 in
the territory of the Republic of Genoa (now part of modern Italy), though the exact location remains disputed.[5][b] His
father was Domenico Colombo,[4] a middle-class wool weaver who worked both in Genoa and Savona and who also
owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked as a helper. His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa.[4]
Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo were his brothers. Bartolomeo worked in a cartography workshop in
Lisbon for at least part of his adulthood.[6] He also had a sister named Bianchinetta.[7]

Columbus never wrote in his native language, which is presumed to have been a Genoese variety of Ligurian (his name
would translate in the 16th-century Genoese language as Christoffa[8] Corombo[9] Ligurian pronunciation: [kriˈʃtɔffa
kuˈɹuŋbu][10][11]). In one of his writings, he says he went to sea at the age of 10. In 1470, the Columbus family moved
to Savona, where Domenico took over a tavern. In the same year, Christopher was on a Genoese ship hired in the
service of René of Anjou to support his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples. Some modern historians have argued
that he was not from Genoa but, instead, from the Aragon region of Spain[12] or from Portugal.[13] These competing
hypotheses have generally been discounted by mainstream scholars.[14][15]

Columbus's copy of The Travels of Marco Polo, with his handwritten notes in Latin written on the margins
In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the important Centurione, Di Negro and Spinola
families of Genoa. Later, he allegedly made a trip to Chios, an Aegean island then ruled by Genoa.[16] In May 1476, he
took part in an armed convoy sent by Genoa to carry valuable cargo to northern Europe. He docked in Bristol,
England[17] and Galway, Ireland. In 1477, he was possibly in Iceland.[4] In the autumn of 1477, he sailed on a
Portuguese ship from Galway to Lisbon, where he found his brother Bartolomeo, and they continued trading for the
Centurione family. Columbus based himself in Lisbon from 1477 to 1485. He married Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, daughter
of the Porto Santo governor and Portuguese nobleman of Lombard origin Bartolomeu Perestrello.[18]

In 1479 or 1480, his son Diego Columbus was born. Between 1482 and 1485, Columbus traded along the coasts of West
Africa, reaching the Portuguese trading post of Elmina at the Guinea coast (in present-day Ghana).[19] Some records
report that Filipa died sometime around 1485, while Columbus was away in Castile. He returned to Portugal to settle her
estate and take his son Diego with him.[20] He had left Portugal for Castile in 1485, where he found a mistress in 1487, a
20-year-old orphan named Beatriz Enríquez de Arana.[21] It is likely that Beatriz met Columbus when he was in Córdoba,
a gathering site of many Genoese merchants and where the court of the Catholic Monarchs was located at intervals.
Beatriz, unmarried at the time, gave birth to Columbus's natural son Fernando Columbus in July 1488, named for the
monarch of Aragón. Columbus recognized the boy as his offspring. Columbus entrusted his older, legitimate son Diego to
take care of Beatriz and pay the pension set aside for her following his death, but Diego was negligent in his duties.[22]

Ambitious, Columbus eventually learned Latin, Portuguese, and Castilian. He read widely about astronomy, geography,
and history, including the works of Claudius Ptolemy, Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly's Imago Mundi, the travels of Marco Polo
and Sir John Mandeville, Pliny's Natural History, and Pope Pius II's Historia Rerum Ubique Gestarum. According to
historian Edmund Morgan,
Columbus was not a scholarly man. Yet he studied these books, made hundreds of marginal notations in them and came
out with ideas about the world that were characteristically simple and strong and sometimes wrong, ...[23]

Throughout his life, Columbus also showed a keen interest in the Bible and in Biblical prophecies, often quoting biblical
texts in his letters and logs. For example, part of the argument that he submitted to the Spanish Catholic Monarchs
when he sought their support for his proposed expedition to reach the Indies by sailing west was based on his reading of
the Second Book of Esdras (Ezra): see 2 Esdras 6:42, which he took to mean that the Earth is made of six parts of land to
one of water. Towards the end of his life, he produced a Book of Prophecies in which his career as an explorer is
interpreted in the light of Christian eschatology and of apocalypticism.[6] First voyage
First voyage. Modern place names in black, Columbus's place names in blue
On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships. The largest was a
carrack (Spanish: nao), the Santa María ex-Gallega ("Galician")[further explanation needed]. The other two were smaller
caravels. The name of one is lost: it is known today only by the nickname Pinta, which in Castilian of the time meant
"painted one".[45] The Santa Clara was nicknamed affectionately the Niña ("the little one"), a pun on the name of her
owner, Juan Niño of Moguer.[46] The monarchs forced the citizens of Palos to contribute to the expedition. The Santa
María was owned by Juan de la Cosa and captained by Columbus. The Pinta and the Niña were piloted by the Pinzón
brothers (Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez).[26]

Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands, which belonged to Castile. He restocked provisions and made repairs in Gran
Canaria, then departed from San Sebastián de La Gomera on 6 September, for what turned out to be a five-week voyage
across the ocean. At about 2:00 in the morning of 12 October (21 October, Gregorian Calendar New Style), a lookout on
the Pinta, Rodrigo de Triana (also known as Juan Rodríguez Bermeo), spotted land, and immediately alerted the rest of
the crew with a shout. Thereupon, the captain of the Pinta, Martín Alonso Pinzón, verified the discovery and alerted
Columbus by firing a lombard.[47] Columbus later maintained that he himself had already seen a light on the land a few
hours earlier, thereby claiming for himself the lifetime pension promised by Ferdinand and Isabella to the first person to
sight land.[26][48]

Columbus called the island (in what is now the Bahamas) San Salvador (meaning "Holy Savior"); the natives called it
Guanahani. Exactly which island in the Bahamas this corresponds to is unresolved. Based on primary accounts and on
what one would expect from the geographic positions of the islands given Columbus's course, the prime candidates are
San Salvador Island (so named in 1925 on the theory that it was Columbus's San Salvador),[49] Samana Cay, and Plana
Cays.[26]

Landing of Columbus (12 October 1492), painting by John Vanderlyn

The indigenous people he encountered, the Lucayan, Taíno, and Arawak, were peaceful and friendly. He called the
inhabitants of the lands that he visited indios (Spanish for "Indians").[50][51][52] Noting their gold ear ornaments,
Columbus took some of the Arawaks prisoner and insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold.[53] From the
entry in his journal of 12 October 1492, in which he wrote of them: "Many of the men I have seen have scars on their
bodies, and when I made signs to them to find out how this happened, they indicated that people from other nearby
islands come to San Salvador to capture them; they defend themselves the best they can. I believe that people from the
mainland come here to take them as slaves. They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly
whatever we say to them. I think they can very easily be made Christians, for they seem to have no religion. If it pleases
our Lord, I will take six of them to Your Highnesses when I depart, in order that they may learn our language."[54]
Columbus noted that their primitive weapons and military tactics made them susceptible to easy conquest, writing,
"these people are very simple in war-like matters … I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men, and govern them as
I pleased."[55]

Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, where he landed on 28 October. On 22 November, Martín Alonso
Pinzón took the Pinta on an unauthorized expedition in search of an island called "Babeque" or "Baneque", which the
natives had told him was rich in gold. Columbus, for his part, continued to the northern coast of Hispaniola, where he
landed on 5 December.[56] There, the Santa María ran aground on Christmas Day 1492 and had to be abandoned. The
wreck was used as a target for cannon fire to impress the native peoples.[26] Columbus was received by the native
cacique Guacanagari, who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus left 39 men, including Luis
de Torres, the converso interpreter, who spoke Hebrew and Arabic,[citation needed] and founded the settlement of La
Navidad at the site of present-day Bord de Mer de Limonade, Haiti.[57] Columbus took more natives prisoner and
continued his exploration.[53] He kept sailing along the northern coast of Hispaniola with a single ship, until he
encountered Pinzón and the Pinta on 6 January.

The return of Christopher Columbus; his audience before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, painting by Eugène
Delacroix
His Master's Voice (small).png
"The Letter of Columbus on the Discovery of America"
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On 13 January 1493, Columbus made his last stop of this voyage in the New World, in the Bay of Rincón at the eastern
end of the Samaná Peninsula in northeast Hispaniola.[58] There he encountered the warlike Cigüayos, the only natives
who offered violent resistance during his first voyage to the Americas.[59] The Cigüayos refused to trade the amount of
bows and arrows that Columbus desired; in the ensuing clash one Ciguayo was stabbed in the buttocks and another
wounded with an arrow in his chest.[60] Because of this and because of the Cigüayos' use of arrows, he called the inlet
where he met them the Bay of Arrows (or Gulf of Arrows).[61] Columbus kidnapped about 10 to 25 natives and took
them back with him (only seven or eight of the natives arrived in Spain alive).[62]

Columbus headed for Spain on the Niña, but a storm separated him from the Pinta, and forced the Niña to stop at the
island of Santa Maria in the Azores. Half of his crew went ashore to say prayers in a chapel to give thanks for having
survived the storm. But while praying, they were imprisoned by the governor of the island, ostensibly on suspicion of
being pirates. After a two-day standoff, the prisoners were released, and Columbus again set sail for Spain.[63]

Another storm forced him into the port at Lisbon.[26] He anchored next to the King's harbor patrol ship on 4 March
1493 in Portugal. There, he was interviewed by Bartolomeu Dias, who had rounded the Cape of Good Hope a few years
earlier, in 1488–1489. Dias's success had complicated Columbus's attempts to secure funding from the Portuguese court
because the sure route to the Indies that Dias pioneered made a risky, conjectural western route unnecessary.[26] Not
finding King John II of Portugal in Lisbon, Columbus wrote a letter to him and waited for John's reply. John asked
Columbus to go to Vale do Paraíso north of Lisbon to meet him. Relations between Portugal and Castile were poor at the
time. Columbus went to meet with John at Vale do Paraíso. Hearing of Columbus's discoveries, John told him that he
believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas.

After spending more than a week in Portugal, and paying his respects to Eleanor of Viseu, Columbus again set sail for
Spain. Ferdinand Magellan was a young boy and a ward of Eleanor's court; it is likely he saw Columbus during this
visit.[26] After departing, and after reportedly being saved from assassins by King John, Columbus crossed the bar of
Saltes and entered the harbor of Palos de la Frontera on 15 March 1493. Word of his finding new lands rapidly spread
throughout Europe.

Second voyage

Columbus's second voyage

Columbus left the port of Cádiz on 24 September 1493, with a fleet of 17 ships carrying 1,200 men and the supplies to
establish permanent colonies in the New World. The passengers included priests, farmers, and soldiers, who would be
the new colonists. This reflected the new policy of creating not just "colonies of exploitation", but also "colonies of
settlement" from which to launch missions dedicated to converting the natives to Christianity.[64] Modern studies
suggest that, as reported by the Washington Post, "crew members may have included free black Africans who arrived in
the New World about a decade before the slave trade began."[65]

As in the first voyage, the fleet stopped at the Canary Islands, from which it departed on 13 October, following a more
southerly course than on the previous expedition. On 3 November, Columbus sighted a rugged island that he named
Dominica (Latin for Sunday); later that day, he landed at Marie-Galante, which he named Santa María la Galante. After
sailing past Les Saintes (Los Santos, "The Saints"), he arrived at the island of Guadeloupe, which he named Santa María
de Guadalupe de Extremadura, after the image of the Virgin Mary venerated at the Spanish monastery of Villuercas, in
Guadalupe, Cáceres, Spain. He explored that island from 4 to 10 November.

Michele da Cuneo, Columbus's childhood friend from Savona, sailed with Columbus during the second voyage and
wrote: "In my opinion, since Genoa was Genoa, there was never born a man so well equipped and expert in the art of
navigation as the said lord Admiral."[66] Columbus named the small island of "Saona ... to honor Michele da Cuneo, his
friend from Savona."[67]

The same childhood friend reported in a letter that Columbus had provided one of the captured indigenous women to
him. He wrote, "While I was in the boat, I captured a very beautiful Carib woman, whom the said Lord Admiral gave to
me. When I had taken her to my cabin she was naked—as was their custom. I was filled with a desire to take my
pleasure with her and attempted to satisfy my desire. She was unwilling, and so treated me with her nails that I wished I
had never begun. But—to cut a long story short—I then took a piece of rope and whipped her soundly, and she let forth
such incredible screams that you would not have believed your ears. Eventually we came to such terms, I assure you,
that you would have thought that she had been brought up in a school for whores."[68]

The Inspiration of Christopher Columbus by José María Obregón, 1856

Pedro de las Casas, father of the priest Bartolomé de las Casas, also accompanied Columbus on this voyage.[69]

The exact course of Columbus's voyage through the Lesser Antilles is debated, but it seems likely that he turned north,
sighting and naming several islands, including:

Montserrat (for Santa María de Montserrate, after the Blessed Virgin of the Monastery of Montserrat, which is located
on the Mountain of Montserrat, in Catalonia, Spain),
Antigua (after a church in Seville, Spain, called Santa María la Antigua, meaning "Old St. Mary's"),
Redonda (Santa María la Redonda, Spanish for "St. Mary the Round", owing to the island's shape),
Nevis (derived from the Spanish Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, "Our Lady of the Snows", because Columbus thought the
clouds over Nevis Peak made the island resemble a snow-capped mountain),
Saint Kitts (for St. Christopher, patron of sailors and travelers),
Sint Eustatius (for the early Roman martyr, St. Eustachius),
Saba (after the Biblical Queen of Sheba),
Saint Martin (San Martín), and
Saint Croix (from the Spanish Santa Cruz, meaning "Holy Cross").[70]
Columbus also sighted the chain of the Virgin Islands, which he named Islas de Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes,
"Islands of Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins" (shortened, both on maps of the time and in common parlance, to Islas
Vírgenes). He also named the islands of Virgin Gorda ("Fat Virgin"), Tortola, and Peter Island (San Pedro).

One of the first skirmishes between Native Americans and Europeans since the time of the Vikings occurred on 14
November, when at Saint Croix, Columbus's men rescued two native boys from several cannibalistic Island Caribs.[71]
Columbus's men pursued the Carib canoe, which met them with arrows. Several Europeans were wounded, but they
killed all of the Caribs, and learned that the two boys had recently been castrated by their captors. Columbus continued
to the Virgin Islands, and landed in Puerto Rico, which he named San Juan Bautista[72] in honor of Saint John the Baptist
(a name that was later given to the capital city of San Juan).

On 22 November, Columbus returned to Hispaniola, where he intended to visit the fort of La Navidad, built during his
first voyage and located on the northern coast of Haiti. Columbus found the fort in ruins, destroyed by the native Taino
people.[73] Among the ruins were the corpses of 11 of the 39 Spaniards who had stayed behind as the first colonists in
the New World.

Columbus then sailed more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) eastwards along the northern coast of Hispaniola,
establishing a new settlement, which he called La Isabela, in the present-day Dominican Republic.[74] However, La
Isabela proved to be poorly located and the settlement was short-lived.

Third voyage

Third voyage
According to the abstract of Columbus's journal made by Bartolomé de Las Casas, the objective of the third voyage was
to verify the existence of a continent that King John II of Portugal suggested was located to the southwest of the Cape
Verde Islands. King John reportedly knew of the existence of such a mainland because "canoes had been found which
set out from the coast of Guinea [West Africa] and sailed to the west with merchandise."[75][76]

On 30 May 1498, Columbus left with six ships from Sanlúcar, Spain, for his third trip to the New World. Three of the
ships headed directly for Hispaniola with much-needed supplies, while Columbus took the other three in an exploration
of what might lie to the south of the Caribbean islands he had already visited, including a hoped-for passage to
continental Asia.[77]

Columbus led his fleet to the Portuguese island of Porto Santo, his wife's native land. He then sailed to Madeira and
spent some time there with the Portuguese captain João Gonçalves da Camara, before sailing to the Canary Islands and
Cape Verde. As he crossed the Atlantic, Columbus discovered that the angle between North as indicated by a magnetic
compass and North as measured by the position of the pole star changed with his position (a phenomenon now known
as "compass variation"). He would later use his previous measurements of the compass variation to adjust his
reckoning.[19]

After being becalmed for several days in the doldrums of the mid-Atlantic, Columbus's fleet regained its wind and,
dangerously low on water, turned north in the direction of Dominica, which Columbus had visited in his previous voyage.
The ships arrived at King John's hypothesized continent, which is South America, when they sighted the land of Trinidad
on 31 July approaching from the southeast.[78] The fleet sailed along the southern coast and entered Dragon's Mouth,
anchoring near Soldado Rock where they made contact with a group of native Amerindians in canoes.[79] Columbus
then landed on Trinidad at Icacos Point (which he named Punta de Arenal) on 2 August.[80] After resupplying with food
and water, from 4 to 12 August Columbus explored the Gulf of Paria, which separates Trinidad from what is now
Venezuela, near the delta of the Orinoco River. He then touched the mainland of South America at the Paria
Peninsula.[citation needed]

Exploring the new continent, Columbus correctly interpreted the enormous quantity of fresh water that the Orinoco
delivered into the Atlantic Ocean as evidence that he had reached a large landmass rather than another island. He also
speculated that the new continent might be the location of the biblical Garden of Eden. He then sailed to the islands of
Chacachacare and Margarita. He sighted Tobago (which he named "Bella Forma") and Grenada (which he named
"Concepción".[81]

In poor health, Columbus returned to Hispaniola on 19 August, only to find that many of the Spanish settlers of the new
colony were in rebellion against his rule, claiming that Columbus had misled them about the supposedly bountiful riches
of the New World. A number of returning settlers and sailors lobbied against Columbus at the Spanish court, accusing
him and his brothers of gross mismanagement. Columbus had some of his crew hanged for disobedience. He had an
economic interest in the enslavement of the Hispaniola natives and for that reason was not eager to baptize them,
which attracted criticism from some churchmen.[82] An entry in his journal from September 1498 reads: "From here one
might send, in the name of the Holy Trinity, as many slaves as could be sold ..."[83]

Columbus was eventually forced to make peace with the rebellious colonists on humiliating terms.[84] In 1500, the
Crown had him removed as governor, arrested, and transported in chains to Spain (see "Accusations of tyranny" section
below). He was eventually freed and allowed to return to the New World, but not as governor.[citation needed]

Fourth voyage

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Columbus's fourth voyage

Coat of Arms granted to Christopher Columbus and the House of Colon by Pope Alexander VI motu proprio in 1502.
Before leaving for his fourth voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to the Governors of the Bank of Saint George, Genoa,
dated at Seville, 2 April 1502.[85] He wrote "Although my body is here my heart is always near you."[86]

Columbus made a fourth voyage nominally in search of the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean. Accompanied by his
brother Bartolomeo and his 13-year-old son Fernando, he left Cádiz on 11 May 1502, with his flagship Santa María and
the vessels Gallega, Vizcaína, and Santiago de Palos. He sailed to Arzila on the Moroccan coast to rescue Portuguese
soldiers whom he had heard were under siege by the Moors.

On 15 June, they landed at Carbet on the island of Martinique (Martinica). A hurricane was brewing, so he continued on,
hoping to find shelter on Hispaniola. He arrived at Santo Domingo on 29 June, but was denied port, and the new
governor refused to listen to his storm prediction. Instead, while Columbus's ships sheltered at the mouth of the Rio
Jaina, the first Spanish treasure fleet sailed into the hurricane. Columbus's ships survived with only minor damage, while
29 of the 30 ships in the governor's fleet were lost to a storm on 1 July. In addition to the ships, 500 lives (including that
of the governor, Francisco de Bobadilla) and an immense cargo of gold were surrendered to the sea.

After a brief stop at Jamaica, Columbus sailed to Central America, arriving at Guanaja (Isla de Pinos) in the Bay Islands off
the coast of Honduras on 30 July. Here Bartolomeo found native merchants and a large canoe, which was described as
being "long as a galley" and filled with cargo. On 14 August, he landed on the continental mainland at Puerto Castilla,
near Trujillo, Honduras. He spent two months exploring the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, before
arriving in Almirante Bay in Panama on 16 October.

On 5 December 1502, Columbus and his crew found themselves in a storm unlike any they had ever experienced. In his
journal Columbus writes,

For nine days I was as one lost, without hope of life. Eyes never beheld the sea so angry, so high, so covered with foam.
The wind not only prevented our progress, but offered no opportunity to run behind any headland for shelter; hence we
were forced to keep out in this bloody ocean, seething like a pot on a hot fire. Never did the sky look more terrible; for
one whole day and night it blazed like a furnace, and the lightning broke with such violence that each time I wondered if
it had carried off my spars and sails; the flashes came with such fury and frightfulness that we all thought that the ship
would be blasted. All this time the water never ceased to fall from the sky; I do not say it rained, for it was like another
deluge. The men were so worn out that they longed for death to end their dreadful suffering.[87]

Columbus awes the Jamaican natives by predicting the lunar eclipse of 1504.
In Panama, Columbus learned from the Ngobe of gold and a strait to another ocean, but was told by local leader Quibían
not to go past a certain point down the river. After much exploration, in January 1503, he established a garrison at the
mouth of the Belén River. On 6 April, one of the ships became stranded in the river. At the same time, the garrison was
attacked by Quibían and the other ships were damaged. Shipworms also damaged the ships in tropical waters.[88]

Columbus left for Hispaniola on 16 April heading north. On 10 May he sighted the Cayman Islands, naming them "Las
Tortugas" after the numerous sea turtles there. His ships next sustained more damage in a storm off the coast of Cuba.
Unable to travel farther, on 25 June 1503 they were beached in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica.

For one year Columbus and his men remained stranded on Jamaica. A Spaniard, Diego Méndez, and some natives
paddled a canoe to get help from Hispaniola. The governor, Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, detested Columbus and
obstructed all efforts to rescue him and his men. In the meantime Columbus, in a desperate effort to induce the natives
to continue provisioning him and his hungry men, won their favor by predicting a lunar eclipse for 29 February 1504,
using Abraham Zacuto's astronomical charts.[89][90][91] Help finally arrived, no thanks to the governor, on 29 June
1504, and Columbus and his men arrived in Sanlúcar, Spain, on 7 November.
lness and death
The death of Columbus, lithograph by L. Prang & Co., 1893
During a violent storm on his first return voyage, Columbus, then 41, suffered an attack of what was believed at the time
to be gout. In subsequent years, he was plagued with what was thought to be influenza and other fevers, bleeding from
the eyes, and prolonged attacks of gout. The suspected attacks increased in duration and severity, sometimes leaving
Columbus bedridden for months at a time, and culminated in his death 14 years later.

Tomb in Seville Cathedral. The remains are borne by kings of Castile, Leon, Aragon and Navarre.[97]
Based on Columbus's lifestyle and the described symptoms, modern doctors suspect that he suffered from reactive
arthritis, rather than gout.[98][99] Reactive arthritis, previously known as Reiter's syndrome, is a joint inflammation
caused by intestinal bacterial infections or after acquiring certain sexually transmitted diseases (primarily chlamydia or
gonorrhea). "It seems likely that [Columbus] acquired reactive arthritis from food poisoning on one of his ocean voyages
because of poor sanitation and improper food preparation," writes Dr. Frank C. Arnett, a rheumatologist and professor
of internal medicine, pathology and laboratory medicine the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.[98]

On 20 May 1506, aged probably 54, Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain. His remains were first interred at Valladolid,
then at the monastery of La Cartuja in Seville (southern Spain) by the will of his son Diego Colón, who had been governor
of Hispaniola. In 1542, the remains were transferred to Colonial Santo Domingo, in the present-day Dominican Republic.
In 1795, when France took over the entire island of Hispaniola, Columbus's remains were moved to Havana, Cuba. After
Cuba became independent following the Spanish–American War in 1898, the remains were moved back to Spain, to the
Cathedral of Seville,[100] where they were placed on an elaborate catafalque.

Silver Caravel containing a small portion of Christopher Columbus's remains[101]

However, a lead box bearing an inscription identifying "Don Christopher Columbus" and containing bone fragments and
a bullet was discovered at Santo Domingo in 1877. To lay to rest claims that the wrong relics had been moved to Havana
and that Columbus's remains had been left buried in the cathedral at Santo Domingo, DNA samples of the corpse resting
in Seville were taken in June 2003 (History Today August 2003) as well as other DNA samples from the remains of his
brother Diego and younger son Fernando Colón. Initial observations suggested that the bones did not appear to belong
to somebody with the physique or age at death associated with Columbus.[102] DNA extraction proved difficult; only
short fragments of mitochondrial DNA could be isolated. The mitochondrial DNA fragments matched corresponding DNA
from Columbus's brother, giving support that both individuals had shared the same mother.[103]

Tomb in Columbus Lighthouse, Santo Domingo Este, Dominican Republic.

Such evidence, together with anthropologic and historic analyses, led the researchers to conclude that the remains
found in Seville belonged to Christopher Columbus.[104] The authorities in Santo Domingo have never allowed the
remains there to be exhumed, so it is unknown if any of those remains could be from Columbus's body as
well.[103][104] The Dominican remains are located in "The Columbus Lighthouse" (Faro a Colón), in Santo Domingo

Quest for Asia

Background

"Columbus map", drawn c. 1490 in the Lisbon workshop of Bartolomeo and Christopher Columbus[24]
Under the Mongol Empire's hegemony over Asia (the Pax Mongolica, or Mongol peace), Europeans had long enjoyed a
safe land passage, the Silk Road, to the Indies (then construed roughly as all of south and east Asia) and China, which
were sources of valuable goods such as spices and silk. With the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the
land route to Asia became much more difficult and dangerous. Portuguese navigators tried to find a sea way to Asia.

In 1470, the Florentine astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli suggested to King Afonso V of Portugal that sailing west
would be a quicker way to reach the Spice Islands, Cathay, and Cipangu than the route around Africa. Afonso rejected
his proposal.[25] Portuguese explorers, under the leadership of King John II, then developed the Cape Route to Asia
around Africa. Major progress in this quest was achieved in 1488, when Bartolomeu Dias reached the Cape of Good
Hope, in what is now South Africa. Meanwhile, in the 1480s, the Columbus brothers had picked up Toscanelli's
suggestion and proposed a plan to reach the Indies by sailing west across the "Ocean Sea", i.e., the Atlantic. However,
Dias's discovery had shifted the interests of Portuguese seafaring to the southeast passage, which complicated
Columbus's proposals significantly.[26]

Geographical considerations
Washington Irving's 1828 biography of Columbus popularized the idea that Columbus had difficulty obtaining support
for his plan because many Catholic theologians insisted that the Earth was flat.[27] In fact, nearly all educated
Westerners had understood, at least since the time of Aristotle, that the Earth is spherical.[28][26] The sphericity of the
Earth is also accounted for in the work of Ptolemy, on which medieval astronomy was largely based. Christian writers
whose works clearly reflect the conviction that the Earth is spherical include Saint Bede the Venerable in his Reckoning
of Time, written around AD 723. In Columbus's time, the techniques of celestial navigation, which use the position of the
sun and the stars in the sky, together with the understanding that the Earth is a sphere, had long been in use by
astronomers and were beginning to be implemented by mariners.[29]

As far back as the 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes had correctly computed the circumference of the Earth by using simple
geometry and studying the shadows cast by objects at two remote locations.[30][31] In the 1st century BC, Posidonius
confirmed Eratosthenes's results by comparing stellar observations at two separate locations. These measurements
were widely known among scholars, but confusion about the old-fashioned units of distance in which they were
expressed led to some debate about the size of the Earth.[citation needed]

Toscanelli's notions of the geography of the Atlantic Ocean (shown superimposed on a modern map), which directly
influenced Columbus's plans.
From d'Ailly's Imago Mundi Columbus learned of Alfraganus's estimate that a degree of latitude (or a degree of
longitude along the equator) spanned 56
miles, but did not realize that this was expressed in the Arabic mile rather than the shorter Roman mile with which he
was familiar (1,480 m).[32] He therefore estimated the circumference of the Earth to be about 30,200 km, whereas the
correct value is 40,000 km (25,000 mi).[citation needed]

Furthermore, most scholars accepted Ptolemy's estimate that Eurasia spanned 180° longitude, rather than the actual
130° (to the Chinese mainland) or 150° (to Japan at the latitude of Spain). Columbus, for his part, believed the even
higher estimate of Marinus of Tyre, which put the longitudinal span of the Eurasian landmass at 225°, leaving only 135°
of water. He also believed that Japan (which he called "Cipangu", following Marco Polo) was much larger, farther to the
east from China ("Cathay"), and closer to the equator than it is, and that there were inhabited islands even farther to the
east than Japan, including the mythical Antillia, which he thought might lie not much farther to the west than the
Azores. In this, he was influenced by the ideas of Florentine astronomer, Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, who corresponded
with Columbus in 1474[33] and who also defended the feasibility of a westward route to Asia.[34]

Columbus therefore estimated the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan to be about 3,000 Italian miles (3,700 km,
or 2,300 statute miles). The true figure is now known to be vastly larger: about 20,000 km.[35][c] No ship in the 15th
century could have carried enough food and fresh water for such a long voyage, and the dangers involved in navigating
through the uncharted ocean would have been formidable. Most European navigators reasonably concluded that a
westward voyage from Europe to Asia was unfeasible. The Catholic Monarchs, however, having completed an expensive
war in the Iberian Peninsula, were eager to obtain a competitive edge over other European countries in the quest for
trade with the Indies. Columbus's project, though far-fetched, held the promise of such an advantage.[citation needed]

Nautical considerations
Though Columbus was wrong about the number of degrees of longitude that separated Europe from the Far East and
about the distance that each degree represented, he did possess valuable knowledge about the trade winds, which
would prove to be the key to his successful navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. During his first voyage in 1492, the brisk
trade winds from the east, commonly called "easterlies", propelled Columbus's fleet for five weeks, from the Canary
Islands to The Bahamas. The precise first land sighting and landing point was San Salvador Island.[26] To return to Spain
against this prevailing wind would have required several months of an arduous sailing technique, called beating, during
which food and drinkable water would probably have been exhausted.

Instead, Columbus returned home by following the curving trade winds northeastward to the middle latitudes of the
North Atlantic, where he was able to catch the "westerlies" that blow eastward to the coast of Western Europe. There,
in turn, the winds curve southward towards the Iberian Peninsula.[36][37]

It is unclear whether Columbus learned about the winds from his own sailing experience or if he had heard about them
from others. The corresponding technique for efficient travel in the Atlantic appears to have been exploited first by the
Portuguese, who referred to it as the Volta do mar ("turn of the sea"). Columbus's knowledge of the Atlantic wind
patterns was, however, imperfect at the time of his first voyage. By sailing directly due west from the Canary Islands
during hurricane season, skirting the so-called horse latitudes of the mid-Atlantic, Columbus risked either being
becalmed or running into a tropical cyclone, both of which, by chance, he avoided.[34]

Quest for financial support for a voyage

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Columbus offers his services to the King of Portugal; Chodowiecki, 17th c.

In 1485, Columbus presented his plans to King John II of Portugal. He proposed that the king equip three sturdy ships
and grant Columbus one year's time to sail out into the Atlantic, search for a western route to the Orient, and return.
Columbus also requested he be made "Great Admiral of the Ocean", appointed governor of any and all lands he
discovered, and given one-tenth of all revenue from those lands. The king submitted Columbus's proposal to his experts,
who rejected it. It was their considered opinion that Columbus's estimation of a travel distance of 2,400 miles (3,860 km)
was, in fact, far too low.[34]

In 1488, Columbus again appealed to the court of Portugal, resulting in John II again inviting him for an audience. That
meeting also proved unsuccessful, in part because not long afterwards Bartolomeu Dias returned to Portugal with news
of his successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa (near the Cape of Good Hope). With an eastern sea route to Asia
apparently at hand, King John was no longer interested in Columbus's far-fetched project.

Columbus before the Queen, as imagined[38] by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1843

Columbus traveled from Portugal to both Genoa and Venice, but he received encouragement from neither. He had also
dispatched his brother Bartholomew to the court of Henry VII of England to inquire whether the English crown might
sponsor his expedition, but also without success.

Columbus had sought an audience from the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, who had united
several kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula by marrying and were ruling together. On 1 May 1486, permission having been
granted, Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, referred it to a committee. After the passing of
much time, the savants of Spain, like their counterparts in Portugal, replied that Columbus had grossly underestimated
the distance to Asia. They pronounced the idea impractical and advised their Royal Highnesses to pass on the proposed
venture.

However, to keep Columbus from taking his ideas elsewhere, and perhaps to keep their options open, the Catholic
Monarchs gave him an annual allowance of 12,000 maravedis and, in 1489, furnished him with a letter ordering all cities
and towns under their domain to provide him food and lodging at no cost.[39]
Agreement with the Spanish crown

The Flagship of Columbus and the Fleet of Columbus. 400th Anniversary Issues of 1893. (On ships.)
After continually lobbying at the Spanish court and two years of negotiations, he finally had success in January 1492.
Ferdinand and Isabella had just conquered Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula, and they
received Columbus in Córdoba, in the Alcázar castle. Isabella turned him down on the advice of her confessor. Columbus
was leaving town by mule in despair when Ferdinand intervened. Isabella then sent a royal guard to fetch him, and
Ferdinand later claimed credit for being "the principal cause why those islands were discovered".[40]

In the April 1492 "Capitulations of Santa Fe", King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella promised Columbus that if he
succeeded he would be given the rank of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and appointed Viceroy and Governor of all the new
lands he could claim for Spain. He had the right to nominate three persons, from whom the sovereigns would choose
one, for any office in the new lands. He would be entitled to 10 percent of all the revenues from the new lands in
perpetuity. Additionally, he would also have the option of buying one-eighth interest in any commercial venture with
the new lands and receive one-eighth of the profits.[34]

Columbus was later arrested in 1500 and dismissed from his posts. He and his sons, Diego and Fernando, then
conducted a lengthy series of court cases against the Castilian crown, known as the pleitos colombinos, alleging that the
Crown had illegally reneged on its contractual obligations to Columbus and his heirs. The Columbus family had some
success in their first litigation, as a judgment of 1511 confirmed Diego's position as Viceroy, but reduced his powers.
Diego resumed litigation in 1512, which lasted until 1536, and further disputes continued until 1790.[41]
Pedro Álvares Cabral
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
"Pedro Cabral" redirects here. For the Portuguese rugby union player, see Pedro Cabral (rugby union).
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Half-length painted portrait of a bearded man wearing a hat with a large feather.
A 32- to 33-year old Pedro Álvares Cabral in an early 20th-century painting. No contemporary portraits of Cabral are
known to exist.[1]
Born 1467 or 1468
Belmonte, Portugal
Died 1520 (aged 52–53)
Santarém, Portugal
Other names
Pero Álvares Cabral
Pedr'Álváres Cabral
Pedrálvares Cabral
Pedraluarez Cabral
Occupation Fleet commander for Portugal
Spouse(s) Isabel de Castro
Children
Fernão Álvares Cabral
António Cabral
Catarina de Castro
Guiomar de Castro
Isabel
Leonor

Signature.
Pedro Álvares Cabral[A] (European Portuguese: [ˈpeðɾu ˈaɫvɐr(ɨ)ʃ kɐˈβɾaɫ] or Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈpedɾu ˈawvaɾis
kaˈbɾaw]; 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.

Contents
1 Early life
2 Discovery of Brazil
2.1 Fleet commander-in-chief
2.2 Departure and arrival in a new land
3 Voyage to India
3.1 Tragedy off southern Africa
3.2 Massacre in Calicut
3.3 Return to Europe
4 Later years and death
5 Legacy
5.1 Posthumous rehabilitation
5.2 Intentional discovery hypothesis
5.3 Forerunners
6 Titles and honors
6.1 Nobility
6.2 Honors
7 See also
8 Endnotes
9 Footnotes
10 References
11 Further reading
Early life
The shield from the coat of arms of Pedro Álvares Cabral's famliy
The coat of arms of Cabral's family
Little is certain regarding Pedro Álvares Cabral's life before, or following, his voyage which led to the discovery of Brazil.
He was born in 1467 or 1468—the former year being the most likely[3][4]—at Belmonte, about 30 kilometres (19 mi)
from present-day Covilhã in central Portugal.[5] He was a son of Fernão Álvares Cabral and Isabel Gouveia—one of five
boys and six girls in the family.[6] Cabral was christened Pedro Álvares de Gouveia and only later, supposedly upon his
elder brother's death in 1503,[7] did he begin using his father's surname.[C][8][9] The coat of arms of his family was
drawn with two purple goats on a field of silver. Purple represented fidelity, and the goats were derived from the family
name (cabral pertains to goats in English).[3] However, only his elder brother was entitled to make use of the family
arms.[10]

Family lore said that the Cabrais were descendants of Caranus, the legendary first king of Macedonia. Caranus was, in
turn, a supposed 7th-generation scion of the demigod Hercules.[D] Myths aside, the historian James McClymont
believes that another family tale might hold clues to the true origin of Cabral's family. According to that tradition, the
Cabrais derive from a Castilian clan named the Cabreiras (cabra is Spanish for goat) who bore a similar coat of arms.[E]
The Cabral family rose to prominence during the 14th century. Álvaro Gil Cabral (Cabral's great-great-grandfather and a
frontier military commander) was one of the few Portuguese nobles to remain loyal to Dom João I, King of Portugal
during the war against the King of Castile. As a reward, João I presented Álvaro Gil with the hereditary fiefdom of
Belmonte.[11]

Photograph of a silver-colored 1968 coin with a profile of a bearded man on the obverse and a coat of arms on the
reverse
Portuguese coin celebrating the 500th anniversary of Cabral's birth
Raised as a member of the lower nobility,[12][13] Cabral was sent to the court of King Dom Afonso V in 1479 at around
age 12. He received an education in the humanities and learned to bear arms and fight.[14] He would have been roughly
age 17 on 30 June 1484 when he was named moço fidalgo (young nobleman; a minor title then commonly granted to
young nobles) by King Dom João II.[14] Records of his deeds prior to 1500 are extremely fragmentary, but Cabral may
have campaigned in North Africa, as had his ancestors and as was commonly done by other young nobles of his day.[15]
King Dom Manuel I, who had acceded to the throne two years previously, awarded him an annual allowance worth
30,000 reais on 12 April 1497.[16][17] He was concurrently given the title fidalgo (nobleman) in the King's Council and
was named a Knight of the Order of Christ.[17] There is no contemporary image or detailed physical description of
Cabral. It is known that he had a strong build[18] and matched his father's height of 1.90 meters (6 ft 2.8 in).[19] Cabral's
character has been described as well-learned, courteous,[20] prudent,[21] generous, tolerant with enemies,[9]
humble,[18] but also vain[20] and too concerned with the respect he felt his honor and position demanded.[22]

Discovery of Brazil
Main article: 2nd Portuguese India Armada (Cabral, 1500)
Fleet commander-in-chief
A map showing the southern Atlantic and western Indian Ocean with two routes traced which go around the southern
tip of Africa
Route taken by Cabral from Portugal to India in 1500 (in red), and the return route (in blue)
On 15 February 1500, Cabral was appointed Capitão-mor (literally Major-Captain, or commander-in-chief) of a fleet
sailing for India.[23] It was then the custom for the Portuguese Crown to appoint nobles to naval and military
commands, regardless of experience or professional competence.[24] This was the case for the captains of the ships
under Cabral's command—most were nobles like himself.[25] The practice had obvious pitfalls, since authority could as
easily be given to highly incompetent and unfit people as it could fall to talented leaders such as Afonso de Albuquerque
or Dom João de Castro.[26]

Scant details have survived regarding the criteria used by the Portuguese government in its selection of Cabral as head
of the India expedition. In the royal decree naming him commander-in-chief, the only reasons given are "merits and
services". Nothing more is known about these qualifications.[27] Historian William Greenlee argued that King Manuel I
"had undoubtedly known him well at court". That, along with the "standing of the Cabral family, their unquestioned
loyalty to the Crown, the personal appearance of Cabral, and the ability which he had shown at court and in the council
were important factors".[28] Also in his favor may have been the influence of two of his brothers who sat on the King's
Council.[28] Given the political intrigue present at court, Cabral may have been part of a faction that furthered his
appointment.[28] The historian Malyn Newitt subscribes to some sort of ulterior maneuvering and has said that the
choice of Cabral "was a deliberate attempt to balance the interests of rival factions of noble families, for he appears to
have no other quality to recommend him and no known experience in commanding major expeditions."[29]

Cabral became the military chief, while far more experienced navigators were seconded to the expedition to aid him in
naval matters.[30] The most important of these were Bartolomeu Dias, Diogo Dias and Nicolau Coelho.[31] They would,
along with the other captains, command 13 ships[32] and 1,500 men.[33] Of this contingent, 700 were soldiers, although
most were simple commoners who had no training or previous experience in combat.[34]

The fleet had two divisions. The first division was composed of nine naus (carracks) and two round caravels, and was
headed to Calicut (today more often known as Kozhikode) in India with the goal of establishing trade relations and a
factory (trading post). The second division, consisting of one nau and one round caravel, set sail for the port of Sofala in
what is today Mozambique.[35] In exchange for leading the fleet, Cabral was entitled to 10,000 cruzados (an old
Portuguese currency equivalent to approximately 35 kg of gold) and the right to purchase 30 tonnes (33 short tons; 30
long tons) of pepper at his own expense for transport back to Europe. The pepper could then be resold, tax-free, to the
Portuguese Crown.[36] He was also allowed to import 10 boxes of any other kind of spice, duty-free.[36] Although the
voyage was extremely hazardous, Cabral had the prospect of becoming a very rich man if he returned safely to Portugal
with the cargo. Spices were then rare in Europe and keenly sought-after.[36]

An earlier fleet had been the first to reach India by circumnavigating Africa. That expedition had been led by Vasco da
Gama and returned to Portugal in 1499.[37] For decades Portugal had been searching for an alternate route to the East,
in order to bypass the Mediterranean Sea which was under the control of the Italian Maritime Republics and the
Ottoman Empire. Portugal's expansionism would lead first to a route to India, and later to worldwide colonization. A
desire to spread Catholic Christianity to pagan lands was another factor motivating exploration. There also was a long
tradition of pushing back Muslims, which stemmed from Portugal's fight for nationhood against the Moors. The fight
expanded first to North Africa and eventually to the Indian subcontinent. An additional ambition which galvanized the
explorers was the search for the mythical Prester John—a powerful Christian king with whom an alliance against Islam
could be forged. Finally, the Portuguese Crown sought a share in the lucrative West African trade in slaves and gold, and
India's spice trade.[38]

Departure and arrival in a new land

A painting depicting the deck of a wooden sailing ship on which stands a group of men pointing toward the horizon and
with the sails of several other ships visible in the background
Cabral (center-left, pointing) sights the Brazilian mainland for the first time on 22 April 1500.
The fleet under the command of the 32–33-year-old Cabral departed from Lisbon on 9 March 1500 at noon. The
previous day it had been given a public send-off which included a Mass and celebrations attended by the King, his court
and a huge crowd.[39] On the morning of 14 March, the flotilla passed Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands.[40][41] It
sailed onward to Cape Verde, a Portuguese colony situated on the West African coast, which was reached on 22
March.[40][42] The next day, a nau commanded by Vasco de Ataíde with 150 men disappeared without a trace.[43] The
fleet crossed the Equator on 9 April, and sailed westward as far as possible from the African continent in what was
known as the volta do mar (literally "turn of the sea") navigational technique.[44][45] Seaweed was sighted on 21 April,
which led the sailors to believe that they were nearing the coast. They were proven correct the next afternoon,
Wednesday 22 April 1500, when the fleet anchored near what Cabral christened the Monte Pascoal ("Easter Mount", it
being the week of Easter). The spot is on the northeast coast of present-day Brazil.[46]

A painting depicting a boat containing armored men being rowed from ships on the horizon onto a shoreline crowded
with people in loincloths, while in the background a native kneels before a small group of European men with a large
white banner bearing a black cross
Romantic depiction of Cabral's first landing on the Island of the True Cross (present-day Brazil). He can be seen on the
shore (center) standing in front of an armored soldier, who is carrying a banner of the Order of Christ.
The Portuguese detected inhabitants on the shore, and all ships' captains gathered aboard Cabral's lead ship on 23
April.[47] Cabral ordered Nicolau Coelho, a captain who had experience from Vasco da Gama's voyage to India, to go
ashore and make contact. He set foot on land and exchanged gifts with the indigenous people.[48] After Coelho
returned, Cabral took the fleet north, where after traveling 65 kilometres (40 mi) along the coast, it anchored on 24 April
in what the commander-in-chief named Porto Seguro (Safe Port).[49] The place was a natural harbor, and Afonso Lopes
(pilot of the lead ship) brought two natives aboard to confer with Cabral.[50]

As in the first contact, the meeting was friendly and Cabral presented the locals with gifts.[51] The inhabitants were
stone age hunter-gatherers, to whom the Europeans assigned the generic label "Indians". The men collected food by
stalking game, fishing and foraging, while the women engaged in small-scale farming. They were divided into countless
rival tribes. The tribe which Cabral met was the Tupiniquim.[52] Some of these groups were nomadic and others
sedentary—having a knowledge of fire but not metalworking. A few tribes engaged in cannibalism.[53] On 26 April, as
more and more curious and friendly natives appeared, Cabral ordered his men to build an altar inland where a Christian
Mass was held—the first celebrated on the soil of what would later become Brazil. He, along with the ships' crews,
participated.[54]
The following days were spent stockpiling water, food, wood and other provisions. The Portuguese also built a
massive—perhaps 7 metres (23 ft) long—wooden cross. Cabral ascertained that the new land lay east of the
demarcation line between Portugal and Spain that had been specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas. The territory was thus
within the sphere allotted to Portugal. To solemnize Portugal's claim to the land, the wooden cross was erected and a
second religious service held on 1 May.[49][55] In honor of the cross, Cabral named the newly discovered land Ilha de
Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross).[56] The next day a supply ship under the command of either Gaspar de
Lemos[57][58] or André Gonçalves[59] (the sources conflict on who was sent)[60] returned to Portugal to apprise the
King of the discovery.

Voyage to India
Tragedy off southern Africa
Pen and ink sketch depicting various sailing ships, some of which are in the process of foundering
Twelve of 13 ships that were part of Cabral's fleet are depicted. Many were lost, as can be seen in this drawing from
Memória das Armadas, c.1568
The fleet resumed its voyage on either 2[61] or 3[59] May 1500 and sailed along the east coast of South America. Cabral
became convinced that he had found an entire continent, rather than an island.[62] Around 5 May, the fleet veered
eastwards towards Africa.[62] On 23[62] or 24[58] May they encountered a storm in the South Atlantic's high-pressure
zone, resulting in the loss of four ships. The exact location of the disaster is unknown—speculations range from near the
Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of the African continent[62] to "within sight of the South American coast".[63]
Three naus and a caravel commanded by Bartolomeu Dias—the first European to reach the Cape of Good Hope in
1488—foundered, and 380 men were lost.[64]

The remaining vessels, hindered by rough weather and damaged rigging, were separated. One ship that had been
separated, commanded by Diogo Dias, wandered onward alone,[65] and the other six ships were able to regroup. They
gathered into two formations consisting of three ships each, and Cabral's group sailed east, past the Cape of Good Hope.
Fixing their position and sighting land, they turned north and landed somewhere in the Primeiras and Segundas
Archipelago, off East Africa and north of Sofala.[65][66] The main fleet remained near Sofala ten days undergoing
repairs.[65][67] The expedition then went north, and on 26 May reached Kilwa Kisiwani, where Cabral made an
unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a treaty with its king.[68]

From Kilwa Kisiwani, the fleet departed to Malindi, which was reached on 2 August. Cabral met with its king, with whom
he established friendly relations and exchanged gifts. Pilots were recruited at Malindi for the last leg to India and the
fleet set sail. Land was reached at Anjadip, an island frequented by ships to obtain supplies on their way to Calicut. Here
the ships were beached, recaulked and painted. Final arrangements were put into place for the encounter with the ruler
of Calicut.[69]

Massacre in Calicut
The fleet departed Anjadip and arrived in Calicut on 13 September.[70] Cabral successfully negotiated with the Zamorin
(the title of the ruler of Calicut) and obtained permission to establish a factory and a warehouse.[71] In hopes of further
improving relations, Cabral dispatched his men on several military missions at the Zamorin's request.[F] However, on
16[72] or 17[73] December, the factory suffered a surprise attack by some 300[72] (according to other accounts,
perhaps as many as several thousand)[71] Muslim Arabs and Hindu Indians. Despite a desperate defense by
crossbowmen, more than 50 Portuguese were killed.[G][72][74] The remaining defenders retreated to the ships, some
by swimming. Thinking that the attack was the result of unauthorized incitement by jealous Arab merchants, Cabral
waited 24 hours for an explanation from the ruler of Calicut, but no apology was forthcoming.[75]

The Portuguese were outraged by the attack on the factory and the death of their comrades and seized 10 Arab
merchant ships at anchor in the harbor. Around 600 of their crews[74] were killed and the cargoes confiscated before
the merchantmen were set afire.[73][76] Cabral also ordered his ships to bombard Calicut for an entire day in reprisal
for the violation of the agreement.[73][76] The massacre was blamed in part on Portuguese animosity towards Muslims,
which had developed over centuries of conflict with the Moors on the Iberian peninsula and in North Africa.[77]
Moreover, the Portuguese were determined to dominate the spice trade and had no intention of allowing competition
to flourish. The Arabs also had no desire to allow the Portuguese to break their monopoly on access to spices. The
Portuguese had started out by insisting on being given preferential treatment in every aspect of the trade. The letter
from King Manuel I brought by Cabral to the ruler of Calicut, which was translated by the ruler's Arab interpreters,
sought the exclusion of Arab traders. The Muslim merchants believed that they were about to lose both their trading
opportunities and livelihoods,[78] and attempted to sway the Hindu ruler against the Portuguese. The Portuguese and
Arabs were extremely suspicious of each other's every action.[79]

An illustration from an old map which shows a wooden sailing vessel with a square-rigged foresail, a square-rigged main
mast with main and topsail, and a lateen sail aft over a very high stern
The nau (carrack) was a type of vessel that was larger than a caravel but smaller than the later galleon. They were used
in the voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Cabral.[80]
Historian William Greenlee has argued that the Portuguese realized that "they were few in numbers and that those who
would come to India in the future fleets would always be at numerical disadvantage; so that this treachery must be
punished in a manner so decisive that the Portuguese would be feared and respected in the future. It was their superior
artillery which would enable them to accomplish this end." Thus, they created a precedent for European behavior in Asia
during the following centuries.[81]

Return to Europe
Warnings in reports from Vasco da Gama's voyage to India had prompted King Manuel I to brief Cabral regarding
another port to the south of Calicut where he could also trade. This city was Kochi and the fleet set sail, reaching it on 24
December.[82] Kochi was nominally a vassal of Calicut, as well as being dominated by other Indian cities. Kochi was
eager to achieve independence, and the Portuguese were willing to exploit Indian disunity—as the British would three
hundred years later. This tactic eventually ensured Portuguese hegemony over the region.[82] Cabral forged an alliance
with Kochi's ruler, as well with rulers of other Indian cities, and was able to establish a factory. At last, loaded with
precious spices, the fleet went to Kannur for further trade before setting out on its return voyage to Portugal on 16
January 1501.[83]

The expedition headed for the east coast of Africa. One of the ships became stranded on a sandbar and the vessel began
to founder. As there was no space in the other ships, its cargo was lost and Cabral ordered the carrack to be set on
fire.[84] The fleet then proceeded to the Island of Mozambique (northeast of Sofala), in order to take on provisions and
make the ships ready for the rough passage around the Cape of Good Hope.[85] One caravel was sent to Sofala—
another of the expedition's goals. A second caravel, considered the fastest ship in the fleet and captained by Nicolau
Coelho, was sent ahead to give the King advance notice of the voyage's success. A third vessel, commanded by Pedro de
Ataíde, became separated from the fleet after leaving Mozambique.[85]

On 22 May, the fleet—now reduced to only two ships—rounded the Cape of Good Hope.[86] They arrived in Beseguiche
(now Dakar, located near Cape Verde) on 2 June. There they found not only Nicolau Coelho's caravel but also the nau
captained by Diogo Dias—which had been lost for over a year following the disaster in the South Atlantic. The nau had
experienced several adventures of its own[H] and was now in poor condition with only seven sick and malnourished
men aboard—one of whom was so weak that he died of happiness upon again seeing his comrades.[87] Another
Portuguese fleet was also found riding at anchor in Beseguiche. After Manuel I had been told of the discovery of what is
now Brazil, he sent another and smaller fleet to explore it. One of its navigators was Amerigo Vespucci (for whom the
Americas would be named), who told Cabral of his exploration, confirming that he had indeed made landfall on an entire
continent and not merely an island.[88]

Nicolau Coelho's caravel departed first from Beseguiche and arrived in Portugal on 23 June 1501.[89] Cabral stayed
behind, waiting for Pedro de Ataíde's missing ship and for the caravel that had been sent to Sofala. Both eventually
appeared and Cabral arrived in Portugal on 21 July 1501, with the other vessels coming home during the following
days.[90] In all, two ships returned empty, five were fully loaded and six were lost. Nonetheless, the cargoes carried by
the fleet returned up to 800% profit to the Portuguese Crown.[91] Once sold, the proceeds covered the outlay in
equipping the fleet, covered the cost of the vessels which had been lost, and cleared a profit which itself exceeded the
total sum of those costs.[92] "Undeterred by the unprecedented losses which he had sustained", asserts historian James
McClymont, when Cabral "reached the East African coast, pressed forward to the accomplishment of the task which had
been assigned to him and was able to inspire the surviving officers and men with like courage."[86] "Few voyages to
Brazil and India were so well executed as Cabral's", affirmed historian Bailey Diffie,[93] which laid down a path leading to
the immediate commencement "of a Portuguese seagoing empire from Africa to the far East", and eventually to "a land
empire in Brazil".[61]

Later years and death

Photograph of a small chapel in which a roped-off inscribed stone slab is set into the floor and with a stone altar in the
background on which are a wreath and a large metal cross
Cabral's tomb in Santarém, Portugal
Upon Cabral's return, King Manuel I began planning another fleet to make the journey to India and to avenge the
Portuguese losses in Calicut. Cabral was selected to command this "Revenge Fleet", as it was called. For eight months
Cabral made all preparations,[94] but for reasons which remain uncertain, he was relieved of command.[95] It had
apparently been proposed to give another navigator, Vicente Sodré, independent command over a section of the fleet,
and Cabral strongly opposed this.[96] Whether he was dismissed[97] or requested himself that he be relieved of
command,[98] the result was that when the fleet departed in March 1502, its commander was Vasco da Gama—a
maternal nephew of Vicente Sodré—and not Cabral.[99] It is known that hostility had developed between a faction
supporting da Gama and another supporting Cabral. At some point, Cabral left the court permanently.[94] The King was
greatly irritated by the feud, to such an extent that mentioning the matter in his presence could result in banishment, as
it did for one of da Gama's supporters.[100]

Despite the loss of favor with Manuel I,[95][101] Cabral was able to contract an advantageous marriage in
1503[100][102] to Dona (Lady) Isabel de Castro, a wealthy noblewoman and descendant of King Dom Fernando I of
Portugal.[100] Her mother was a sister of Afonso de Albuquerque, one of the greatest Portuguese military leaders
during the Age of Discovery.[103] The couple had at least four children: two boys (Fernão Álvares Cabral and António
Cabral) and two girls (Catarina de Castro and Guiomar de Castro).[104] There were two additional daughters named
Isabel and Leonor according to other sources, which also say that Guiomar, Isabel and Leonor joined religious
orders.[105] Afonso de Albuquerque attempted to intercede on Cabral's behalf and on 2 December 1514 asked Manuel I
to forgive him and allow his return to court, but to no avail.[106]

Suffering from recurrent fever and a tremor (possibly malaria) since his voyage,[107] Cabral withdrew to Santarém in
1509. He spent his remaining years there.[12][101] Only sketchy information is available as to his activities during that
time. According to a royal letter dated 17 December 1509, Cabral was party to a dispute over a transaction involving
property which belonged to him.[100][108] Another letter of that same year reported that he was to receive certain
privileges for an undisclosed military service.[16][100] In 1518, or perhaps previously, he was raised from fidalgo to
knight in the King's Council and was entitled to a monthly allowance of 2,437 reais.[109] This was in addition to the
annual allowance granted to him in 1497, and still being paid.[16] Cabral died of unspecified causes, most probably in
1520. He was buried in the São João Evangelista chapel of the Convento da Graça in Santarém.[110]

Legacy
Posthumous rehabilitation
Photograph showing an old map which covers the area from the Atlantic coast of the South American continent
eastwards around Africa to India and on to the Malay peninsula at the eastern edge of the map, with Europe in the far
north.
Cantino planisphere 1502, one of the earliest surviving charts showing the explorations of Pedro Álvares Cabral to Brazil.
The Tordesillas line is also depicted.
The first permanent Portuguese settlement in the land which would become Brazil was São Vicente, which was
established in 1532 by Martim Afonso de Sousa. As the years passed, the Portuguese would slowly expand their frontiers
westward, conquering more lands from both indigenous Americans and the Spanish. Brazil had secured most of its
present-day borders by 1750 and was regarded by Portugal as the most important part of its far-flung maritime Empire.
On 7 September 1822, the heir of Portuguese King Dom João VI secured the independence of Brazil from Portugal and,
as Dom Pedro I, became its first Emperor.[111][112]
Cabral's discovery, and even his resting place in the land of his birth, had been almost completely forgotten during the
span of nearly 300 years since his expedition.[111][112] This began to change beginning in the 1840s when Emperor
Dom Pedro II, successor and son of Pedro I, sponsored research and publications dealing with Cabral's life and
expedition through the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute. This was part of the Emperor's ambitious larger plan
to foster and strengthen a sense of nationalism among Brazil's diverse citizenry—giving them a common identity and
history as residents of a unique Portuguese-speaking empire, surrounded by Hispanic-American Republics.[113] The
initial resurgence of interest in Cabral had resulted from the rediscovery, in 1839, of his resting place by the Brazilian
historian Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen (later Viscount of Porto Seguro).[107][114] The completely neglected state in
which Cabral's tomb was found nearly led to a diplomatic crisis between Brazil and Portugal—the latter then ruled by
Pedro II's eldest sister, Maria II.[115]

In 1871, the Brazilian Emperor—then on a trip to Europe—visited Cabral's gravesite and proposed an exhumation for
scientific study, which was carried out in 1882.[114] In a second exhumation during 1896, an urn containing earth and
bone fragments was allowed to be removed. Although his remains still lay in Portugal, the urn was eventually brought to
the old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on 30 December 1903.[114] Cabral has since become a national hero in
Brazil.[116] In Portugal, however, he has been much overshadowed by his rival Vasco da Gama.[117][118] Historian
William Greenlee argued that Cabral's exploration is important "not only because of its position in the history of
geography but because of its influence on the history and economics of the period." Though he acknowledges that few
voyages have "been of greater importance to posterity", he also says that "few have been less appreciated in their
time."[119] Nevertheless, historian James McClymont affirmed that "Cabral's position in the history of Portuguese
conquest and discovery is inexpungable despite the supremacy of greater or more fortunate men."[120] He concluded
that Cabral "will always be remembered in history as the chief, if not the first discoverer of Brazil."[120]

Intentional discovery hypothesis

A photograph of a park in which stands a large statue depicting a bearded man standing on a rock who is dressed in a
long coat and holding a hat in his right hand, while his left hand grasps a large banner
Monument to Cabral, Lisbon

Monument to Cabral, Brazil

A controversy that has occupied scholars for more than a century concerns whether Cabral's discovery was by chance or
intentional. If the latter, that would mean that the Portuguese had at least some hint that a land existed to the west. The
matter was first raised by Emperor Pedro II in 1854 during a session of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute,
when he asked if the discovery might have been intentional.[121]

Until the 1854 conference, the widespread presumption was that the discovery had been an accident. Early works on
the subject supported this view, including História do Descobrimento e Conquista da Índia (History of the Discovery and
Conquest of India, published in 1541) by Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, Décadas da Ásia (Decades of Asia, 1552) by João
de Barros, Crônicas do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manuel (Chronicles of the most fortunate D. Manuel, 1558) by Damião de Góis,
Lendas da Índia (Legends of India, 1561) by Gaspar Correia,[122] História do Brasil (History of Brazil, 1627) by friar
Vicente do Salvador and História da América Portuguesa (History of Portuguese America, 1730) by Sebastião da Rocha
Pita.[123]

The first work to advocate the idea of intentionality was published in 1854 by Joaquim Noberto de Sousa e Silva, after
Pedro II had opened the debate.[124] Since then, several scholars have subscribed to that view, including Francisco
Adolfo de Varnhagen,[115] Capistrano de Abreu,[115] Pedro Calmon,[125] Fábio Ramos[126] and Mário Barata.[127]
Historian Hélio Vianna affirmed that "although there are signs of the intentionality" in Cabral's discovery, "based mainly
in the knowledge or previous suspicion of the existence of lands at the edge of the South Atlantic", there are no
irrefutable proofs to support it.[128] This opinion is also shared by historian Thomas Skidmore.[129] The debate on
whether it was a deliberate voyage of discovery or not is considered "irrelevant" by historian Charles R. Boxer.[53]
Historian Anthony Smith concludes that the conflicting contentions will "probably never be resolved".[130]

Forerunners
An old, hand-drawn map with a large compass rose on the right side and a coastline drawn on the left side with writing
occupying the center
The map of Juan de la Cosa, dated 1500, mentions the travel to northern Brazil by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón.
Cabral was not the first European to stumble upon areas of present-day Brazil, not to mention other parts of South
America. Roman coins have been found in today's Venezuela, northwest of Brazil, presumably from ships that were
carried away by storm in ancient times.[131] Norsemen reached North America and even established settlements,
though these ended in failure sometime before the end of the 15th century.[131] Christopher Columbus, on his third
voyage to the New World in 1498, traveled along part of what would later become Venezuela.[127]

In the case of Brazil, it was once considered probable that the Portuguese navigator Duarte Pacheco Pereira had made a
voyage to the Brazilian coast in 1498. This belief has since been dismissed, however, and it is now thought that he
voyaged to North America instead.[132] There is more certain evidence that two Spaniards, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and
Diego de Lepe, traveled along the northern coast of Brazil between January and March 1500. Pinzón went from what is
today Fortaleza (capital of the Brazilian state of Ceará) to the mouth of the Amazon River. There he encountered
another Spanish expedition led by Lepe, which would reach as far as the Oyapock River in March. The reason Cabral is
credited with having discovered Brazil, rather than the Spanish explorers, is because the visits by Pinzón and Lepe were
cursory and had no lasting impact. Historians Capistrano de Abreu,[133] Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen,[134] Mário
Barata[135] and Hélio Vianna[136] concur that the Spanish expeditions did not influence the development of what
would become the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas—with a unique history, culture and society which
sets it apart from the Hispanic-American societies which dominate the rest of the continen