Chapter XI- Portugal in the World of Maritime Discoveries

Portugal Discovers Brazil

Picture 1- Pedro Álvares Cabral

Pedro Álvares Cabral, a military commander, was the navigator who discovered Brazil, when his fleet set out for India in the year 1500, had the mission to recreate the route newly created by Vasco da Gama, to establish commercial relations and to return with Spices.
However, its fleet of 13 ships has moved too far from the African coast, perhaps due to strong winds and sea currents, what is certain is that Pedro Álvares Cabral when landing in Brazil, thought to be only and only an island and Nicknamed her Vera Cruz (True Cross)

Picture 2- Map of Brasil

When exploring the coast of said island Álvares Cabral, he realized that at last he had discovered a Continent. He dispatched a ship to bring the good news to King Manuel I to inform him of his discovery, since the territory was within the limits imposed in the Tordesillas treaty, this territory was automatically considered Portuguese.
The fleet refueled and resumed its course to India, but behold the Álvares Cabral fleet had to face a strong storm in the South Atlantic that caused the loss of 7 ships, one of which was present the navigator Bartolomeu Dias who died thus On the Cape of Good Hope.
Cabral arrives in India, and has achieved great success in negotiations and the right to commercialize spices.
Despite the loss of lives and ships, his trip was considered a success.
Spice profits optimized Portuguese finances and created the foundations of the Portuguese Empire that stretched from America to the Far East.

Picture 3-Journey of Pedro Álvares Cabral (in red the outward journey, Arrive to Brazil and from there follows trip to India, the blue trip of return to Portugal)


The question and still unresolved about the discovery of Brazil is whether Pedro A. Cabral intentionally or accidentally discovered the lands of Vera Cruz ( Brazil). Today it is still a question posed and still investigated by several historians.
Cabral died of causes not specified in 1520 and lies in the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, in the Church of the Old Convent of Grace, in Santarém, Portugal

Picture 4- Tomb of Pedro Álvares Cabral, in the Church of Our Lady of Grace in Santarém, Portugal

In 1871 the Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil visited the tomb of Cabral and proposed an exhumation for scientific purposes. In a second exhumation in 1896, the removal of an urn with some mortal remains (fragments of bones) of this navigator was authorized.
The urn was brought to the old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro on December 30, 1903.
We owe much to this navigator who extended the Portuguese Empire and concretized one of the most important discoveries in the History of Portugal.

Picture 5- Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro, present Church of Our Lady of Carmo, Brazil, where there is an urn with some remains of Pedro Álvares Cabral



Picture 6 - Urn of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral, in the former Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


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