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The first landing of European explorers to the territory of present-day Brazil is often credited to Portuguese navigatorPedro Álvares Cabral, who sighted the land later namedIsland of Vera Cruz, nearMonte Pascoal, on 22 April 1500 while leading anexpedition to India. Cabral's voyage is part of the so-calledPortuguese discoveries.[1][2]
Although used almost exclusively in relation to Pedro Álvares Cabral's voyage, the term "discovery of Brazil" can also refer to the arrival of the expedition led by Spanish navigator and explorerVicente Yáñez Pinzón, who reached theCape of Santo Agostinho [pt], a promontory located in the current state ofPernambuco, on 26 January 1500. This is the oldest confirmed European landing in Brazilian territory.[3][4]
The use of the term "discovery" for this historical event considers the viewpoint of peoples from Europe. They recorded it in the form ofwritten history, and the record expresses aEurocentric conception of history.[5] Some people in Brazil call this event the invasion of Brazil.[6] The term "discovery" disregards the presence of Indigenous civilizations in Brazil before the arrival of the Portuguese, treating the European arrival as an act of unveiling rather than as an invasion that triggered a violent process of colonization andgenocide of the original peoples.[7] This Eurocentric view reflects the colonizers' narrative and conceals the historical reality from the perspective of Indigenous peoples; therefore, the concept of the "coloniality of knowledge" is discussed, denouncing how the historical narrative is shaped by a Eurocentric bias that silences and erases the knowledge, practices, and resistance of Indigenous peoples in the face of colonial violence.[8]
In 1499, an expedition licensed by Spain and led byAlonso de Ojeda as fleet commander andJuan de la Cosa as chief navigator set sail to explore the coast of a new landmass found by Columbus on his third voyage and in particular investigate a rich source of pearls that Columbus had reported.Vespucci and his backers financed two of the four ships in the small fleet.[9]
The vessels left Spain on 18 May 1499 and stopped first in theCanary Islands before reaching South America somewhere near present-daySuriname orFrench Guiana. From there the fleet split up: Ojeda proceeded northwest toward modern Venezuela with two ships, while the other pair headed south with Vespucci aboard. The only record of the southbound journey comes from Vespucci himself. He assumed they were on the coast of Asia and hoped by heading south they would, according to the Greek geographerPtolemy, round the unidentified "Cape ofCattigara" and reach theIndian Ocean. They passed two huge rivers (theAmazon and thePara) which poured freshwater 25 miles (40 km) out to sea. They continued south for another 40 leagues (about 240 km or 150 mi) before encountering a very strong adverse current which they could not overcome. Forced to turn around, the ships headed north, retracing their course to the original landfall. From there Vespucci continued up the South American coast to theGulf of Paria and along the shore of what is now Venezuela.[10] At some point they may have rejoined Ojeda but the evidence is unclear. In the late summer, they decided to head north for the Spanish colony atHispaniola in theWest Indies to resupply and repair their ships before heading home. After Hispaniola they made a brief slave raid in theBahamas, capturing 232 natives, and then returned to Spain.[11]
Many scholars assert that the real discoverer of Brazil was the Spanish navigatorVicente Yáñez Pinzón, who on 26 January 1500 landed at theCape of Santo Agostinho [pt], on the southern coast ofPernambuco. This is considered the earliest documented European voyage to what is now Brazilian territory.[1][2][3][4]
The fleet, consisting of four caravels, set sail fromPalos de la Frontera on 19 November 1499. After crossing theEquator, Pinzón encountered a severe storm. On 26 January 1500, he sighted the cape and anchored his ships in a sheltered port easily accessible to small boats, with a depth of 16 feet, as indicated by sounding. The mentioned port was the cove ofSuape, located on the southern slope of the promontory, which the Spanish expedition named Cape of Santa María de la Consolación. Spain did not claim the discovery, although it was meticulously recorded by Pinzón and documented by important chroniclers of the time such asPeter Martyr d'Anghiera andBartolomé de las Casas. Spain and Portugal had signed theTreaty of Tordesillas to divide their areas of influence in the New World, and this area was to be controlled by Portugal.[1][3][12][13]
During the night after the landing, the Spanish observed large fires burning in the distance, along the northwest coast. The following morning, they sailed in that direction until reaching a river, which Pinzón named "Rio Formoso". On the beach, along the riverbanks, their crew had a violent encounter with the local Indigenous people (now known to have belonged to thePotiguara tribe), an event recorded by the Spanish chronicler.
Heading north, Pinzón rounded theCape of São Roque and reached theAmazon River in February, which he named Santa María de la Mar Dulce. From there he continued to theGuianas and then to theCaribbean Sea and across the Atlantic. He reached Spain on 30 September 1500.
Pinzón's cousin,Diego de Lepe [pt], undertook a parallel journey, departing from Palos in 1499, twenty days after Pinzón's fleet. Lepe arrived at the Cape of Santo Agostinho in February 1500, but sailed a few miles to the south, noting that the coast slanted markedly to the southwest. From there he followed the same route to the north and the Caribbean as had Pinzón.[1][3]
Themap by Juan de la Cosa, a chart made in 1500 at the request of the first kings of Spain – known as theCatholic Monarchs – shows the South American coast adorned with Spanish flags from theCape de la Vela (in present-dayColombia) to the easternmost point of the continent. The accompanying text reads, "Este cavo se descubrio en año de mily IIII X C IX por Castilla syendo descubridor vicentians" (lit. 'This cape was discovered in 1499 by Castile, with Vicente Yáñez as the discoverer'). This most likely refers to Pinzón's arrival at the Cape of Santo Agostinho in late January 1500.[14]
The map shows that further east, and separated from the mainland, is an island marked as discovered by Portugal, and colored in blue. De la Cosa probably intended to show the land discovered by Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500, which he named "Terra de Vera Cruz" or "de Santa Cruz". The Portuguese believed it to be an island (Island of Vera Cruz) lying in the Atlantic, separating Europe from the Indies.[14]
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On 30 October 1500, kingManuel I of Portugal marriedMaria of Aragon and Castile, daughter of the Catholic Monarchs and sister of his first wifeIsabella (who died during a difficult childbirth). This union initiated a deep dynastic connection between the Catholic nations of Portugal and Spain.
The following year, the first Portuguese expedition to explore the Brazilian coast departed from Lisbon, entrusted toAmerigo Vespucci and commanded byGonçalo Coelho. On 17 August 1501, the fleet sighted theCape of São Roque in present-dayRio Grande do Norte, already discovered by Pinzón (latitude calculations were relatively accurate at the time, although longitude was quite faulty). The Portuguese sailed southward, tracing the entire east coast of Brazil. NearSanta Cruz Cabrália, they encountered two exiles from Cabral's fleet, whom they rescued. They realized then that Cabral had not discovered an island, but a stretch of coastline of the new continent. The fleet then allegedly[a] sailed to theCape of Santa Maria [pt] in present-dayUruguay.[15]
Later the Spanish Crown sent navigatorJuan Díaz de Solís on an expedition to explore the lands allocated to Spain according to the Treaty of Tordesillas – whose imaginary line passed along the coast of the present-day state ofSão Paulo, nearCananéia.[16][17][18] For his discovery of Brazil, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was honored by KingFerdinand II of Aragon on 5 September 1501.[19]
In order to seal the success ofVasco da Gama's voyage indiscovering the sea route to India – which allowed bypassing theMediterranean, then under the control of theMoors and Italian nations – King Manuel I hastened to outfit a new fleet for theIndies. Since Vasco da Gama's small fleet had struggled to establish itself and engage in trade, this would be the largest fleet assembled by the West up to that point. It comprised thirteen vessels and more than a thousand men. Except for the names of two ships and a caravel, the names of the other ships under Cabral's command are not known. It is estimated that the fleet carried provisions for about eighteen months.
This was the largest squadron ever sent to sail the Atlantic: ten ships, three caravels, and a supply ship. Although the name of the flagship is unknown, the vice-commander's ship of the fleet,Sancho de Tovar's ship, was namedEl-Rei [pt]. Another ship was theAnunciada, commanded byNuno Leitão da Cunha [pt]. This ship belonged toÁlvaro de Bragança, son ofthe Duke of Braganza, and was equipped with resources fromBartolomeo Marchionni andGirolamo Sernigi, Florentine bankers residing in Lisbon who invested in thespice trade. The bankers' letters exchanged with their Italian partners and shareholders preserved the ship's name. The caravel commanded byPero de Ataíde, wasSão Pedro. The name of the other caravel, commanded byBartolomeu Dias, is lost. The fleet was completed by a supply ship commanded byGaspar de Lemos. It was her responsibility to return to Portugal with news of the discovery of Brazil.
Based on an incomplete document found in theTorre do Tombo in Lisbon,Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen identified five of the ten ships that made up Cabral's fleet. They wereSanta Cruz,Vitória,Flor de la Mar,Espírito Santo, andEspera. Because the source cited by Varnhagen has never been found again, most historians prefer not to adopt the names he listed. The fleet remains largely anonymous.
Some 19th-century historians declared that Cabral's flagship was the legendarySão Gabriel, the same ship commanded by Vasco da Gama three years earlier, when he discovered the sea route to India. But no documentation has been found to support this theory.
Shortly before the fleet's departure, the King ordered amass to be said at theMonastery of Belém, presided over by theBishop of Ceuta,Diogo de Ortiz. He personally blessed a flag with the arms of the Kingdom and handed it to Cabral, bidding farewell to the nobleman and the remaining captains.
Vasco da Gama reportedly made recommendations for the impending long journey: stressing coordination among the ships in order to prevent their losing sight of each other. He recommended to the captain-general to fire the cannons twice and wait for the same response from all other ships before changing course or speed (a counting method still used in terrestrial battlefields), among other similar communication codes.
On 24 April, Cabral, accompanied bySancho de Tovar,Simão de Miranda [pt],Nicolau Coelho,Aires Correia [pt], andPero Vaz de Caminha, received a group of Indigenous people on his ship. They were described as recognizing the gold and silver displayed on the vessel – notably a gold thread and a silver candlestick. The Portuguese concluded that they were familiar with gold as a result of having much of it in their land. But in a letter, Caminha, wrote that he could not ascertain whether the natives were saying that there was gold there, or if the sailors' desire for it was so great they imagined a positive response from the natives. It was later proven that the crew had imagined a positive interpretation; the natives made no claims to gold.[20]
Caminha also recorded in aletter the later violent encounter between Portuguese and Indigenous people on the beach. The cultural shock for each side was evident. The Indigenous people did not recognize the animals brought by the sailors, except for a parrot that the captain had with him. The sailors offered the natives food and wine which they did not recognize and rejected. They were curious about unfamiliar objects – such asRosary beads. The Portuguese were surprised that the natives appeared to recognize precious metals. Cabral had dressed in all the attire and adornments befitting a captain, to impress the Indigenous people, and yet they passed by him without appearing to distinguish him from the other crew members.
The Indigenous people were curious about the newcomers and attended theFirst Mass, celebrated by FriarHenrique de Coimbra, on Sunday, 26 April 1500. The Portuguese liked to think they had introduced the natives to their faith. Shortly after the mass, Cabral's fleet set sail for theIndies, its ultimate destination. It sent one of the ships back to Portugal with Caminha's letter.
Later, when Portuguese fleets arrived with missionaries and colonists, it became obvious that they needed other methods to evangelize the Indigenous people in earnest. The Indigenous people had simply been curious about the ritual gestures and words of the Mass, with no real interest in the Catholic faith. They had their own religion.[citation needed]
The peoples who inhabited Brazil at the time of Cabral's arrival are classified as living in theStone Age in terms of technology, transitioning from thePaleolithic to theNeolithic. They practiced an incipient form of agriculture (raisingcorn andcassava) and animal domestication. (They ran wild pig andcapybara.) But they had developed extensive knowledge offermented alcoholic beverage production (more than 80 types), using roots, tubers, barks, and fruits, among other material, as raw ingredients.[21]
When the Portuguese arrived in Brazil, the coast of Bahia was occupied by two Indigenous nations that each spokeTupi languages: theTupinambá, who occupied the stretch betweenCamamu and the mouth of theSão Francisco River; and theTupiniquin, who had territory extending from Camamu to the border with the current Brazilian state ofEspírito Santo. Further inland, occupying the strip parallel to that appropriated by the Tupiniquin were theAimoré.
At the beginning ofthe colonization of Brazil, the Tupiniquin supported the Portuguese. Their rivals, the Tupinambá, supported the French. During the 16th and 17th centuries the French carried out various offensives againstPortuguese America. The presence of the Europeans and creation of new alliances fueled the hostile tensions between the two tribes.Hans Staden, a German traveler, documented what he observed of this during period of captivity among the Tupinambá. Both tribes practiced ritualcannibalism against their rivals, as a way both to honor and acquire power of their enemies. The Europeans were outraged and appalled by the practice, persecuting natives for their culture.
In historiographical terms, the date of the discovery of Brazil has varied over the centuries:[22]
There are several assumptions and hypotheses about the discovery of Brazil. The best-known one revolves around a possible secret expedition by the Portuguese navigatorDuarte Pacheco Pereira in 1498, aimed at identifying territories belonging to Portugal orCastile according to theTreaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Pereira participated in the treaty negotiations.[23][24] The hypothetical journey is solely based on the explorer's account inEsmeraldo de Situ Orbis (1505), a book he authored. However, the text is ambiguous: Pacheco Pereira explicitly states that the king of Portugal "ordered the discovery of the western part", suggesting he was not speaking of his own explorations but rather of everything already explored by various navigators and known by 1505. This view is supported by the latitudes and longitudes provided, ranging fromGreenland to the current southern region ofBrazil. Furthermore, the possibility of a policy of secrecy by Portuguese monarchs, proposed in the first half of the 20th century by historianDamião Peres [pt], is not sustainable, as it was common practice, in the absence of a treaty, to claim sovereignty over a land by publicizing its discovery.[24][25]
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There is also suspicion that the Portuguese discovery of Brazil in 1500 may have been intentional, based on prior knowledge of the territory. As suggested by Pacheco Pereira inEsmeraldo de Situ Orbis, Portuguese navigators in 1498 were instructed byKing Manuel I to explore the Atlantic in search of lands. Before heading toIndia on the 1500 expedition,Pedro Álvares Cabral would have deviated westward beyond necessity to verify the existence of territories as desired by the king. Upon sighting Brazil, Cabral believed he had discovered an island, thus invalidating the theory that he had knowledge of continental lands in those regions. The representation of the then-calledIsland of Vera Cruz onJuan de la Cosa's map, made the same year, refutes another theory that Portuguese discoveries were secrets not shared with the Spanish. Despite the discovery, Cabral's voyage to India was considered a failure. Cabral received an annual pension of 30 thousandreais for his deeds much less than the 400 thousand reais given toVasco da Gama in 1498 and was forgotten by the king, dying in obscurity around 1520. His tomb was ignored for three hundred years until it was located in 1839 by historianFrancisco Adolfo de Varnhagen.[14][25][26]
There are also theories challenging the locations sighted byVicente Yáñez Pinzón and Pedro Álvares Cabral. The first Brazilian historian to question the landing of the Spanish navigator at theCape of Santo Agostinho [pt] was the Viscount of Porto Seguro, Francisco Varnhagen, in the mid-19th century.[27] Although Varnhagen acknowledged that Pinzón had been in Brazil before Cabral, he believed the Cape of Santa María de la Consolación to be the tip of Mucuripe in the city ofFortaleza. The thesis was accepted by AdmiralMax Justo Guedes [pt] but contested by many historians.[28] For the Portuguese, such asDuarte Leite, the Spaniards would have landed north ofCape Orange, in present-dayFrench Guiana.[29] Regarding the location sighted by Pedro Álvares Cabral, there is a thesis advocating forPico do Cabugi inRio Grande do Norte as the mountain described by Pero Vaz Caminha, and Praia do Marco as the point of arrival of Cabral's fleet. However, according to theCantino planisphere (1502), made the year following the exploratory expedition that rescued the two convicts left in Brazil by Cabral, the landing place of the Portuguese navigator is situated south of theBay of All Saints.[30]
Amerigo Vespucci is another candidate for the title of discoverer of Brazil. During his so-called "second" voyage in 1499, he supposedly temporarily separated from the leader of the expedition,Alonso de Ojeda, and explored the northern coast of Brazil, believing that he was sailing along the eastern edge of Asia. Unfortunately, the only information about this part of the voyage comes from Vespucci himself.[31]
Some scholars may refer to the event as the invasion of Pindorama.[32]
Media related toDiscovery of Brazil at Wikimedia Commons
Works related tothe letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha at Wikisource