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Estêvão Gomes (c. 1483 – 1538), also known by the Spanish version of his nameEsteban Gómez, was a Portuguese explorer. He sailed in the service ofCastile in thefleet ofFerdinand Magellan, but deserted the expedition when they had reached theStrait of Magellan and returned to Spain in May 1521. In 1524, he explored the coast of present-dayNew England andNova Scotia. As a result of Gomes' expedition, cartographerDiogo Ribeiro was the first to accurately portray North America with a continuous coastline stretching from Florida to Nova Scotia.
Gomes was born inPorto in northern Portugal, of African ancestry.[1] He sailed in thePortuguese India Armadas during his youth. In 1518, he moved toCastile, where he was appointed apilot for theCasa de Contratación inSeville.[2]
In 1519, Gomes sailed with theMagellan expedition as thepilot major of the fleet aboard theSan Antonio. His real ambition, however, was to become captain of the ship. Gomes frustration grew when he was passed over for promotion in favor of Magellan's inexperienced nephew, Alvaro de Mesquita. Near theStrait of Magellan, Gomes overpowered Mesquita, took control of theSan Antonio and sailed back to Spain in May 1521. Upon their return, Gomes claimed his mutiny was justified by Magellan's abuses and poor management. The mutineers were thrown in jail while their claims were investigated, but within six months all except Mesquita were freed.[3]
In 1523 Gomes received authorization from the Spanish Crown to search along the North American coast for an alternate passage to Asia that would be quicker and easier than the Strait of Magellan.[4] A 50-toncaravel,La Annunciada, was built for the purpose and set sail fromCorunna on 24 September 1524 with a crew of 29 men.[2]
No eyewitness accounts of this expedition have survived. Knowledge of the voyage comes from brief second-hand summaries by contemporary historiansOviedo,Peter Martyr, andAlonzo de Santa Cruz, as well as cartographic information captured byDiogo Ribeiro.[5] Even the general direction they sailed has been disputed. For a long time, it was assumed that Gomes explored the American coast from north to south. More recently, a good case has been made that he started from the Spanish Caribbean and sailed north.[4]
If Gomes proceeded from south to north along the coast, it is likely that he stopped first at Santiago de Cuba to load fresh supplies. From there, the explorers followed the coast from Florida to Labrador, making their most careful survey along the shores of what would become New England. Gomes sailed up the Penobscot River to the future site of Bangor, Maine, naming the waterway "El Rio de Las Gamas". He named other significant landmarks such as "Rio de San Antonio" (now theMerrimack River) and "Cabo de las Arenas" (present-dayCape Cod).[2][6]
While exploring the area of Penobscot, Gomes abducted at least 58 natives and took them back to Spain as evidence of a potentially lucrative slave trade.[5] When he reached Spain in August 1525, Gomes sent word to the king of his return. Peter Martyr claimed that when the message reached court, the word for slaves (esclavos) had been misunderstood to mean cloves (clavos), creating for a moment the false impression that Gomes had found a route to the Orient. When the mistake was cleared up, Charles was upset that the injunction against enslaving American natives had been ignored and ordered them to be freed.[7][8]
As a result of Gomes' expedition, cartographerDiogo Ribeiro's 1525 Castiglione map was the first to accurately portray North America with a continuous coastline stretching from Florida to Nova Scotia.[4] Ribeiro labeled the region of present-day New England as the "Land of Estêvão Gomes" (Tierra de Esteban Gómez).[9]
After his return from North America, Gomes supervised shipbuilding in Corunna until 1528. In 1533, he received a commission to build a proposed Guadalquivir canal, an effort that soon collapsed. In 1535, Gomes joinedPedro de Mendoza's expedition to theRío de la Plata. He was killed by natives of theParaguay River in 1538.[10]
