Cabral, Pedro Álvares

(1467?-1520?)

   Portuguese nobleman whose fleet discovered Brazil for Portugal in 1500. Born in Belmonte, Portugal, Cabral was a fidalgo in the court of King João II, and he married a niece of the conquistador Afonso de Albuquerque. Except for his nobility, it is not known why King Manuel I selected Cabral to command a fleet to voyage to Portuguese India to follow up Vasco da Gama's pioneering journey. Cabral's fleet contained 13 ships and as many as 1,500 crew members, and departed the Tagus River on 9 March 1500. The fleet's pilots and mariners executed the voyage skillfully, with the intention of reaching India directly, but winds and currents carried them farther west than was intended and, on 22 April 1500, they sighted land and later named the country the land of "Vera Cruz" (the True Cross), followed by "Santa Cruz" (Holy Cross), and finally "Brazil," after the wood that was the country's first main product. Cabral landed and claimed the land for Portugal. Much of the detail of this discovery is described in a celebrated account of Pedro Vaz da Caminha. Cabral's fleet continued to Calicut, India, where the Portuguese began to carve out a commercial empire by means of war, alliance, and trade. He returned to Portugal, his ships laden with Asian wealth. Cabral refused to accept the command of another India fleet in 1502 and apparently did not venture to sea again. His tomb is in the Church of Graça, Santarém.