The Father of SouthAmerica great country BRAZIL

7(?): Cabral is born, presumably in Belmonte; the second son of Fernão Cabral, a nobleman. - Dates uncertain: Cabral is awarded an annuity by King John II, for military services rendered; marries Isabel de Castro, niece of Afonso de Albuquerque, navigator, statesman and founder of the Portuguese Empire in the Orient. - 1500: Second Portuguese expedition to India: a fleet comprising 10 men-of-war and 3 smaller ships, with 1500 men. Its command is given to Pedro Álvares Cabral by King Manuel I. The fleet sets sail from Lisbon on March 9. Cabral discovers Terras de Vera Cruz/The Land of the True Cross (Brazil), on April 22; loses 4 of his ships, but manages to reach Calicut on September 13; is unable to subjugate the Zamorim, the ruler of Calicut. - 1501: Returns to Portugal with only 5 ships, but with a heavy cargo of spices. - 1502: Refuses to command another expedition to India. - 1509: Having lost the King's favor, Cabral retires to his estate in Santarém. - 1515: He finally receives an annuity as a reward for having discovered Brazil, which is beginning to be colonized. - 1518: Receives another annuity for the same reason. - 1520(?): Cabral dies in Santarém.



SECOND EXPEDITION TO INDIA

Cabral, in command of the Second Expedition to India, sets sail from Lisbon.


Cabral is a warrior and a nobleman, but is only the second in the line of succession. Honors? Only those obtained due to his qualities and through his own efforts, not by birth. King John II had already given him an annuity for good military services rendered to the Crown. Now King Manuel I names him captain major, the commander-in-chief, of the second expedition to India: 13 ships, 1,500 men. He will have to subdue the Zamorim of Calicut, who had so badly treated Vasco da Gama during the first expedition. His mission includes laying the cornerstone of the Portuguese Empire in the Orient.

Cabral knows quite well that the world is full of war and treachery; that what is denied because of hatred, is granted because of fear. He also knows that the strong are pursued by the Fates and by strokes of misfortune. Pedro Álvares Cabral faces it all; he is of one mind - rather break than yield.

Pomp and circumstance at the Church of Santa Maria, in Belém; a pontifical mass for Cabral and his men. On March 9, they set off from Lisbon. Some time before, the king had told Cabral about the lands that lay west of the Great Sea, across from África. "Find them, if at all possible," the king said. Perhaps they were the reason for the insistence of King John II on moving the north-south division line of the Treaty of Tordesillas from 100 to 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

There are well-known figures travelling with Cabral: Pero Vaz de Caminha, the king's chronicler; Bartolomeu Dias, first to round the Cape of Good Hope, Bartolomeu's brother, Diogo Dias, and Nicolau Coelho, one of the skippers in Vasco da Gama's expedition.

Misfortune number one: off the Cape Verde Islands, Cabral finds that one of the ships is missing. It will never be seen again. There were 13, now there are 12.

Off the coast of Guinea, they start sailing against the wind (1). Americo Vespucci (2) does not understand the maneuver and grumbles: "The Portuguese know nothing about sailing"...Let him grumble; the Italian is a worthy seaman, he has the right to grumble...Blown by southeasterly trade winds, the ships are pushed toward the West. The winds will then turn south-west and bring the fleet back to the coast of Africa, but in a latitude quite a bit farther south. Thus, the fleet will trace a wide arc in the Great Sea, below the equator.

But Cabral is in for some big surprises, in spite of his willingness to sail and face the world in the name of his king.