Two years after the discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1498,
King D. Manuel I of Portugal decided to send a second armada under the
command of Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467 - 1520) to India.
The fleet, which consisted of 13 ships (9 carracs, 3 caravels and 1 supply ship)
with 1500 men left Belém (actual Lisbon) on March 9, 1500. The ships were commanded by
Cabral, Sancho de Tovar, Simão de Miranda de Azevedo, Aires Gomes da Silva,
Nicolau Coelho, Nuno Leitão da Cunha, Vasco de Ataíde, Bartolomeu Dias, Diogo Dias,
Gaspar de Lemos, Luís Pires, Simão de Pina e Pêro de Ataíde.
For unknown reasons and with good weather conditions, they
already lost their first ship (Vasco de Ataíde) at Cape Verde on March 23.
After having crossed the equatorial line at around May 10, the fleet went far
west of its planned Indian course, which brought many historians to question
why this happened.
While some believe that the strong currents caused the fleet to go off course,
others suspect that Cabral intentionally made the detour in order to revisit
lands that had all ready been spotted. In the letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha,
nothing is said about bad weather conditions or a detour.
On April, 22, 1500 after 44 days on sea, Cabral´s fleet, which the day before already
spotted signs of land, sighted an isolated round hill, which they mamed Monte Pascoal.
They anchored 6 leagues (19 miles) from the Brazilian coast.
It is also unclear, where exactly the Portuguese made their first landfall, the
next day but it is believed to be either the Caraíva, Caí or Dos Frades river.
According to Caminha´s letter, Nicolau Coelho was determined to step on land and
to make the first contact with the Indians who waited for them on the beach.
Due to bad weather conditions, the fleet sailed northwards in search for
a safe anchourage point. After 10 leages (32 miles), they passed the mouth of the river
Buranhém at Porto Seguro and spotted a sheltered reef off the beach of Coroa Vermelha in the
Bay of Cabrália, where they anchored.
On Eastern Sunday, April 26, the Franciscan Father, Frei Henrique de Coimbra,
celebrated the first mass in the new world, which was assisted by 200 Tupiniquins Indians.
On May 1, they erected a cross close to the river Mutari, celebrated a second mass
and took officially possession of the new territory.
On may 2, Gaspar de Lemos returned to Lisbon with the Letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha,
communicating the discovery of "Terra da Vera Cruz" (Brazil) to King Manuel I.
This letter, dated 1st of May 1500 is today considered the most important
document regarding Brazil´s discovery and is kept at the Instituto dos
Arquivos Nacionais Torre do Tombo in Lisbon.
Cabral resumed his voyage on May 3 1500.
By the end of the month the fleet approached the Cape of Good Hope,
where it was struck by a storm in which four vessels were lost.
Cabral continued to India to trade for pepper and other spices, establishing a
factory at Calicut, where he arrived on September 13.
He started on the return voyage on January 16, 1501, and returned with only
4 of 13 ships to Portugal, on June 23, 1501.
Cabral was followed by other Portuguese explorers who sang the praises of the land and its
profuse vegetation. Of special interest was brazilwood (pau brasil), used by the indigenous
population to produce red and purple dyes - colors that were much priced in Europe.
In a short time, the exploitation of brazilwood initiated the first economic cycle
in the new colony´s history.
Today, Monte Pascoal Mountain (549 m) is part of the Monte Pascoal National Park
that preserves on an area of 23.000 ha one of the last reserves of
Atlantic Rainforest
in the south of Bahia. According to the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE),
at the time of Brazil´s discovery there were approximately 2,4 million
Indians in
Brazil and the Discovery Coast was inhabited by the Tupiniquins (55.000).
Today there are only 340.000 left and the Barra Vella village at Monte Pascoal
is shelter to about 300 Pataxó families, a tribe that at the time of Brazil´s discovery
lived deeper in the interior.
The Monte Pascoal, symbol of Brazil´s discovery, has been the scenery of one more
conflict between the government, environmentalists and Indians. On one side are
the Pataxó Indians, requesting the demarcation of their territory, including the
Monte Pascoal, arguing that this area was already occupied by their ancestors.
On the other side, government and environmentalists, worried how to accommodate
the rest of the Indian population without destroying the environmental heritage.
