Gonçalo Velho Cabral

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Gonçalo Velho
Gonçalo Velho Cabral
Alphonso V
Succeeded byJoão Soares de Albergaria
ConstituencySanta Maria and São Miguel
1st Commander of the Islands of the Azores
Personal details
Born1400
Died1460
CitizenshipKingdom of Portugal
NationalityPortuguese
Spouses
  • Brites Godins
  • Branca de Sousa Falcão
RelationsParents
  • Fernão Velho
  • Maria Álvares Cabral
Military service
AllegianceKingdom of Portugal
Commands
  • Master of Pias, Beselga and Cardiga
  • Commander of
    Almourol Castle

Gonçalo Velho Cabral (c. 1400 – c. 1460) was a

Santa Maria and São Miguel in the Azores) and hereditary landowner responsible for administering Crown lands on the same islands, during the Portuguese Age of Discovery
.

Biography

Early life

He was son of Fernão Velho, Lord and Alcaide of Veleda, and his wife Maria Álvares Cabral (great-aunt of Pedro Álvares Cabral). His siblings Álvaro Velho Cabral, Teresa Velho Cabral, wife of Fernão Soares de Albergaria, and Violante Velho Cabral, wife of Diogo Gonçalves de Travassos also established settlements in the Azores with their families. Although referenced as Gonçalo Velho Cabral in most modern biographies, he is generally referred to as Gonçalo Velho in historical documents.

Explorer

In 1431, Gonçalo Velho was in the Vila de Tancos, along the Tagus River, when he received a summons

Order of Christ, who ordered him to depart from Sagres in a caravel, with instructions to navigate to the western sea, and to "discover some land, [and] return with notice".[2] This first voyage was made to determine the location of "islands" first identified by the Portuguese pilot Diogo de Silves, in 1427.[3] Although the noted chronicler Gaspar Frutuoso has attributed to Gonçalo Velho Cabral the discovery of the seven islands of the Azores, modern historiographer contest this record, limiting his discoveries to the eastern islands alone. In 1431, with less than a few days of travel, Gonçalo Velho discovered a scattering of rocky outcroppings, which he examined and were later named the "Formigas
". He quickly returned to Sagres, probably due to bad weather.

The following year, and during the reign of his brother (King

Virgin Mary that worked for the Infante. On his orders, Cabral was sent, once again,[4] to search the Ocean Sea to discover new territories for the Portuguese Crown, promising to name the first island to the Virgin. Gonçalo Velho Cabral scanned maps and nautical charts for days while at sea, noting the currents and wind directions, during several nights, through storms and gales in search of these mythical lands identified by the Greeks outside the Pillars of Hercules
.

Finally, on the morning of 15 August (the

Santa Maria
.

Donatary-Captain

With his crew he disembarked on a small beach in the north-western part of the island, which he named Lobos (later known as Ponte dos Cabestrantes) owing to the existence of many Eared seals (from the Portuguese for lobos-marinhos).[4] As was the obligation, the Captain ordered the release of herd animals on the island for future colonization, a point that was later repeated in successive voyages through the archipelago's islands.[5] His group circled and explored the island, examining the forested interior, before finally returning to continental Portugal.[5] Cabral sent with him various canisters of earth and water to give the Infante, including examples of the woods unfamiliar to them in Europe.[5]

The Infante received these "gifts" in 1432, and immediately ordered that herds be sent to the island, while he organized a plan. For his discovery, Gonçalo Velho was given the hereditary

capitania) of the island of Santa Maria.[6] In 1432, the Infante Henry, upon receiving notice of a mystical island to the north of Santa Maria, sent orders to Gonçalo Velho to explore the waters and relate any discovery.[7] On 3 April 1443, King Afonso V of Portugal, on the request of the Henry the Navigator, had bestowed on Gonçalo Velho the title of Commander of the Islands of the Azores.[6] Cabral had organized a settlement of essentially familial relations, who would arrive on the island of Santa Maria in the summer of 1435.[5] It was during Henry's encounter with Velho Cabral that notice of the discovery to the north of Santa Maria was transmitted to the Prince.[8]

On his return, Gonçalo Velho and his crew made port in Praia dos Lobos on Santa Maria before embarking; Cabral and his Algarvean sailors eventually discovered a large island on 8 May 1444.

Donatary-Captain of both islands (Santa Maria was settled in 1439, and colonists started arriving on São Miguel in 1444).[8] During this period, he ordered the burning/clearing of lands and donated vast tracts of lands to family members and loyal servants, who began to cultivate wheat, raised honey-bees and planted grapevines from Crete.[6] At the same time the Infante Henry had ordered Moorish peoples (Portuguese: mouriscos de África) with Cabral to immediately settle the newly discovered lands of São Miguel, who found signs of attempted earlier settlement of the island.[8][10][11] In 1445, Cabral returned to the waters of São Miguel with nobles and settlers (bringing with them herd animals, birds, wheat and vegetables) in order to settle the island.[12] Arriving in a period of seismic activity, his crew discovered floating pumice stone and tree trunks as arrived closer to their port.[12] Making landfall on 29 September they encountered the Moorish settlers who, over time "perished" (but likely became intermingled in the ensuing population).[12]

Later life

Under his administration, São Miguel and Santa Maria remained a single Captaincy until 1474, when Velho Cabral sold São Miguel to Rui Gonçalves da Câmara. His sister Teresa's only child João Soares, a physician by profession, succeeded Gonçalo Velho Cabral as second Donatary-Captain of Santa Maria and São Miguel; João Soares was married twice: to Brites Godins (d. 1474), with whom they had no heirs, and later Branca de Sousa Falcão (daughter of João de Sousa Falcão, Lord de Figueiredo and Lord of the Manor de Fataúnços) whose son inherited the Captaincy of Santa Maria.

References

Notes

  1. ^ Prince Henry's summons was based on a general acceptance of the commander's virtues and prudence, that made him trustworthy.
  2. ^ Ignacio da Costa Quintella (1839), p.74
  3. ^ It was believed that Gonçalo Velho was the discoverer of the first seven Azores islands, in 1432, until the Portuguese historian Damião António Peres established that the first discoveries had occurred in 1427, after a reading of a Gabriel de Valsequa nautical chart of 1439, which credited Diogo de Silves with first identifying the islands.
  4. ^ a b c Artur Teodoro de Matos, et al. (2008), p.54
  5. ^ a b c d Artur Teodoro de Matos, et al. (2008), p.55
  6. ^ a b c Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.20
  7. ^ A legend recounts the tale of a runaway slave on the island of Santa Maria who, upon reaching the summit of a ridge, noticed another object in the northern horizon. As the story suggested, the slave returned to his master telling of the story, who along with others, verified the sighting and eventually related it back to the Corte of Prince Henry the Navigator, of a mysterious island.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Artur Teodoro de Matos, et al. (2008), p.56
  9. ^ a b Susana Goulart Costa (2008), p.215
  10. ^ Gaspar Frutuoso, Saudades da Terra, Book IV, p.20
  11. ^ Susana Goulart Costa (2008), p.221
  12. ^ a b c Artur Teodoro de Matos, et al. (2008), p.57

Sources

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