Belmonte, Portugal. Portuguese coin celebrating the th anniversary of Cabral's birth. All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles including the article images and facts can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:. This page was last modified on 16 July , at Suggest an edit. He christened it Ilha de Vera Cruz.
Merchants, quickly attracted to its plentiful stands of brazilwood, the source of an excellent red dye, called it Terra do Brasil, and the name Brazil gained popular acceptance. Cabral's discovery has raised a series of historical questions which have never been properly answered. Was he the first to reach Brazil or had the Spanish or French made prior visits? Had Portugal previously discovered Brazil and protected that discovery with secrecy?
After a solemn Mass attended by the king in Lisbon, the fleet left the mouth of the Tagus early in March and sailed south-west past the African coast before turning out into the Atlantic to get the benefit of the prevailing winds and currents. At least it is clear that the Americas would have been discovered before long even if Columbus had not sailed the ocean blue in Cabral and his men sighted the hump of Monte Pascoal on the coast and sailed north for three days to find a landfall near what is now Porto Seguro.
A reconnaissance party went ashore on April 21st and the main landing was made the following day, when Cabral formally claimed what he called True Cross Island for Portugal, erected a cross and held a Christian service to mark the occasion.
The territory fell to Portugal anyway, under the Treaty of Tordesillas of The local Amerindian population, still living in the Stone Age as hunter-gatherers and fishers, came out to see their white visitors.
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