Explorers’ voyages of discovery
IN 1499, Brazil was discovered by Vicente Yañez Pinçon, a native of Palos and one of the companions of Columbus.
He and his brothers were in search of new countries, and after touching at the Cape de Verd Islands, he steered to the south-west, till he came to the coast of Brazil, near Cape St Augustine, and coasted as far as the river Maranham, and thence to the mouth of the Oronoco.
He carried home valuable drugs, precious stones and Brazil wood but had lost two of his three ships on the voyage. He made no settlement but had claimed the country for Spain.
Meantime, Pedro Alvarez Cabral was appointed by Emanuel, King of Portugal, to the command of a large fleet, destined to follow the course of Vasco de Gama in the east.
Adverse winds, however, drove the expedition so far to the westward, that it fell in with the coast of Brazil, and the ships anchored in Porto Seguro on Good-Friday of the year 1500.
On Easter day, the first Christian altar was raised in the new continent under a large tree, and mass was performed, at which the innocent natives assisted with pleased attention: the country was taken possession of for the crown of Portugal by the name of the land of the Holy Cross, and a stone cross was erected to commemorate the event.
Cabral dispatched a small vessel to Lisbon to announce his discovery, and then, without making any settlement, proceeded to India. On the arrival of the news in Europe, the King of Portugal invited Amerigo Vespucci from Seville, and sent him with three ships to explore the country.
After a long and distressing voyage they arrived, and very early they discovered that the natives were cannibals, but nevertheless established a friendly intercourse with some of the tribes. Maria Graham,
Journal of a Voyage to Brazil