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Captaincies of Brazil refers to a period of Brazilian colonial history from 1534 to 1554. In 1534, the Kingdom of Portugal partitioned Colonial Brazil into fifteen seperate hereditary captaincies, which were sold to private entrepreneurs on the condition that they erect settler colonies in their allotments. Only two of the captaincies (São Vicente and Pernambuco) had any measure of success. The experiment was declared a failure in 1554, and Brazil reverted to the Portuguese crown.

Factory period

The landmass of what is now Brazil was accidentally discovered by Portuguese captain Pedro Álvares Cabral in April, 1500, while en route to India. A follow-up mapping expedition in 1501 (famously accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci) brought back a cargo of brazilwood, a dyewood highly valued by the European clothmaking industry, which they claimed grew all along the Brazilian coast. A consortium of private Lisbon merchants, headed by Fernão de Loronha, immediately applied for, and received on September 1502, a grant for the exclusive commercial exploitation of Brazil. Loronha set about erecting a series of factories (feitorias) along the Brazilian coast. These were just lightly-manned warehouses, to deposit the brazilwood harvested by indigeneous peoples, purchased by Loronha's agents for iron goods, tools, knives, axes, mirrors, and other miscellaneous products of that kind.

Their exact number and location is uncertain but there is notice of factories in Cabo Frio, Porto Seguro (feitoria da Santa Cruz de Cabrália) and Guanabara Bay (feitoria da Carioca), established by an 1503-04 expedition under Gonçalo Coelho (accompanied once again by Amerigo Vespucci), a factory at Baía de Todos os Santos set up sometime between 1509 and 1511 (when visited by Cristóvão Pires), and (more speculatively) factories established on Itamaraca island (Pernambuco) around 1509 and São Vicente island around 1508 or so. There were doubtlessly several others of which we have no notice.

On January 14, 1504, King Manuel I of Portugal issued a royal letter granting the deserted island of São João (modern Fernando de Noronha island, off the north Brazilian coast), personally in to Fernão de Loronha and his descendants, thereby making Loronha the first Portuguese hereditary donatary captain of Brazil. Loronha made his island the hub of his brazilwood operation: brazilwood ferried by small boats from the coastal factories, were collected on the island, and dispatched on larger ships back to Portugal.

By 1516, when the Portuguese crown took over the brazilwood charter for itself (Loronha however retaining his island), foreign pressure was already mounting. Private French interlopers had begun to routinely visit the Brazilian coast to harvest brazilwood themselves (or often just steal the deposits from the isolated Portuguese factories). To keep the French at bay, the Portuguese crown set up a coastal patrol in 1516, under the command of Cristóvão Jacques. Finding the entire length of coast impossible to patrol effectively, it is believed Jaques shut down the more distant warehouses, and concentrated efforts on the factories further north, in particular the important station of "Igarassu" (in Pernambuco), in front of the island of Itamaracá.

Paucity of documentary evidence has made it difficult to reconstruct the beginnings of Portuguese colonization in Brazil. The Loronha fleets are believed to have dropped off several traders and degredados (convict-exiles) along the coast, to manage its isolated factories. There were also various deserters and shipwrecked sailors (Portuguese and otherwise) who had settled among the natives. Deliberate colonization efforts are already revealed in a 1516 royal order instructing the Casa da India to supply tools to any man who proposes to settle in Brazil, while another order instructs officials to "find a practical man willing to go to Brazil to set up a sugar engenho (cane sugar mill)", and to supply him with the necessary materials

There is evidence (but no details) that several Brazilian "captaincies" were granted around this time. A solitary royal document, issued 5 July, 1526, instructs Cristóvão Jacques to return to Brazil to pick up and relieve Pêro Capico, referred to as a "governor" in Brazil ("governador das partes do Brazil") and a "captain of one of the captaincies of the aforementioned Brazil". These early captaincies were probably along the same lines as the fixed-term governorships allocated by the Portuguese crown to its imperial installations in the East Indies, rather than the hereditary grants of later fame. In the east, there were separate captaincies for land and for sea (e.g. the "Captain of Malacca" was distinct from the "Captain of the Sea of Malacca"). It is conjectured that the "captaincies" of Pêro Capico and Cristóvão Jacques were probably of the sea type ("Capitao do Mar"). However, it has been conjectured that they may have also have had some land captaincy and attempted to establish sugar plantations, as receipts in Portuguese ports attest to sugar already being imported from Brazil already at this early date.

The first documented - if inadvertent - colonial settlement in what is now Brazil may have been of Spanish, rather than Portuguese, origin. Finding Central America a solid landmass, the Spanish crown began sending ships down the South American coast in their search for a navigable route west to Asia. In 1516, a Spanish expedition under Juan Díaz de Solís reached as far as the Rio de la Plata estuary. On its return, one of the returning ships ran aground on the sandbanks of Santa Catarina island, the survivors setting up the small settlement of "Porto dos Patos".

The Spanish soon joined the French in their pressuring on Brazil. Having In 1516, searching for a navigable straits through the landmass of America Juan Díaz de Solís discovered and claimed the La Plata estuary for the Spanish crown. Rumors, gathered from the local natives, of the existence upriver of a "white king" with a "mountain of silver" (probably the Inca Empire) fuelled European interest. The Portuguese and Spanish crowns immediately laid claim on La Plata, each arguing it lay on their side of the Tordesillas Line. This quarrel was deepened by the opening of the Spanish route to the East Indies by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519. Needing supply stops along the South American coast, the Spanish crown pushed for an aggrandized interpretation of Tordesillas in its favor.

Most famously, one of the Juan de Solis ships, returning from La Plata in 1516, ran aground on the sandbanks of Santa Catarina island, the survivors setting up the small settlement of "Porto dos Patos". The sailor-colonists of Porto de Patos would be the first Europeans to hear from local Carijó indians rumors about a westerly kingdom ruled by a "white king" who sat on a "Mountain of Silver", doubtlessly a reference to the Inca empire (as yet undiscovered). Some of the colonists attempted an overland trek to find him.

There is a document (dated 1526) which notes that a certain Pêro Capico is referred to as a governor in Brazil ("governador das partes do Brazil") and described by the king as "captain of one of the captaincies of the aforementioned Brazil".

• Cândido, António Zeferino (1900) Brazil, 1500-1900. Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional. online

• Hufferd, J. (2005) Cruzeiro Do Sul, a History of Brazil's Half-Millennium, vol. 1, Bloomington: Authorhouse. preview

• Silva Lisboa, Balthazar (1825) "Memoria Topografica e economica da comarca dos Ilheus" Memórias da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa p.

• Varnhagen, Francisco Adolpho de (1854-57) Historia Geral do Brazil Rio de Janeiro: Laemmert. v.1, v.2 (3rd edition, 1901, v.1)

The Spanish were also pressing on the boundaries. In 1516, Juan Díaz de Solís discovered and claimed the La Plata estuary for the Spanish crown. Rumors, gathered from the local natives, of the existence upriver of a "white king" with a "mountain of silver" (probably the Inca Empire) fuelled European interest. The Portuguese and Spanish crowns immediately laid claim on La Plata, each arguing it lay on their side of the Tordesillas Line. This quarrel was deepened by the opening of the Spanish route to the East Indies by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519. Needing supply stops along the South American coast, the Spanish crown pushed for an aggrandized interpretation of Tordesillas in its favor.

The Portuguese crown realized it needed to establish a stronger Portuguese presence in Brazil to fend off the French and Spanish encroachment. Pushed by the powerful young minister António de Ataíde (Count of Castanheira), the vedor da fazenda, in 1530 King John III of Portugal organized an expedition led by Martim Afonso de Sousa (Ataíde's cousin) to establish the first official Portuguese colony in Brazil. After probing various locations, the expedition decided to establish a settlement at São Vicente, an island off the coast of São Paulo. Close to the boundary of the Tordesillas line, São Vicente was already known as a slave entrepot, long managed by two Portuguese castaways or deserters, João Ramalho and his partner António Rodrigues. Ramalho, in particular, had taken up a life among the Tupiniquim indians of the highlands of Piratininga plateau. Sousa figured the colony would have a better chance of success with these two Portuguese interlocutors and their native contacts.

The fledgling colony was attacked and nearly destroyed almost immediately, by the Carijó indians (enemies of the Tupiniquim), led by a mysterious degredado known simply as the Bachelor of Cananeia (probably with Spanish encouragement). The Portuguese were also dismayed to discover that the French had destroyed the Portuguese brazilwood factory on the Igarassu river up in Pernambuco and erected their own fortified factory on Itamaracá island. Although the French factory was seized by the new patrolman Duarte Coelho Pereira (who succeeded Cristóvão Jacques), the Portuguese crown realized the colonization effort must be accelerated all along the Brazilian coast. The cash-strapped crown could not afford it by itself, so it turned to private captaincies.

Private captaincies were not unprecedented in Portuguese colonial history. The colonization of the uninhabited Atlantic islands of Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe had started off as private captaincies. Indeed, in January 1504, King Manuel I of Portugal had granted the brazilwood charterholder, Fernão de Loronha, a hereditary captaincy over the island of "São João" (modern Fernando de Noronha island, off the northeast coast of Brazil).

Many people, notably the patrolman Cristóvão Jacques, had long urged the Portuguese king to authorize the erection of private colonies on the Brazilian mainland. But the royal council, eager to claim Brazilian resources - and in particular the fabled "mountain of silver" - exclusively for itself, had turned such requests down. But news of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 had turned that into a moot point. The attacks on São Vicente colony and the Pernambuco factory brought a new sense of urgency.

Partition of 1534 Capitaincies

In 1534, King John III of Portugal partitioned the coast of Brazil into fifteen private, hereditary capitaincies, to be allocated or sold to private entrepreneurs on the condition that they finance the erection of a settler colony on each of their allotted dominions. (the original partition plan envisaged fourteen captaincies, but was adjusted to fifteen in the final version).

Capitancy	Donatary captain	Approximate limits[2]	Settlements	Indigenous people (Tupi, Tapuia)
Captaincy of Maranhão I	João de Barros & Aires da Cunha	Marajó Island to Gurupi River	Nossa Senhora de Nazaré (1536)	Tupinambá
Captaincy of Maranhão II	Fernando Álvares de Andrade	to Parnaíba		Tupinambá
Captaincy of Ceará	António Cardoso de Barros	to Fortaleza		Tremembé, Potiguara
Captaincy of Rio Grande	João de Barros & Aires da Cunha	to Baía da Traição		Potiguara
Captaincy of Itamaracá[3]	Pêro Lopes de Sousa	to Igarassu	Vila da Conceição (1542)	Potiguara Tabjara
Captaincy of Pernambuco	Duarte Coelho Pereira	to São Francisco River	Igarassu/Vila Cosmos (1535, town 1536) Olinda da Nova Lusitânia (1535, town 1537) Sítio dos Marcos (1535)	Caeté
Captaincy of Bahia (Bay of All Saints)	Francisco Pereira Coutinho	to Itaparica	Vila do Pereira (1536)	Tupinambá
Captaincy of Ilhéus	Jorge de Figueiredo Correia	to Comandatuba	São Jorge dos Ilhéus (1536)	Tupinambá Tupiniquim
Captaincy of Porto Seguro	Pêro de Campo Tourinho	to Mucuri	Porto Seguro (1535) Santa Cruz (1536) Comagi (1536) Santo Amaro (1536)	Tupiniquim Aimoré
Captaincy of Espírito Santo	Vasco Fernandes Coutinho	to Itapemirim	Vila Velha (1535)	Goitacá
Capitancy of São Tomé	Pêro de Góis	to Macaé	Vila da Rainha (1540)	Goitacá
Captaincy of São Vicente II [4]	Martim Afonso de Sousa	to Caraguatatuba	Piratininga (1532) Santo André da Borda do Campo (1534)	Temiminó Tupinambá Tupiniquim
Captaincy of Santo Amaro	Pêro Lopes de Sousa	to Bertioga		Tupinambá
Captaincy of São Vicente I	Martim Afonso de Sousa	to Cananéia	São Vicente (1532) Santos (1536, town 1546)	Tupiniquim
Captaincy of Santana	Pêro Lopes de Sousa	to Laguna	Porto dos Patos (1516) Cananéia (1531)	Carijó

The segmentation of the captaincies was specified by latitude parallels up to the Tordesillas Line.

It will be easily noted that the Portuguese high nobility did not line up to bid for the capitaincies. The allocation of the captaincies was largely managed the António de Ataíde (Count of Castanheira), who ensured that his relatives and proteges took the lion's share.

Martim Afonso de Sousa himself got two lots, São Vicente I (covering the fledging colony) and São Vicente II (which included Guanabara Bay, but stretched horizontally to the Piratininga plateau). His brother Pêro Lopes de Sousa acquired three lots - Itamaracá in the north (which included the seized French factory) and Santo Amaro and Santa Ana in the south. Sousa's faithful lieutenant Pêro de Góis received São Tomé (the stretch of coast above Cape Frio). Between themselves, the Sousa clique got six of the fifteen captaincies, which together consituted the solid block of southern Brazil plus the only working factory in Pernambuco.

The largely unexplored northern coast of Brazil was acquired principally by officers of the royal household. Fernando Álvares de Andrade (treasurer general) received Maranhão II, his subordinate Antonio de Barros (purveyor general) received Ceará. The famous Portuguese chronicler João de Barros (at that time, the factor of the Casa da India) acquired two lots in partnership with India adventurer Aires da Cunha: Maranhão I (Pará) and Rio Grande. Finally, Jorge de Figueiredo Correia (secretary to royal treasurer) received Ilhéus. None of these royal officers (except the ill-fated Aires da Cunha) would ever step foot in Brazil.

The remaining five captaincies, clustered in the center, went largely to adventurers. The Brazilian patrolman Duarte Coelho Pereira received the captaincy of Pernambuco (which included the old razed factory of Igarassu). Porto Seguro was acquired by Pêro do Campo Tourinho, a merchant shipowner, experienced in the Flanders trade. The remaining two captaincies went to lesser nobles and India adventurers - Bahia de Todos os Santos went to Fernando Pereira Coutinho and Espirito Santo to Vasco Fernandes Coutinho.

Government encouragment

The Portuguese king did everything to encourage the donatary captains. The captains had extensive powers of administration, economy & justice, with full jurisdiction over all people in their territory, free or slave, european or native. They could impose their own taxes and tariffs, enslave any native, conscript any european, grant any land, grant any monopoly, appoint their own officers (and get their pensions paid by the crown), etc. They could export anything grown on the land tariff-free back to Portugal, and (in some cases) could import anything from any country tariff-free. They could also export up to 39 slaves per year tariff-free.

But there were some restrictions. The account books of the captains were reviewable by royal officers. The brazilwood harvest and trade remained a royal monopoly (the captain only got a percentage). Other natural resources (gold, silver, pearls, lead) also belonged to the crown, but the captain could keep 5% of the royal fifth. The captains also had to respect the tenth from fisheries to the Knightly Order of Christ.

To encourage immigration, in 1535, John III went so far as to declare Brazil a land of sanctuary. That meant persons who had committed a crime elsewhere would not be persecuted if they fled to Brazil. He also declared that henceforth degredados (convict exiles) would be transported to the Brazilian captaincies, rather than Sao Tome & Principe or the Portuguese colonies in Africa.

Development

Of the twelve persons who ended up receiving the fifteen capitancies, four had already been to Brazil before 1534 (the Sousa brothers, Pero Góis, Duarte Coelho Pereira). Only eight actually went to Brazil after 1534, the remaining four (Andrade, Antônio de Barros, João de Barros, Figueiredo Correia) never stepped foot there.

Development was sporadic. Before the ink on the donations was even dry, Martim Afonso de Sousa was already in the Indian ocean, serving as a military commander and subsequently governor of Portuguese India, leaving his Brazilian captancies of Vicente I and Vicente II to be managed by his wife, D. Ana Pimentel. The colony of São Vicente, ruined by the 1533 Bachelor raid, was brought back to its feet by Pimentel's careful administration and her husband's remittances from India (part of which were applied to purchase an "engenho", a mechanical sugarcane press). But she never appreciated the strategic importance of Guanabara Bay, and left Sousa's half-built Carioca fort (begun in 1532) abandoned.

Martim Afonso's brother, Pêro Lopes de Sousa (captain of Itamaracá, Santo Amaro & Sant'Ana), also never returned to Brazil, preferring to sign up for military service in North Africa instead. He also handed over the management of his captaincies to his wife, Isabel de Gamboa. But she was a bit less diligent about it than her sister-in-law. Nonetheless, Pêro Lopes dispatched a lieutenant, Fernando de Braga to Itamaracá, to see what he could do about nurturing the brazilwood station of Itamaracá. After Pêro Lopes de Sousa's death in a shipwreck in 1539, the captaincy was abrogated by the crown, who promptly dispatched a new lieutenant João Gonçalves. It was Gonçalves who established the settlment of Nossa Senhora da Conceição around the old French fort on Itaramacá island. But Itamaracá lay just across the water from another brazilwood station at the Igarassu River, which fell in the dominions of Pernambuco, and a rivalry began between them.

Probably the most ambitious of the donatary captains, Duarte Coelho Pereira, captain of Pernambuco, had arrived at Iguassu station (then called Rio de Santa Cruz) in 1535 and immediately laid a stone marker at the boundary. Calling his dominions Nova Lusitania, Duarte Coelho erected the settlement of Igarassu and the first Brazilian church (Santos Cosme e Damião). With the help of Vasco Fernandes Lucena, a Portuguese castaway who had "gone native", Coelho secured the cooperation of the local Tabajara people. He would follow this up the erection of the even more splendid town of Olinda. He introduced sugar plantations on the colony and made Pernambuco one of the few successful captaincies.

Three northerly captains, João de Barros, Aires da Cunha and Fernando Álvares de Andrade, who controlled between them the captaincies of Maranhão I, Maranhão II and Rio Grande, decided to pool their financial resources in a single large colonization effort in 1535. A ten-ship expedition was mounted under the command of Aires da Cunha, carrying 900 colonists (including 113 horsemen), to establish a colony in the Maranhão region. It was a disaster. The fleet was caught in a violent tempest and the bulk of the colonists (including Aires da Cunha himself) drowned in the shipwrecks. The survivors scrambled to nearby São Luís Island and erected the makeshift settlement of Nossa Senhora de Nazaré (1536). The colony did not survive. Native Tupi attacks (encouraged by French interlopers operating in the area) led to the dismantling of the settlement in 1538. This was the end of the northern colonization effort, with one of the partners dead, João de Barros was practically bankrupted in paying off the costs of the expedition and compensation to the families of the dead for years to come.

There were more promising starts in the central captaincies. Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, captain of Espírito Santo, was a lesser noble and veteran of the India campaigns. He sold all his possessions and took on debt to outfit a single ship with 70 degredados (convict exiles) in 1535 and established the settlement of Vila Velha. Alas, when Coutinho was absent on a trip to Portugal to raise capital, the settlers decided to go slave-raiding. The Goitacá fought back and overran the settlement several times over, massacring many of the colonists. The survivors abandoned the location and fled north to Porto Seguro. Coutinho had to start from scratch, this time with a new set of convicts (a pirate crew) as the nucleus of a new more easily protected settlement on the island of Vitória. Alas, Coutinho soon took to drink and squandered much of his investment, leaving his captaincy adrift.

Pêro do Campo Tourinho, captain of Porto Seguro, was a wealthy man and went about it in a more organized fashion. He sold his properties to acquire a substantial fleet and mobilized 700 colonists from home - said to be some 10% of the population of the county (and 25% of the city) of Viana do Castelo in Portugal. He landed on what promised to be the best stretch of coast - Cabral's discovery coast, with long-standing Tupiniquim allies. Tourinho set about erecting settlements along the Mutari river - including Nossa Senhora da Pena (now Porto Seguro) and Vera Cruz (moved in 1541 to Santa Cruz Cabrália) and possibly also Santo Amaro, Insuacome and Santo André (certainly within the first ten years). Tourinho's diligent but authoritarian style of government did not endear him to the colonists. In November 1546, a group of colonists conspired with some clerics to accuse him of heresy, and secured his arrest. He was dispatched to Portugal in 1550 for trial by the Holy Inquisition. Although cleared of the charges, he refused to return to Brazil. The colonies of Porto Seguro were left to their own devices.

Francisco Pereira Coutinho, captain of Bahia, seemed to have things going to his advantage - the cooperation of Camaruru, a Portuguese castaway living among the Tupinambá, seemed to promise cooperation. He erected a small settlement of around a hundred houses on the edge of Bahia peninsula,known as "Vila do Pereira" (later renamed "Vila Velha", the nucleus of Salvador da Bahia). Despite Caramuru's efforts, the Tupinambá eventually revolted and overran Vila do Pereira. The colonists, including captain Francisco Pereira Coutinho, fled to the neighboring captaincy of Porto Seguro in 1545. Coutinho and a small group of colonists attempted to return two years later, but their ship capsized near Itaparica island, and the survivors were taken captive by the Tupinambá. Coutinho was killed and eaten in a cannibalistic feast.

Jorge de Figueiredo Correia, captain of Ilhéus, got off on a good start. Correia himself never visited his colony, but he dispatched the Castilian captain Francisco Romero with three ships and 250 colonists. They set up their base initially on Tinharé island in the Bay of All Saints, before moving it to another settlement with a better harbor at São Jorge dos Ilhéus. Under Romero's management, relationships with the local Tupinambá started off well, and sugar plantations were established. In 1537, Correia granted a piece of land (sesmeira) to Mem de Sá, future governor.

Second Wave of Captaincies

After the death of Bahia captain Francisco Pereira Coutinho in 1547, the captaincy of Bahia was sold

|- valign = "top" |Captaincy of Ilhéus |Jorge de Figueiredo Correia | to Comandatuba | São Jorge dos Ilhéus (1536) | Tupinambá
Tupiniquim

|- valign = "top" |Captaincy of Porto Seguro |Pêro de Campo Tourinho | to Mucuri | Porto Seguro (1535)
Santa Cruz (1536)
Comagi (1536)
Santo Amaro (1536) | Tupiniquim
Aimoré

|- valign = "top" |Capitancy of São Tomé | Pêro de Góis | to Macaé | Vila da Rainha (1540) | Goitacá

|Captaincy of Espírito Santo |Vasco Fernandes Coutinho

Vasco Fernandes Coutinho,  

Antônio Cardoso de Barros, captain of the Ceará, and who received his captaincy only in 1536, did not even make an attempt to take possession.

Things had a more promising start

| Marajó Island to
Gurupi River | Nossa Senhora de Nazaré (1536) | Tupinambá |- valign = "top" | |Captaincy of Maranhão II |Fernando Álvares de Andrade | to Parnaíba | | Tupinambá |- valign = "top" |Captaincy of Ceará | António Cardoso de Barros

a local castaway 

series of settlements in quick succession - Iguassu (raised to town known as Vila Cosmos in 1536), and Sitio do Marco.

raises the first Brazilian church (Santos Cosme e Damião) which is why it is sometimes known a 'Vila dos Cosmes'. He also received the assistance of Vasco Fernandes Lucena, a local Portuguese weirdo 'gone native', who persuades the Tabajares (north of Igarassu) to switch allegiance from the French ('Maír') to the Portuguese ('Péro') and give their support to the Pernambuco colony

separating his land from Itamaraca.  Called and imm.  Calling his dominions Nova Lusitania, Coelho 

Nonetheless, the other captains gave it a shot.

2nd Portuguese expedition to Brazil (1501)

Woodcut from the 1504 Augsburg edition of Amerigo Vespucci's Mundus Novus, an account of the Brazilian mapping expedition. First known depiction of cannibalism in the New World.

The Portuguese mapping expedition of Brazil of 1501-02, also known as the Second Portuguese expedition to Brazil and the Third Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci, was a small exploratory expedition organized by the Portuguese crown in 1501 to follow-up on the discovery of Brazil by the armada of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500. The follow-up expedition set out in March 1501 and returned in July 1502, having explored most of the eastern coast of South America, perhaps even as far as Patagonia.

The Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci accompanied this mapping expedition and wrote five letters pertaining to it. In one of these letters, published c.1503 and widely reprinted, Vespucci famously articulated the thesis that the newly-discovered land was not part of Asia, but a "fourth" continent, an entirely "New World" (Mundus Novus).

Background

The 2nd Portuguese India armada, thirteen ships under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral, left Lisbon in early March 1500, destined for Calicut, India. Along the way, the fleet stumbled on the landmass of modern Brazil on April 22-23, 1500, making landfall in the environs of Porto Seguro. They remained there for a little over a week, before resuming their trip to India on May 3. Prior to departing, Cabral ordered one of his ships, a supply ship under the command of either Gaspar de Lemos or André Gonçalves (chronicles conflict on exactly whom was its captain), to return to Lisbon immediately and report the discovery to King Manuel I of Portugal. Lemos/Gonçalves carried two letters, one by the fleet secretary Pêro Vaz de Caminha, another by astronomer-physician Mestre João Faras, describing the new land. Both letters asserted it was an island, calling it "Ilha de Vera Cruz" ("island of the True Cross"). Cabral had not done any exploration of the area to ascertain otherwise.

The trajectory Lemos/Gonçalves took back home is uncertain, but it is assumed he sailed part of the way north along the Brazilian coast, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The supply ship arrived in Lisbon by early July 1500. Its name was subsequently officially recorded as "Terra de Santa Cruz" ("Land of the Holy Cross"), suggesting that it was the returning ship of Lemos/Gonçalves that determined this was not an island (as Cabral thought), but rather a large landmass.

Mission

Soon after Lemos/Gonçalves arrival, preparations were launched to for a follow-up expedition to Brazil. The exact mission of this expedition is uncertain. It was most probably just a mapping expedition, to determine the details and extent of the coast of Brazil, the "Terra de Santa Cruz" reported by the returning supply ship of Cabral's armada.

Some historians have hypothesized the expedition might have been privately-financed and already had a future commercial interest in scope. More speculatively, one historian suggests it might even have been originally intended as a detached squadron of the Third India Armada of João da Nova.

The Portuguese court eagerness to map the new land may have been provoked by recent Spanish expeditions which had also been hitting the South American mainland lately. Christopher Columbus had touched the mainland at the Gulf of Paria (east Venezuela) on his third trip in 1498. In late 1499, the Spanish captain Alonso de Ojeda had discovered and explored much of the coasts of Guyana and Venezuela, with one of his squadrons, carrying Amerigo Vespucci exploring much of what is now northern Brazil (this was the "second voyage" of Vespucci). In early 1500, Spanish explorers Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and Diego de Lepe, via generous southerly swings from the Canary islands, had reached at least what is now modern Ceará, and perhaps as far east as Cape of Santo Agostinho (in Pernambuco), and explored the northern Brazilian coast west of it.

Although the results of these Spanish expeditions had not yet arrived in Europe before Cabral's departure in March 1500, news began to filter back to Lisbon by late 1500 and early 1501, e.g. Ojeda and Vespucci arrived back in Cadiz by mid-June 1500, just about the time Lemos/Gonçalves arrived in Lisbon with the announcement of Cabral's discovery, while Pinzón and Lepe arrived at Palos shortly after.

These Spanish ventures probably gave the Portuguese mapping expedition a sense of urgency. King Manuel I of Portugal was probably intent on ascertaining how much of these newly-discovered lands fell within the Portuguese jurisdictional sphere. As established by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, all discovered lands east of the longitudinal demarcation line set at 370 leagues west of Cape Verde, were exlusive to the Kingdom of Portugal, provided no other Christian state was already established there. The supply ship captain's report may have suggested the bulge of Brazil fell east of the Tordesillas line. By exploring and taking possession of the land themselves, the Portuguese could pre-empt any Spanish attempts to claim the land by "prior right" or some other legal argument.

Fleet captain

The follow-up fleet was composed of three caravels, under an unknown fleet commander. Unfortunately, neither Amerigo Vespucci nor any other contemporary letter writer, makes mention of the captain's name (or the name of any other person on this expedition).

At least five names have been proposed by modern historians as the possible captain-major of the fleet and expedition. The most straightforward has been Gaspar de Lemos or, more commonly, André Gonçalves, whichever of the two was the captain of the returning supply ship: familiar with that coast, he might have returned to guide the fleet, either as overall commander, or as the captain of one of the caravels. Another hypothesis is Gonçalo Coelho, known to have been the captain-major of the third expedition to Brazil which set out in 1503, which has prompted some to assume Coelho might also have led (or at least participated) in the earlier 1501 mapping expedition. Some have suggested it was Fernão de Loronha, a prominent Lisbon merchant, who would be given a commercial charter to exploit Brazil in 1502, and the financier of the aforementioned third expedition of 1503. Another hypothesis suggests it was Nuno Manuel, a noble favorite in the court of King Manuel. There has been no traditional consensus among historians on any particular name.

The weight has recently shifted towards Gonçalo Coelho, with the discovery of a map by Italian cartographer Visconte Maggiolo (currently held by the Bibloteca Federicana in Fano, Italy) which labels Brazil as "Tera de Consalvo Coigo" (Coigo is an abbreviation for "coniglio", Italian for "rabbit", "coelho" in Portuguese). While at first glance this might seem unremarkable, as Coelho did lead the 1503 expedition to Brazil, the Maggiolo map is explicitly dated 4 June 1504, when Coelho was still out at sea, and so the label was either added later or it must refer to an earlier expedition, i.e. the 1501 mapping expedition.

Against all these names is Vespucci's allusion that the captain was inpacitated or removed by mutiny during the journey. The loss or deposition of the captain would weigh against any of the prominent names suggested above, some of which were amply rewarded later (a disgraced captain would not have been). Nonetheless, it does not prevent some of the suggested names being still valid for captains of individual ships.

Maps:

(1) First line support: Hamy, Kunstmann II, Canerio, Cantiino, Pesaro, Waldeseemuller, Ruysch (2) Kunstmann III, Maggiolo 1519, Pedro de Reinel, Jorge de Reinel.

Pier Rondinelli dated Seville, October 3, 1502

Vespucci's participation

More certain is that the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci was induced to join the mapping expedition. This was Vespucci's third voyage to the Americas, the first under a Portuguese flag.

Having arrived back in Europe from his second voyage in June 1500, Vespucci was at the time residing in Seville. In his letters, Vespucci claims to have been sought ought by the personal entreaties of King Manuel I of Portugal. Vespucci's name had probably been proposed to the Portuguese king by Bartolomeo Marchionni, a prominent Florentine merchant in Lisbon, whom had prior business dealings with Vespucci in Seville. His acceptance of the offer was probably prodded by a new Spanish law issued in mid-1500 forbidding foreigners from sailing on Spanish ships to the West Indies.

Amerigo Vespucci finding the Southern Cross with his astrolabe. 1591 etching from Nova Repertae

Vespucci's exact role is not clear. Alonso de Ojeda testified that Vespucci was among the "pilots" of his 1498-1500 expedition, and presumably went on the Portuguese mapping expedition in a similar capacity. However, Vespucci's expertise does not seem to have been as a maritime "pilot" (in the contemporary sense of a navigator, the officer in charge of plotting courses by compass-and-chart), but rather as an on-board cosmographer. At this stage, celestial navigation was still in its infancy. Practical navigation at this time was still primarily conducted by maritime pilots using compass bearing and dead reckoning (cf. rule of marteloio). The use of astronomical instruments (e.g. the quadrant and mariner's astrolabe), astronomical tables (e.g. Zacuto's almanac) and geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) to determine position at sea were still in the early stages of development.

Vespucci's skills as a cosmographer/astronomer are evident in his letters. Indeed, in his 1500 letter, Vespucci introduces an innovative technique of using planetary positions to measure longitude (at that time quite elusive). Vespucci may have been sought out by the Portuguese crown and gone on this expedition in the same capacity as João Faras had in the Cabral expedition: not as the main navigator-pilot, but rather as an on-board cosmographer, an auxiliary expert, to collect celestial data, experiment with new astronomical instruments, and assist the pilots in determining geographical position, a role of paramount importance for a mapping expedition. In his Mundus Novus letter, Vespucci boasts of how his cosmographic skills were superior to the compass-and-chart used by the pilots. He notes that during the harrowing Atlantic crossing, without any knowledge of nautical charts, he alone was able to determine the troubled ship's position in the high sea with his quadrant and astrolabe, while the regular pilots were utterly lost. After that, Vespucci notes smugly, "everyone held me in great honor".

Celestial navigation was particularly tentative in the southern hemisphere, which had not yet been frequently sailed and thus its skies were still imperfectly mapped. Indeed, it seems one of Vespucci's functions was precisely to record the southern stars for the crown, essential data-collection for future Portuguese navigation, and to determine the elusive south pole star. João Faras had been assigned that very same mission in the Cabral fleet, but in his May 1500 letter to the king, Faras only submits a rudimentary sketch and apologizes to the king for failing to supply a more accurate catalog. By contrast, Vespucci relates that he comprehensively compiled the southern astral positions and movements down in a notebook for the King of Portugal. (Vespucci also expresses hope that the king will return the notebook, so he can publish it as part of a projected detailed treatise - a promise that was apparently never realized.)

Some historians have speculated that Vespucci's switch from Spain to Portugal in 1501 may have also something to do with his scientific interests and ambitions for personal glory. The Ojeda-Vespucci expedition of 1498-1500 had set out partly with a hope of discovering the "Cape of Cattigara" (the tip of the Malay Peninsula), the entry into the Indian Ocean, described by Ptolemy as lying 8° south of the equator. Had they discovered that cape, they would have the glory of opening the western route to the spice markets of Malacca and India. But the South American landmass lay inexplicably in the way. Ojeda had gone one way, Vespucci another, to see if they could get around it. Vespucci had prodded east as far as the bend of Brazil, noting the coast now turned south, but had been prevented from sailing southwards by contrary currents and winds, and only got as far (by his calculation) as 61⁄2° S. This frustrated his hope of reaching the Cape of Cattigara, which he was convinced (as expressed in his July 1500 letter) lay in that direction. However, his longitude calculations would likely have indicated that that Brazilian bend lay east of the Tordesillas line, and thus his Cape of Cattigara would likely lie within the Portuguese sphere. He might have simply concluded the Spanish were not likely to send ships in that direction, whereas the Portuguese might (even though Vasco da Gama successfully returned from India, having sailed the eastern route under the Cape of Good Hope, and returned the previous summer of 1499).

Woodcut illustrating third voyage of Vespucci, from earliest edition of Vespucci's 1504 Letter to Soderini

Amerigo Vespucci discusses the 1501 Brazilian mapping expedition in five distinct letters. Four of the letters were addressed to his former employer Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici in Florence. The first one was written by Vespucci during the outward voyage, dated June 4, 1501, while anchored off Cape Vert (Senegal),^[B] while his the second letter was written c. August 1502, from Lisbon, shortly upon his return from Brazil, his preliminary announcement of the results of the Brazilian mapping expedition,^[C]. The third letter to Lorenzo, written in Lisbon probably in late 1502 or possibly early 1503, is an expanded version of that report, with more details and reflections, including his famous hypothesis that it was a "New World"; a Latin version was printed under the title Mundus Novus c.1503 and was a publishing sensation in Europe, reprinted several times over.^[D]. The fourth letter is merely a fragment, written probably in early 1503, in which Vespucci replies, somewhat piquantly, to some queries and doubts about the expedition he reported in his earlier letters.^[E] Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco died in May 1503, so Vespucci's fifth letter, dated 4 September 1504, was addressed to Piero Soderini, gonfalionere of Florence and a childhood friend. It contains a comprehensive account of the four voyages Vespucci undertook to the "New World", the third voyage being the 1501 Brazilian mapping expedition. The letter to Soderini was published c.1505 and also became a publishing sensation.^[F]. The two published letters (Mundus Novus and Letter to Soderini) offer the most details of the mapping expedition, although they also have some inconsistencies between them, and different focuses (Letter to Soderini provides more navigational details, while Mundus Novus spends more time describing the people and places).^[G]

The existence of the expedition and Vespucci's participation is confirmed independently in two letters written by Italian expatriates - a brief letter written by Piero Rondinelli from Seville on October 3, 1502. Although this expedition overlooked in most of the 16th C. Portuguese India chronicles (Barros, Castanheda, Correia, etc.), the 1501 Brazilian expedition (but not Vespucci) is briefly described in the 1563 Portuguese chronicle of António Galvão

Outward Journey

March 10, 1501 - the three-ship fleet leaves Lisbon, cruising with the Canary current down the west African coast, without making any known stops, save for a brief pause off the Saharan coast to go fishing.

Late May, 1501 - The fleet doubles Cape Vert and makes a watering stop at Bezeguiche (modern bay of Dakar, Senegal). They stumble upon the solitary ship of Diogo Dias, a member of the Cabral's armada, which had gotten lost on the outward journey. A few days later, the ship of Nicolao Coelho, vanguard of the returning Cabral armada from India, arrives on the same spot. Vespucci reports lingering here some eleven days. It is probably during this stay at Bezeguiche, exchanging stories with the members of the India armada, that Vespucci becomes convinced of his "New World" hypothesis. Finding it impossible to square what he know of the Americas with what the returning crewmen knew of Asia (notably Gaspar da Gama, the Goese Jew with whom Vespucci reports having had some deep conversations). Vespucci writes a quick letter to Medici, which he gives to some Florentine passengers on the Cabral fleet.

mid-June 1501 - The three-ship fleet leaves Bezeguiche and sets out across the Atlantic Ocean for Brazil. Vespucci reports the crossing took an unusually long 67 days because of poor winds and weather.

August 16, 1501 - After a harrowing crossing, the fleet finally catches sight of the Brazilian mainland, reaching Cape São Roque on the great bend of Brazil, which they promptly named after the feast of Saint Roche, August 16 on the liturgical calendar).. The next day, August 17, Vespucci et al. go ashore on a nearby beach, probably just south of Cape São Roque. Determining it to be east of the Tordesillas Line, the fleet's captain formally takes possession of the land for the Kingdom of Portugal.

Indigenous woman clubs the young sailor(from 1509 Strasbourg edition of Vespucci's Mundus Novus

August 17, 1500 - The day after they arrive, a group of indigenous people (probably Potiguara), assemble by a hill overlooking the beach to watch them. Vespucci reports that the initial attempts to contact them go nowhere - the natives only approach the beach when the Portuguese have already retired to the ships. The next day, seeing smoke signals lit in the forest, and people at the tree line waving them to come, two Portuguese sailors (probably degredados) are loaded with trade goods and sent inland with them. After six days waiting on the ships, with no news, the Portuguese send a party ashore. The indians send forth a group of women to the beach. Seeing this as a signal to parlay, a Portuguese youth is sent forth to talk with them. The women circle him, gazing and touching him in awe, when suddenly an old woman approaches from behind with a big club and knocks him out with one blow to the head. As the women drag the boy away up the hill, the native men behind them release a volley of arrows, forcing the rest of the Portuguese landing party back to their longboats.

On the hill, a grisly spectacle ensues. The native women chop up the Portuguese boy in full view of the ship. and proceeded to roast and eat him. They also wave the accoutrements of the two Portuguese that had gone inland a few days earlier, suggesting they had met the same fate. The shocked Portuguese crews on the ships, enraged, urge an attack on the natives and their villages, but the captain-major of the fleet decides against it, and orders them to set sail again.

This is the first known European report of cannibalism among the indigenous peoples of Brazil. Curiously, in his letter to Medici, Vespucci made no mention of any of this, stating only "in this stretch of coast we landed and had friendly relations with the natives".

Distribution of indigenous peoples on the coast of Brazil, c.1500

The expedition set sail south along the coast, stopping at several places where they "never found people willing to hold converse with us" (according to Vespucci's letter to Soderini) or were "received in a brotherly manner." (according to his letter to Medici)

August 28, 1501 - The expedition reaches Cape Santo Agostinho (by feast day of St. Augustine]]), in what is now Pernambuco, where the Brazilian coast changes angle from southeast to southwest. Encounters with natives below St. Augustine (apparently Caete indians), seem to have gone better

Many of the modern Brazilian toponyms were named by this expedition according to the liturgical calendar - Cape São Roque (August 16), Cape Santo Agostinho (August 28), São Francisco River (October 4), Bay of All Saints (November 1), Cape São Tomé (December 21), Rio de Janeiro (January 1), São Sebastião (January 20), São Vicente (January 22) and Cananéia river (January 24).

The shocked Portuguese

The indian men o keep the other Portuguese at bay, the native men launched volley after volley of arrows, forcing them to retreat to their longboats. On the hill, a grisly spectacle followed, as the native women chopped up the Portuguese boy in full view of the ship. and proceeded to roast and eat him. They also waved the remnants of the carcasses of the two other Portuguese that had gone inland a few days earlier.  The Portuguese crews on the ships urged a landing expedition to take revenge, but the admiral decided against it, and ordered them to set sail again.  This was the first report of cannibalism in Brasil.

 by the beach had brought women with them, and thus believing they were not in a hostile mood.

, the Portuguese went ashore again.

 Vespucci reports no indigneous people (probably Potiguars, in this area) went out to meet them, although they were believed to be in the vicininty.

In his other letter, Vespucci changes his story, and says that indeed there were indians who assembled by the tree line and called for them. Two Portuguese sailors (probably degredados) were allowed to go with them, although told to be back within five days. The rest of the crew stayed on their ships. After seven days with no news, some more Portuguese went ashore, seeing that the indians by the beach had brought women with them, and thus believing they were not in a hostile mood.

. The indians had some women

 Some indian women approached  the 

It is generally assumed to be Cabo S. Roque. (e.g.Quintella (1839:[http://books.google.com/books?id=Gx9-AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA260#v=onepage&q&f=false p.260) </ref>   Vespucci reports they went ashore on August 17, on a location 5º south of the equator, thus a fair bit north of Cabral's old landing at Porto Seguro (17ºS). 

(Their exact landing is believed have taken place at 5º3’41"S, at the place, now known as the "Arraial do Marco", some 45 miles from Cape São Roque proper.)

Vespucci reports they landed on August 7, on a location 5º south of the equator, thus a fair bit north of Cabral's old landing at Porto Seguro (17ºS). 

August 17, 1501 - the fleet finally reaches Brazilian coast, arriving at Cape São Roque, on the great bend of Brazil. Vespucci reports they landed at a latitude 5º south of the equator, thus a fair bit north of Cabral's old landing at Porto Seguro (17ºS). (Their exact landing is believed have taken place at 5º3’41"S, at the place, now known as the "Arraial do Marco", some 45 miles from Cape São Roque proper). Determining it to be east of the Tordesillas line, they formally took possession of the land for the Kingdom of Portugal. Vespucci reports that no indigneous people (probably Potiguars, in this area) went out to meet them, although they were believed to be in the vicininty.

Sources

Vespucci's letters

1. ^{^} (manuscript) Letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici dated July 18, 1500, written from Cadiz, Spain. First discovered and published in 1745 by Angelo Maria Bandini Vita e lettere d'Amerigo Vespucci, Florence, (1745:p.64-86). Reprinted in F.A. de Varnhagen (1865: p.69-77.) and Caraci (1999: v.1,pp.267-79). An English translation can be found in Pohl (1944: pp.76-90) and Formisano (1992: Letter I, pp.5-18).
2. ^{^} (manuscript) Letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, dated June 4, 1501, written from Cape Vert (Senegal). Manuscript found in the Riccardiana library and first published 1827 by G.B. Baldelli Boni, Il milione di Marco Polo, Florence, vol. 1 (1827: p.liii-lix). Reprinted in F.A. de Varnhagen (1865: p.78-82) and Caraci (1999: v.1,pp.281-87). An English translation can be found in W.H.Greenlee (1938: p.151ff) and Formisano (1992: Letter II, pp.19-27).
3. ^{^} (manuscript) Letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, dated only "1502" (usually assumed August), written from Lisbon. Discovered in the Strozzi collection at the Archives of State in Florence and first published 1789 by F. Bartolozzi, Ricerche istorico-critiche circa alle scoperte d'Amerigo Vespucci, Florence (1789: Ch. 17 p.168-80). Reprinted in F.A. de Varnhagen (1867: p.83-86) and Caraci (1999: v.1,pp.289-94). English translation can be found in Formisano (1992: Letter III, pp.29-35).
4. ^{^} (printed) Mundus Novus, four-page letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, undated but estimated to be written in late 1502 or early 1503. Original Italian version is lost. This letter was first printed in Latin translation by Fra Giovanni del Giacondo of Verona, around 1503, in Florence. It was a sensation and reprinted many time since, e.g. notably in Augburg in 1504, followed by editions printed in Nuremberg, Strasbourg, Rostock, etc. (see Varnhagen, 1865: p.9 for a list of early reprints). The Latin version was translated into German (Nuremberg, 1505), Flemish (Antwerp, 1506) and re-translated back to Italian in 1507 in Francanzano Montalbado's Paesi Nuovamente retrovati collection. Both the 1503 Latin version and the 1507 Italian re-translation are reproduced side-by-side in Varnhagen (1865: p.13-26). Also Caraci (1999: v.1,pp.303-319). An English translation can be found in Markham (1894: p.42-52) and Formisano (1992: Letter V, pp.45-56)
5. ^{^} (manuscript) "Ridolfi fragment" is an undated fragment of an Italian manuscript letter written by Vespucci to an unknown addressee. The fragment was written by Vespucci probably in 1503, as it is replying to a letter (now missing, but probably written by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco to Vespucci) questioning some of the statements made by Vespucci in his earlier 1502/03 letters about the Brazilian mapping expedition. Some doubt it is was sent to Lorenzo, as Vespucci's tone is very piquant and irritable, unlike his more cordial and respectful prior letters. This fragment was found in a manuscript copybook discovered in the Conti Archives by Roberto Ridolfi and published in 1937 as "Fragmentaria: Una lettera inedita di Amerigo Vespucci sopra il suo terzo viaggio", Archivo Storico Italiano, 95, pp.3-20. Reprinted in Caraci (1999: v.1,pp.295-301). The fragment is currently held by the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. An English translation can be found in Formisano (1992: Letter IV: pp.37-44)
6. ^{^} (printed) Lettera al Soderini, a 32-page letter addressed to Piero Soderini (Lorenzo having died by this time), written from Lisbon and explictly dated September 4, 1504, giving an account of four voyages, the third of which is the 1501 mapping expedition to Brazil. The earliest dated version of this letter is an Italian edition by Lorenzo Choralmi, found in the Magliabechiana Library of Florence, explictly dated February 1505 and titled "Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci a Piero Soderini, Gonfaloniere, l'Anno 1504". A version of this letter, in mangled Italian, was published c.1505 (possibly 1504) by the printer Pietro Pacini in Florence, as Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle isole nuovament trovate in quattro suoi viaggi, addressed only to "Magnificent Lord". The "Pacini edition" was discovered and reprinted (with errors) in Bandini (1745: p.1-63) and (more correctly) in Varnhagen (1865: p.27-64). A fascimile of the Pacini edition is found in B. Quaritch First Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci (1893: Terzo). A close English translation of this Pacini edition is found in Michael Kerney ("M.K."), 1885, The First Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci, (1885, Third: p.34). A Latin translation of this letter by Martin Waldseemüller (pseud. "Hylacomylus"), entitled "Quattuor Vespuccij navigationes", was published in 1507 in the famous volume Cosmographiae Introductio published by the Academy of St. Die, Lorraine (1907 reprint, Latin edition). An English translation of the 1507 Latin edition is found in C.R. Markham The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci (1894:Third: p.34). G.T. Northrup uses all three versions - Choralmi's 1505 Italian, Pacini's c.1505 mangled Italian and Waldseemüller's 1507 Latin - to attempt a reconstructed varorium English translation of the Letter to Piero Soderini, Gonfaloniere (Northrup, 1916: Third voyage. A more recent English translation, incorporating also the recently-discovered "Amoretti" edition, can be found in Formisano (1992: Letter V, pp.57-97). See also the Italian version in Caraci (1999: v.1,pp.321-383)
7. ^{^} Much has been written around the "Vespucci controversy", which cannot possibly be reviewed here. A brief summary is attempted in Diffie and Winius (1977: pp.456-62), a comprehensive survey can be found in Caraci (1999: v.2, Pt.1). Over the past four centuries, there have been repeated allegations that the manuscript and/or printed letters are either falsehoods or forgeries. Portuguese authors (e.g. Visconde de Santarem, Damião Peres, Duarte Leite, Gago Coutinho) have been particularly unkind. Nonetheless, while there are no Portuguese documents attesting to the presence of Vespucci on this expedition, most modern scholars, even those who disagree on the other voyages, are practically unanimous in accepting the 1501 Brazilian mapping expedition, Vespucci's third voyage, as fundamentally true and largely unassailable (e.g. Pohl, 1944; Arciniegas, 1955; Formisano, 1992; Fernández-Armesto, 2007). However, there are some inconsistencies in the details between the various letters, and grounds for suspicion that the two printed letters (Mundus Novus and Letter to Soderini) were massaged and possibly adulterated by Florentine printers.
8. ^{^} Letter of Piero Rondinelli, dated 3 October, 1502, from Seville, ("Copy of a letter from Lisbon on the return of four caravels from Calicut with spices", held by the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence, MS. 1900, cc. 55b-57a) (as reprinted in Caraci (1999: v.1, let. 94, p.132):

   ...Amerigho Vespucci arèn qui fra pochi dì, el quale à durato asai fatiche e à uto pocho profitto, che pure meritava altro che l'ordine: e'rre di Portoghallo arendò le terre che lui dischoperse a certi christiani nuovi, e sono obrighati a mandare ongni anno 6 navili e dischoprire ongni anno 300 leghe avanti, e fare una forteza nel dischoperto e mantenella detti 3 anni, e'l primo anno non paghano nulla, el secondo el 1/6, el terzo el 1/4, e fanno chonto di portare verzino asai e schiavi, e forse vi troveranno chose d'altro profitto. Di quanto seghuirà vi si dirà, vostro, Piero Rondinelli, Sibilia, soto dì 3 d'otobre 1502

   (translation): ...Amerigo Vespucci will be arriving here in a few days. He has undergone great hardships and has derived small profit. He deserves a better fate. The lands he has discovered have been leased by the King of Portugal to a group of New Christians, who have pledged themslves to send out six ships every year and to explore three hundred leagues farther each year, and to build a fortress in the land discovered, to be mantained for three years, in the first year they will pay nothing, in the second one sixth, in the third one quarter, which they will pay in logwood and slaves, and perhaps they will find other profitable things. What will follow, we shall say. Yours, Piero Rondinelli, Seville, 3 October 1502.

   The "New Christians" (converted Jews) probably refers the merchant consortium headed by Fernão de Loronha, and the "logwood" refers to brazilwood.

Chronicles

• João de Barros (1552–59) Décadas da Ásia: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento, e conquista, dos mares, e terras do Oriente.. spec. Dec.I, Lib. V

• Gaspar Correia (c.1550s) Lendas da Índia, first pub. 1858-64, in Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias. Vol. 1

• António Galvão (1563) Tratado que compôs o nobre & notavel capitão Antonio Galvão, dos diversos & desvayrados caminhos, por onde nos tempos passados a pimenta & especearia veyo da India às nossas partes, & assi de todos os descobrimentos antigos & modernos, que são feitos até a era de mil & quinhentos & cincoenta. Lisbon. (1731 Lisbon ed.online). Bilingual edition with English 1601 translation The Discoveries of the World from Their First Original Unto the Year of Our Lord 1555, 1862, London: Haklyut society. online

• Amerigo Vespucci] (1501) "Letter to Lorenzo de' Pier Francesco de' Medici, from Bezeguiche, June, 1501". Original Italian version published in F.A. de Varnhagen (1865) Amerígo Vespucci: son caractère, ses écrits (meme les moins authentiques), sa vie et ses navigations. Lima: Mercurio. p.78-82). An English translation can be found in W.H.Greenlee (1938: p.151ff).

• Amerigo Vespucci (1503) "Letter to Lorenzo de' Pier Francesco de' Medici, 1503/04", as translated by C.R. Markham, 1894, The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci and other documents illustrative of his career. London: Hakuyt society p.42

• Amerigo Vespucci (1504-05) "Lettera di Amerigo Vepsucci Fiorentino drizzata al Magnifico Messer Pietro Soderini, Gonfaloniere perpetuo della Magnifica & excelsa Signoria di Firenze, di due viaggi fatti per il Serenissimo Re di Portogallo", pub. in Venice (1550), by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, ed., Primo volume delle navigationi et viaggi nel qua si contine la descrittione dell'Africa, et del paese del Prete Ianni, on varii viaggi, dal mar Rosso a Calicut,& infin all'isole Molucche, dove nascono le Spetierie et la navigatione attorno il mondo. (p.138-43). (English transl. by G.T. Northup, 1916, as "Letter to Piero Soderini, Gonfaloniere: The year 1504", Volume 4 of Vespucci reprints, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (p.33) (There is another translation by C.R. Markham, 1894, as "Letters to a Magnificent Lord", in Letters of Amerigo Vepsucci, (p.34).

Secondary

• Caraci, Ilaria Luzzana (1999) Amerigo Vespucci, Nuova raccolta colombiana, two volumes. Rome: Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato.

• Diffie, Bailey W., and George D. Winius (1977) Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415-1580. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press

• Fernández-Armesto, Felipe (2007) Amerigo: the man who gave his name to America. New York: Random House.

• Formisano, Luciano (1992) Letters from a New World: Amerigo Vespucci's Discovery of America. New York: Marsilio.

• Greenlee, W.B. (1938) The Voyage of Pedro Álvares Cabral to Brazil and India: from contemporary documents and narratives, 1995 reprint, New Delhi: Asian Education Services.

• Greenlee, W.B. (1945) "The Captaincy of the Second Portuguese Voyage to Brazil, 1501-1502", The Americas, Vol. 2 (1), p.3-12.

• Pohl, Frederick J. (1944) Amerigo Vespucci, Pilot Major. New York: Columbia University Press.

• Roukema, E. (1963) "Brazil on the Cantino Map", Imago Mundi, Vol. 17, p.7-26.

• Varnhagen, F.A. de (1854-57) Historia Geral do Brazil Rio de Janeiro: Laemmert. 2 vols. 1907 revised edition online.

• Varnhagen, F.A. de (1865) Amerígo Vespucci: son caractère, ses écrits (meme les moins authentiques), sa vie et ses navigations. Lima: Mercurio. online

Sua expedição foi composta de três naus que chegaram à costa brasileira no dia 7 de agosto de 1501, ancorando os navios a 5º3’41” de latitude sul, defronte do lugar hoje chamado Arraial do Marco, situado no vértice da costa do estado do Rio Grande do Norte, distante do Cabo de São Roque, cerca de 45 milhas, segundo descreveu nos escritos.

A partir daí, decidiram partir rumo ao sul, fazendo sondagens, traçando cartas e roteiros e tomando nota das primeiras denominações com nomes cristãos. Sendo assim, surgiram nomes para os seguintes acidentes geográficos:

Cabo de São Roque, denominado a 16 de agosto de 1501; o Cabo de Santo Agostinho, a 28 do mesmo mês; o Rio São Francisco, a 4 de outubro; a Baía de Todos os Santos, a 1 de novembro; o Cabo de São Tomé, a 21 de dezembro; o Rio de Janeiro, a 1 de janeiro de 1502; Angra dos Reis, a 6 de janeiro; São Sebastião, a 20 do mesmo mês; São Vicente a 22 de janeiro e por fim Cananéia, último ponto da costa estabelecido por Vespúcio.[1]

Sabe-se, contudo, pela primeira carta do explorador italiano, que a armada desceu até a altura do paralelo 32º sul, na vizinhança do Rio da Prata, correndo territórios colocados de fora dos direitos de Portugal pelo Tratado de Tordesilhas.

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Arraial Do Cabo

-5° 7' 14.50", -35° 38' 9.14"

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Street view

SEQUÊNCIA DE PRAIAS

Oceano Atlântico
precedida por: Praia da Ponta Gorda (Maxaranguape)	Cabo de São Roque (Maxaranguape)	sucedida por: Barra de Maxaranguape (Maxaranguape)

are believed to have actually landed at Cape São Roque
 Saint Roch Cabo de São Roque

been lost on At the [[2nd Portuguese India Armada (Cabral, 1500)#

a soli

across the remnants of the Cabral armada: in particular     

(it appears immediately on maps under the name of Cabo Sao Jorge, e.g. the Cantino planisphere)

of the "Island of the True Cross" (Ilha d and deliver to the King Manuel I of Portugal two letters.

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5°28′56.6292″S 35°15′40.7052″W

5°28′57″S 35°15′41″W

Cape São Roque (Port. Cabo de São Roque) or Cape of Saint Roch, is a cape located in the municipality of Maxaranguape, 51 km west of Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil.

Cape São Roque is the "point" on the bend of the Brazilian coast that is closest to the continent of Africa.