Pedro Álvares Cabral

The Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral, admiral-in-chief of the armada that set sail for India in 1500, undertook a troubled voyage that ultimately brought him to lands named Vera Cruz. Thus, on 22 April 1500, Brazil was officially discovered.

He was born in Belmonte in 1467 or 1468, into a noble family.

A trusted advisor to King Manuel I, he was assigned command of the second expedition to India and the mission of establishing political, diplomatic, and commercial relations with the Samorim of Calicut.

The armada set sail from Lisbon in early March 1500. Forced to alter its course, Cabral sighted land on 22 April, marking the discovery of Brazil, initially named Terra de Vera Cruz.

In 1502, he was appointed to lead a new expedition to the East. However, for reasons that remain unclear, he withdrew from the royal court and retired to his estates in Santarém.

He died, probably in 1520, in Santarém where he was laid to rest in the Church of Graça.