Cabral's discovery of Brazil, accidental, or a cover story?

Cabral's discovery of Brazil, accidental, or a cover story?

  • An accident

    Votes: 9 31.0%
  • A public announcement of a previously secret discovery

    Votes: 20 69.0%

  • Total voters
    29

raharris1973

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I've heard two interpretations of Pedro Cabral's discovery of Brazil in 1500.

The first is that it was an accident caused by an overzealous pursuit of the Volta Da Mar technique of swinging west to go around Africa. This sort of implies it was a fairly inevitable accident as soon as voyages around Africa's Cape of Good Hope became a regular occurrence.

The other interpretation is that Cabral's discovery and announcement of Brazil was no accident, but instead an occasion the Portuguese chose to publicly announce a secret discovery made earlier than 1500, perhaps even earlier than the 1493, 1494 Treaties of Tordesillas. This bears less of an implication that "accidentally" running into Brazil while trying to round Africa was likely.

Which makes more sense to you?
 
An accident. Otherwise, De Gama earlier would have "accidentally" discovered it. It's after Tordesillas, after all.
 
There is an historiographic polemic about that but some recent historians argue that the Portuguese ships used the brazilian coast for reprovisioning (mainly water and exotic fruits) during their travel towards South Africa to explore the Indian Ocean. But they didn't knew it was part of a continent, they thought it was just some big island (they named it "the Island of the Holy Cross" for some time). So it is possible that Cabral had instructions to sail towards that Island, claiming it (it build some stone monument) before heading for the Indian Ocean. Some suggested the existence of instructions given to Cabral but these were never found. So it's not impossible that "Brazil" was discovered around the 1490's. But anyway, the Portuguese didn't care about this land before the 1530's. It was just a supply point for 30 years.
 
One of the primary arguments for the theory that the Portuguese already knew of Brazil at the time was the fact that during the writing of the treaty of tordesilhas, the original treaty didn't go all the way west to Brazil but for some reason the Portuguese king insisted on it going much more to the west allowing them to claim part of Brazil when they announced it's "discovery".
 

raharris1973

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during the writing of the treaty of tordesilhas, the original treaty didn't go all the way west to Brazil.

technically even the first treaty line encompassed the easternmost tip of Brazil in the Portuguese sphere, but generally this is correct, and Porto Seguro where Cabral landed was a little southwest of that first line.

An accident. Otherwise, De Gama earlier would have "accidentally" discovered it. It's after Tordesillas, after all.

Let's presume it was a genuine accident for a moment.

Given the increasing Portuguese voyages around Africa and use of the Volta Do Mar, could a Portuguese accidental landfall on South America have been plausible avoided for another decade or two? Could the Spanish have mapped the tip of Brazil in the meantime, and put in a claim based on longitudinal ignorance and kept its claim without Portugal bothering to contest it just for the sake of some "savages" and dyewood?
 
Cover story.

There is evidence of previous navigators sailing near our coast before Cabral, historians of my state of Ceará particularly like the story of Vicente Pizon stopping either at the Curu River (about 80 kilometers of Fortaleza) or the Mucuripe Point, where is nowadays the Port of Fortaleza, in January of 1500, but there's some expeditions by Americo Vespucci even early than that.

I believe the original treaty of Tordesilhas allowed only for the eastern parts of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte and the isles of Fernando de Noronha to be included in Portuguese sphere of influence, the fact it was ammended is a strong evidence for prior knowledge of lands where is nowadays the Brazilian Northeast. Even though we may not have hard evidence, i believe myself it's safe to say that the Second Armada of India had the objetive of claiming Brazil as well.
 

raharris1973

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Cover story.

There is evidence of previous navigators sailing near our coast before Cabral, historians of my state of Ceará particularly like the story of Vicente Pizon stopping either at the Curu River (about 80 kilometers of Fortaleza) or the Mucuripe Point, where is nowadays the Port of Fortaleza, in January of 1500, but there's some expeditions by Americo Vespucci even early than that.

I believe the original treaty of Tordesilhas allowed only for the eastern parts of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte and the isles of Fernando de Noronha to be included in Portuguese sphere of influence, the fact it was ammended is a strong evidence for prior knowledge of lands where is nowadays the Brazilian Northeast. Even though we may not have hard evidence, i believe myself it's safe to say that the Second Armada of India had the objetive of claiming Brazil as well.

January of 1500 isn't more than a few months before Cabral and the Second Armada of India.

The Tordesilhas line however was set up in 1494, much earlier, and before Da Gama's success. And it amended an even earlier line established by Pope Alexander in 1493 [just a few weeks after Columbus' return to Spain]

Do you think Brazil was actually known to Portuguese before 1494?

Were the pre-Cabral "secret" voyages part of deliberate reconnaissance, or was the first "secret" discovery an accident that happened to a ship trying to go to or around southern Africa?
 
January of 1500 isn't more than a few months before Cabral and the Second Armada of India.

The Tordesilhas line however was set up in 1494, much earlier, and before Da Gama's success. And it amended an even earlier line established by Pope Alexander in 1493 [just a few weeks after Columbus' return to Spain]

Do you think Brazil was actually known to Portuguese before 1494?

Were the pre-Cabral "secret" voyages part of deliberate reconnaissance, or was the first "secret" discovery an accident that happened to a ship trying to go to or around southern Africa?

Yes, however, Americo Vespucci supposedly got to Northern Brazil one or two years before Cabral, even with customary secrecy about exploration in the New World, i believe it was time enough for the Portuguese Crown learn about it.

I believe, again, without any hard evidence whatsoever, that the Portuguese had a idea that there was a landmass where the Brazilian Northeast is nowadays. Probably thought it was some part of Asia or something like that, of course. Keep in mind that Bartolomeu Dias already had rounded the so-called Cape of Storms (Now known as the Cape of Good Hope) 10 years before, and the Portuguese were exploring the sea for a century or so before Cabral.

To answer your last question, i believe it was deliberate reconnaissance. And it is a common opinion among local historians in my state. Hopefully research in the future will clarify this question for good, Brazilian History for the first 30 years have a enourmous amount of interesting things happening and not enough information about it.
 
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