Discovery of Brazil

Disembarkation of Cabral in Porto Seguro (oil on canvas); author: Oscar Pereira da Silva, 1904. Collection of the National Historical Museum, Rio de Janeiro
The Landing of Cabral in Porto Seguro; oil on canvas by Oscar Pereira da Silva, 1904. Collection of the National Historical Museum of Brazil

The first arrival of European explorers to the territory of present-day Brazil is often understood as the sighting of the land later named Island of Vera Cruz, near Monte Pascoal, by the fleet commanded by Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral, on 22 April 1500. Cabral's voyage is part of the so-called Portuguese discoveries.[1][2]

Although used almost exclusively in relation to Pedro Álvares Cabral's voyage, the term "discovery of Brazil" can also refer to the arrival in late 1499 of part of the expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda, in which Amerigo Vespucci took part.[3] Also, to the expedition led by Spanish navigator and explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. He reached the Cape of Santo Agostinho [pt], a promontory located in the current state of Pernambuco, on 26 January 1500. This is the oldest confirmed European landing in Brazilian territory.[4][5]

The use of the term "discovery" for this historical event considers the viewpoint of peoples from Europe. They recorded it in the form of written history, and the record expresses a Eurocentric conception of history.[6]

  1. ^ Henri Beuchat (3 February 2024). "Manual de arqueología americana" (in Spanish). p. 77. Archived from the original on 28 January 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Pinzón ou Cabral: quem chegou primeiro ao Brasil?". G1. 14 October 2011. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  3. ^ Pohl, Frederick Julius (2013). Amerigo Vespucci Pilot Cb: Amerigo Vespucci Pilot Ma. Routledge. p. 196. ISBN 9781136227134. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  4. ^ Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas (3 February 2024). "Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas y tierra firme de el Mar Oceano, Volume 2" (in Spanish). p. 348. Archived from the original on 28 January 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  5. ^ "Martín Alonso Pinzón and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  6. ^ Maia, Fernando Joaquim Ferreira; Farias, Mayara Helenna Verissimo de (16 September 2020). "Colonialidade do poder: a formação do eurocentrismo como padrão de poder mundial por meio da colonização da América". Interações (Campo Grande) (in Portuguese): 588. doi:10.20435/inter.v21i3.2300. ISSN 1984-042X.