Pedro Cabral

           Pedro Cabral was born into a family that was part of the noble class; his homeland was Portugal boron in 1467-1528.  The king of Portugal who was Manuel I treated Cabral with respect and high honor; thus, it was no surprise that the king asked him to be in command of a crew and 13 ships to explore the New World. After preparing for the expedition he finally set sailed on March 9, 1500 to India. The only route that was recorded that went from Portugal to India was the one Vasco de Gama had constructed which was to sail southwest pass the gulf of Guinea. Cabral had spotted land and went to conjure the land for Portugal, he named it “Island of the True Cross”, hoverer, in modern times that island is now called Brazil.

After claiming the new land for Portugal he set sail to India to follow the original plan and trade goods in India. Cabral lost about four ships on his way to India, however, on September 13, 1500 arrived to Calicut, India. Zamorion a Muslim ruler gave permission to Cabral to trade Portugal’s good in the city of Calicut. There was a bit of fighting between Cabral and the other Muslim traders which ended with an ambush towards Cabral’s crew.  Cabral was extremely upset and he fought against the Muslims by capturing ten of their vessels and killing their crew.

After his attack towards the Muslins he fled to the Indian port of Cochin, which allowed him to trade Portugal’s goods such as spices. Cabral learned his lesson from the attack at Calicut that he kept to himself. All Cabral wanted was to finish loading all lasting six ships with the spices he attained from trading at Carangolos and Cananor. His expedition ended on June 23, 1501, the king was pleased with the outcome of the expedition. That was the first and last voyage Pedro Cabral would attend and expedition.