# Portuguese expeditions to North America

The Portuguese expeditions to North America were a series of voyages led by Portuguese navigators in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. These voyages aimed to explore lands across the North Atlantic, particularly after the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) and John Cabot's 1497 discovery of Newfoundland. Notable figures involved include Gaspar Corte-Real, Miguel Corte-Real, João Fernandes Lavrador and Pêro de Barcelos.

## Theory of the Pining expedition

Prior to the commissions made by Manuel I of Portugal, a theory of a joint Luso–Danish expedition, or Pining expedition, suggests that a joint Portuguese–Danish voyage took place around the 1470s, when King Afonso V of Portugal entered into an agreement with King Christian I of Denmark.
The participants in the voyage may have been:
* Didrik Pining
* Hans Pothorst
* John Scolvus
* João Vaz Corte-Real
* Álvaro Martins

## Historical Context

The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494 between Spain and Kingdom of Portugal, divided the New World between the two powers. Following John Cabot's 1497 voyage, King Manuel I of Portugal commissioned explorations to determine whether lands in the western Atlantic fell within Portugal's sphere of influence.

## Expeditions
### First Expedition by João Fernandes Lavrador and Pêro de Barcelos

In 1499, King Manuel I of Portugal issued a license to João Fernandes Lavrador, a prominent landowner from Terceira Island in the Azores, granting him permission to "search for and discover some islands on our side of the Line of Demarcation." The expedition was to be funded by Fernandes himself, with the promise of a captaincy and other honors modeled on earlier grants in Madeira and similar territories. While there are no definitive records of a specific voyage tied to this license, historical evidence suggests that João Fernandes Lavrador conducted multiple expeditions.
Pêro de Barcelos, another notable figure from Terceira, played a significant role in these ventures. He later testified in a legal dispute that he and João Fernandes Lavrador had received authorization from the king and spent three years engaged in exploration. This claim aligns with early 16th-century maps that show the name “Labrador” applied to regions discovered during this period. It is widely accepted that Labrador was named after João Fernandes Lavrador, though the land initially referred to may have been Greenland rather than the present-day Labrador region.
The timeline of their expeditions remains uncertain. Some scholars argue that their discoveries occurred between 1495 and 1498, while others suggest they could have taken place as late as 1500–1501. Evidence from the Cantino Planisphere of 1502 indicates that Portuguese explorers, possibly including Fernandes and Barcelos, may have sighted Greenland during one of these voyages. However, they likely did not disembark, as the map legend notes an inability to land.

### Second Expedition by Gaspar Corte-Real, 1500

In the spring of 1500, Gaspar Corte-Real departed from Lisbon with one ship. During this expedition, he reached a "cool land with large trees," which he named Terra Verde (Green Land). This area is widely believed to correspond to Newfoundland, north of Cape Breton. Chronicler Damião de Góis, writing decades later, described the indigenous people Gaspar encountered as "barbarous and wild," noting that their skin was pale in youth but darkened as they aged. According to Góis, Gaspar also learned that the people were "very jealous of their wives," suggesting some level of interaction with the native population.
Although the full extent of this voyage is uncertain, Gaspar is believed to have charted parts of Newfoundland's eastern coast. His descriptions of the land's abundant natural resources, including dense forests, matched those reported by John Cabot a few years earlier.

### Third Expedition by Gaspar Corte-Real, 1501

Gaspar Corte-Real embarked on a second voyage in April or May 1501, this time commanding three ships. After failing to reach Greenland due to frozen seas, his fleet turned southward, eventually exploring Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. During this voyage, Gaspar gave names to many geographic features along the coast, some of which survive today in altered forms.
The expedition captured fifty indigenous people, who were transported back to Portugal as slaves. Along with the captives, the fleet brought timber and other goods, as well as silver earrings and a sword blade of Venetian origin. These items, likely acquired from the indigenous population, may have originated from earlier European expeditions, such as those led by Cabot.
Some scholars, such as H. P. Biggar, believe the expedition reached Hamilton Inlet in Labrador, while others suggest locations on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, including Notre Dame Bay.
At some point, Gaspar and his ship separated from the rest of the fleet and sailed farther south. He was never seen or heard from again. The other two caravels returned to Portugal, reporting their discoveries.

### Fourth Expedition by Miguel Corte-Real, 1502

Following his brother's disappearance, Miguel Corte-Real led an expedition in 1502 to search for Gaspar. Miguel's voyage retraced the routes explored earlier, focusing on Newfoundland and adjacent coasts. Like his brother, Miguel's expedition vanished, leaving no survivors or definitive records of his fate.

### Proposal for a Fifth Expedition by Vasco Anes Corte-Real, 1503

After the disappearance of the Corte-Real brothers, Portugal did not carry out another expedition to Newfoundland. The following year, in 1503, Vasco Anes Corte-Real requested permission to set out in search of his missing brothers, but the king, fearing another disappearance, did not authorize the expedition. However, that year two ships set out for the northwest Atlantic, but their searches were in vain.

## Legacy

The lands discovered by the Portuguese expeditions appear on several early maps, such as the Cantino Map (1502), which labels the discovered region as "Terra del Rey de Portugall" (Land of the King of Portugal), and other maps, such as those by Pedro Reinel and the Kunstmann maps, extend the mapped area further north. The expeditions also established early fishing grounds in Newfoundland, as evidenced by a Portuguese tithe on codfish imposed in 1506.

## Debates

The exact details of these expeditions, including their timing and achievements, are still debated.
For João Fernandes Lavrador and Pêro de Barcelos, the lack of clear records makes it difficult to determine the dates and extent of their voyages. Some scholars argue that their expeditions occurred between 1495 and 1498, while others claim that it was around 1500 to 1501, following Lavrador's license from King Manuel I of Portugal in 1499. Furthermore, Lavrador's participation in an Anglo–Portuguese venture under King Henry VII of England in 1501 raises questions about his exact contributions to both Portuguese and English exploration.
The Corte-Real brothers' voyages also face uncertainties. Gaspar Corte-Real's 1500 and 1501 expeditions are documented through letters and maps, but the exact routes he took and where he landed are still unclear. While some theories suggest Gaspar reached Newfoundland and Labrador, others propose that he sailed farther south, possibly into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their disappearance also remains a mystery