Pedro Álvares Cabral Pedro Álvares Cabral ( ; c . 1467 or 1468 – c . 1520 ) was a Portuguese nobleman , military commander , navigator and explorer regarded as the discoverer of Brazil . Cabral conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal . While details of Cabral ' s early life are unclear , it is known that he came from a minor noble family and received a good education . He was appointed to head an expedition to India in 1500 , following Vasco da Gama ' s newly opened route around Africa . The object of the undertaking was to return with valuable spices and to establish trade relations in India — bypassing the monopoly on the spice trade then in the hands of Arab , Turkish and Italian merchants . His fleet of 13 ships sailed far into the western Atlantic Ocean , perhaps intentionally , where he made landfall on what he initially assumed to be a large island . As the new land was within the Portuguese sphere according to the Treaty of Tordesillas , Cabral claimed it for the Portuguese Crown . He explored the coast , realizing that the large land mass was probably a continent , and dispatched a ship to notify King Manuel I of the new territory . The continent was South America , and the land he had claimed for Portugal later came to be known as Brazil . The fleet reprovisioned and then turned eastward to resume the journey to India . A storm in the southern Atlantic caused the loss of several ships , and the six remaining ships eventually rendezvoused in the Mozambique Channel before proceeding to Calicut in India . Cabral was originally successful in negotiating trading rights , but Arab merchants saw Portugal ' s venture as a threat to their monopoly and stirred up an attack by both Muslims and Hindus on the Portuguese entrepôt . The Portuguese sustained many casualties and their facilities were destroyed . Cabral took vengeance by looting and burning the Arab fleet and then bombarded the city in retaliation for its ruler having failed to explain the unexpected attack . From Calicut the expedition sailed to the Kingdom of Cochin , another Indian city - state , where Cabral befriended its ruler and loaded his ships with coveted spices before returning to Europe . Despite the loss of human lives and ships , Cabral ' s voyage was deemed a success upon his return to Portugal . The extraordinary profits resulting from the sale of the spices bolstered the Portuguese Crown ' s finances and helped lay the foundation of a Portuguese Empire that would stretch from the Americas to the Far East . Cabral was later passed over , possibly as a result of a quarrel with Manuel I , when a new fleet was assembled to establish a more robust presence in India . Having lost favor with the King , he retired to a private life of which few records survive . His accomplishments slipped mostly into obscurity for more than 300 years . Decades after Brazil ' s independence from Portugal in the 19th century , Cabral ' s reputation began to be rehabilitated by Emperor Pedro II of Brazil . Historians have long argued whether Cabral was Brazil ' s discoverer , and whether the discovery was accidental or intentional . The first question has been settled by the observation that the few , cursory encounters by explorers before him were barely noticed at the time and contributed nothing to the future development and history of the land which would become Brazil , the sole Portuguese - speaking nation in the Americas . On the second question , no definite consensus has been formed , and the intentional discovery hypothesis lacks solid proof . Nevertheless , although he was overshadowed by contemporary explorers , Cabral today is regarded as a major figure of the Age of Discovery . Early life . Little is certain regarding Pedro Álvares Cabral ' s life before , or following , his voyage which led to the discovery of Brazil . He was born in 1467 or 1468 — the former year being the more likely — at Belmonte , about from present - day Covilhã in central Portugal . He was a son of Fernão Álvares Cabral and Isabel Gouveia — one of five boys and six girls in the family . Cabral was christened Pedro Álvares de Gouveia and only later , supposedly upon his elder brother ' s death in 1503 , did he begin using his father ' s surname . The coat of arms of his family was drawn with two purple goats on a field of silver . Purple represented fidelity , and the goats were derived from the family name ( " cabral " pertains to " goats " in English ) . However , only his elder brother was entitled to make use of the family arms . Family lore said that the " Cabrais " were descendants of Caranus , the legendary first king of Macedonia . Caranus was , in turn , a supposed 7th - generation scion of the demigod Hercules . Myths aside , the historian James McClymont believes that another family tale might hold clues to the true origin of Cabral ' s family . According to that tradition , the " Cabrais " derive from a Castilian clan named the " Cabreiras " who bore a similar coat of arms . The Cabral family rose to prominence during the 14th century . Álvaro Gil Cabral ( Cabral ' s great - great - grandfather and a frontier military commander ) was one of the few Portuguese nobles to remain loyal to Dom João I , King of Portugal during the war against the King of Castile . As a reward , João I presented Álvaro Gil with the hereditary fiefdom of Belmonte . Raised as a member of the lower nobility , Cabral was sent to the court of King Dom Afonso V in 1479 at around age 12 . He received an education in the humanities and learned to bear arms and fight . He would have been roughly age 17 on 30 June 1484 when he was named " moço fidalgo " ( young nobleman ; a minor title then commonly granted to young nobles ) by King Dom João II . Records of his deeds prior to 1500 are extremely fragmentary , but Cabral may have campaigned in North Africa , as had his ancestors and as was commonly done by other young nobles of his day . King Dom Manuel I , who had acceded to the throne two years previously , awarded him an annual allowance worth 30 , 000 " reais " on 12 April 1497 . He was concurrently given the title " fidalgo " ( nobleman ) in the King ' s Council and was named a Knight of the Order of Christ . There is no contemporary image or detailed physical description of Cabral . It is known that he had a strong build and matched his father ' s height of . Cabral ' s character has been described as well - learned , courteous , prudent , generous , tolerant with enemies , humble , but also vain and too concerned with the respect he felt his honor and position demanded . Discovery of Brazil . Fleet commander - in - chief . On 15 February 1500 , Cabral was appointed " Capitão - mor " ( literally Major - Captain , or commander - in - chief ) of a fleet sailing for India . It was then the custom for the Portuguese Crown to appoint nobles to naval and military commands , regardless of experience or professional competence . This was the case for the captains of the ships under Cabral ' s command — most were nobles like himself . The practice had obvious pitfalls , since authority could as easily be given to highly incompetent and unfit people as it could fall to talented leaders such as Afonso de Albuquerque or Dom João de Castro . Scant details have survived regarding the criteria used by the Portuguese government in its selection of Cabral as head of the India expedition . In the royal decree naming him commander - in - chief , the only reasons given are " merits and services " . Nothing more is known about these qualifications . Historian William Greenlee argued that King Manuel I " had undoubtedly known him well at court " . That , along with the " standing of the Cabral family , their unquestioned loyalty to the Crown , the personal appearance of Cabral , and the ability which he had shown at court and in the council were important factors " . Also in his favor may have been the influence of two of his brothers who sat on the King ' s Council . Given the political intrigue present at court , Cabral may have been part of a faction that furthered his appointment . The historian Malyn Newitt subscribes to some sort of ulterior maneuvering and has said that the choice of Cabral " was a deliberate attempt to balance the interests of rival factions of noble families , for he appears to have no other quality to recommend him and no known experience in commanding major expeditions . " Cabral became the military chief , while far more experienced navigators were seconded to the expedition to aid him in naval matters . The most important of these were Bartolomeu Dias , Diogo Dias and Nicolau Coelho . They would , along with the other captains , command 13 ships and 1 , 500 men . Of this contingent , 700 were soldiers , although most were simple commoners who had no training or previous experience in combat . The fleet had two divisions . The first division was composed of nine " naus " ( carrack s ) and two round caravel s , and was headed to Calicut ( today more often known as Kozhikode ) in India with the goal of establishing trade relations and a factory ( trading post ) . The second division , consisting of one " nau " and one round caravel , set sail for the port of Sofala in what is today Mozambique . In exchange for leading the fleet , Cabral was entitled to 10 , 000 " cruzados " ( an old Portuguese currency equivalent to approximately 35 kg of gold ) and the right to purchase of pepper at his own expense for transport back to Europe . The pepper could then be resold , tax - free , to the Portuguese Crown . He was also allowed to import 10 boxes of any other kind of spice , duty - free . Although the voyage was extremely hazardous , Cabral had the prospect of becoming a very rich man if he returned safely to Portugal with the cargo . Spices were then rare in Europe and keenly sought - after . An earlier fleet had been the first to reach India by circumnavigating Africa . That expedition had been led by Vasco da Gama and returned to Portugal in 1499 . For decades Portugal had been searching for an alternate route to the East , in order to bypass the Mediterranean Sea which was under the control of the Italian Maritime Republics and the Ottoman Empire . Portugal ' s expansionism would lead first to a route to India , and later to worldwide colonization . A desire to spread Catholic Christianity to pagan lands was another factor motivating exploration . There also was a long tradition of pushing back Muslims , which stemmed from Portugal ' s fight for nationhood against the Moors . The fight expanded first to North Africa and eventually to the Indian subcontinent . An additional ambition which galvanized the explorers was the search for the mythical Prester John — a powerful Christian king with whom an alliance against Islam could be forged . Finally , the Portuguese Crown sought a share in the lucrative West African trade in slaves and gold , and India ' s spice trade . Departure and arrival in a new land . The fleet under the command of the 32 – 33 - year old Cabral departed from Lisbon on 9 March 1500 at noon . The previous day it had been given a public send - off which included a Mass and celebrations attended by the King , his court and a huge crowd . On the morning of 14 March , the flotilla passed Gran Canaria , in the Canary Islands . It sailed onward to Cape Verde , a Portuguese colony situated on the West African coast , which was reached on 22 March . The next day , a " nau " commanded by Vasco de Ataíde with 150 men disappeared without a trace . The fleet crossed the Equator on 9 April , and sailed westward as far as possible from the African continent in what was known as the " volta do mar " ( literally " turn of the sea " ) navigational technique . Seaweed was sighted on 21 April , which led the sailors to believe that they were nearing the coast . They were proven correct the next afternoon , Wednesday 22 April 1500 , when the fleet anchored near what Cabral christened the Monte Pascoal ( " Easter Mount " , it being the week of Easter ) . The spot is on the northeast coast of present - day Brazil . The Portuguese detected inhabitants on the shore , and all ships ' captains gathered aboard Cabral ' s lead ship on 23 April . Cabral ordered Nicolau Coelho , a captain who had experience from Vasco da Gama ' s voyage to India , to go ashore and make contact . He set foot on land and exchanged gifts with the indigenous people . After Coelho returned , Cabral took the fleet north , where after traveling along the coast , it anchored on 24 April in what the commander - in - chief named " Porto Seguro " ( Safe Port ) . The place was a natural harbor , and Afonso Lopes ( pilot of the lead ship ) brought two natives aboard to confer with Cabral . As in the first contact , the meeting was friendly and Cabral presented the locals with gifts . The inhabitants were stone age hunter - gatherers , to whom the Europeans assigned the generic label " Indians " . The men collected food by stalking game , fishing and foraging , while the women engaged in small - scale farming . They were divided into countless rival tribes . The tribe which Cabral met was the Tupiniquim . Some of these groups were nomadic and others sedentary — having a knowledge of fire but not metalworking . A few tribes engaged in cannibalism . On 26 April , as more and more curious and friendly natives appeared , Cabral ordered his men to build an altar inland where a Christian Mass was held — the first celebrated on the soil of what would later become Brazil . He , along with the ships ' crews , participated . The following days were spent stockpiling water , food , wood and other provisions . The Portuguese also built a massive — perhaps long — wooden cross . Cabral ascertained that the new land lay east of the demarcation line between Portugal and Spain that had been specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas . The territory was thus within the sphere allotted to Portugal . To solemnize Portugal ' s claim to the land , the wooden cross was erected and a second religious service held on 1 May . In honor of the cross , Cabral named the newly discovered land " Ilha de Vera Cruz " ( Island of the True Cross ) . The next day a supply ship under the command of either Gaspar de Lemos or André Gonçalves ( the sources conflict on who was sent ) returned to Portugal to apprise the King of the discovery . Voyage to India . Tragedy off southern Africa . The fleet resumed its voyage on either 2 or 3 May 1500 and sailed along the east coast of South America . Cabral became convinced that he had found an entire continent , rather than an island . Around 5 May , the fleet veered eastwards towards Africa . On 23 or 24 May they encountered a storm in the South Atlantic ' s high - pressure zone , resulting in the loss of four ships . The exact location of the disaster is unknown — speculations range from near the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of the African continent to " within sight of the South American coast " . Three " naus " and a caravel commanded by Bartolomeu Dias — the first European to reach the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 — foundered , and 380 men were lost . The remaining vessels , hindered by rough weather and damaged rigging , were separated . One ship that had been separated , commanded by Diogo Dias , wandered onward alone , and the other six ships were able to regroup . They gathered into two formations consisting of three ships each , and Cabral ' s group sailed east , past the Cape of Good Hope . Fixing their position and sighting land , they turned north and landed somewhere in the Primeiras and Segundas Archipelago , off East Africa and north of Sofala . The main fleet remained near Sofala ten days undergoing repairs . The expedition then went north , and on 26 May reached Kilwa Kisiwani , where Cabral made an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a treaty with its king . From Kilwa Kisiwani , the fleet departed to Malindi , which was reached on 2 August . Cabral met with its king , with whom he established friendly relations and exchanged gifts . Pilots were recruited at Malindi for the last leg to India and the fleet set sail . Land was reached at Anjadip , an island frequented by ships to obtain supplies on their way to Calicut . Here the ships were beached , recaulked and painted . Final arrangements were put into place for the encounter with the ruler of Calicut . Massacre in Calicut . The fleet departed Anjadip and arrived in Calicut on 13 September . Cabral successfully negotiated with the Zamorin ( the title of the ruler of Calicut ) and obtained permission to establish a factory and a warehouse . In hopes of further improving relations , Cabral dispatched his men on several military missions at the Zamorin ' s request . However , on 16 or 17 December , the factory suffered a surprise attack by some 300 ( according to other accounts , perhaps as many as several thousand ) Muslim Arabs and Hindu Indians . Despite a desperate defense by crossbowmen , more than 50 Portuguese were killed . The remaining defenders retreated to the ships , some by swimming . Thinking that the attack was the result of unauthorized incitement by jealous Arab merchants , Cabral waited 24 hours for an explanation from the ruler of Calicut , but no apology was forthcoming . The Portuguese were outraged by the attack on the factory and the death of their comrades and seized 10 Arab merchant ships at anchor in the harbor . Around 600 of their crews were killed and the cargoes confiscated before the merchantmen were set afire . Cabral also ordered his ships to bombard Calicut for an entire day in reprisal for the violation of the agreement . The massacre was blamed in part on Portuguese animosity towards Muslims , which had developed over centuries of conflict with the Moors on the Iberian peninsula and in North Africa . Moreover , the Portuguese were determined to dominate the spice trade and had no intention of allowing competition to flourish . The Arabs also had no desire to allow the Portuguese to break their monopoly on access to spices . The Portuguese had started out by insisting on being given preferential treatment in every aspect of the trade . The letter from King Manuel I brought by Cabral to the ruler of Calicut , which was translated by the ruler ' s Arab interpreters , sought the exclusion of Arab traders . The Muslim merchants believed that they were about to lose both their trading opportunities and livelihoods , and attempted to sway the Hindu ruler against the Portuguese . The Portuguese and Arabs were extremely suspicious of each other ' s every action . Historian William Greenlee has argued that the Portuguese realized that " they were few in numbers and that those who would come to India in the future fleets would always be at numerical disavantage ; so that this treachery must be punished in a manner so decisive that the Portuguese would be feared and respected in the future . It was their superior artillery which would enable them to accomplish this end . " Thus , they created a precedent for European behavior in Asia during the following centuries . Return to Europe . Warnings in reports from Vasco da Gama ' s voyage to India had prompted King Manuel I to brief Cabral regarding another port to the south of Calicut where he could also trade . This city was Kochi and the fleet set sail , reaching it on 24 December . Kochi was nominally a vassal of Calicut , as well as being dominated by other Indian cities . Kochi was eager to achieve independence , and the Portuguese were willing to exploit Indian disunity — as the British would three hundred years later . This tactic eventually ensured Portuguese hegemony over the region . Cabral forged an alliance with Kochi ' s ruler , as well with rulers of other Indian cities , and was able to establish a factory . At last , loaded with precious spices , the fleet went to Kannur for further trade before setting out on its return voyage to Portugal on 16 January 1501 . The expedition headed for the east coast of Africa . One of the ships became stranded on a sandbar and the vessel began to founder . As there was no space in the other ships , its cargo was lost and Cabral ordered the carrack to be set on fire . The fleet then proceeded to the Island of Mozambique ( northeast of Sofala ) , in order to take on provisions and make the ships ready for the rough passage around the Cape of Good Hope . One caravel was sent to Sofala — another of the expedition ' s goals . A second caravel , considered the fastest ship in the fleet and captained by Nicolau Coelho , was sent ahead to give the King advance notice of the voyage ' s success . A third vessel , commanded by Pedro de Ataíde , became separated from the fleet after leaving Mozambique . On 22 May , the fleet — now reduced to only two ships — rounded the Cape of Good Hope . They arrived in Beseguiche ( present - day Dakar , located near Cape Verde ) on 2 June . There they found not only Nicolau Coelho ' s caravel but also the " nau " captained by Diogo Dias — which had been lost for over a year following the disaster in the South Atlantic . The " nau " had experienced several adventures of its own and was now in poor condition with only seven sick and malnourished men aboard — one of whom was so weak that he died of happiness upon again seeing his comrades . Another Portuguese fleet was also found riding at anchor in Beseguiche . After Manuel I had been told of the discovery of present - day Brazil , he sent another and smaller fleet to explore it . One of its navigators was Amerigo Vespucci ( for whom the Americas would be named ) , who told Cabral of his exploration , confirming that he had indeed made landfall on an entire continent and not merely an island . Nicolau Coelho ' s caravel departed first from Beseguiche and arrived in Portugal on 23 June 1501 . Cabral stayed behind , waiting for Pedro de Ataíde ' s missing ship and for the caravel that had been sent to Sofala . Both eventually appeared and Cabral arrived in Portugal on 21 July 1501 , with the other vessels coming home during the following days . In all , two ships returned empty , five were fully loaded and six were lost . Nonetheless , the cargoes carried by the fleet returned up to 800 % profit to the Portuguese Crown . Once sold , the proceeds covered the outlay in equipping the fleet , covered the cost of the vessels which had been lost , and cleared a profit which itself exceeded the total sum of those costs . " Undeterred by the unprecedented losses which he had sustained " , asserts historian James McClymont , when Cabral " reached the East African coast , pressed forward to the accomplishment of the task which had been assigned to him and was able to inspire the surviving officers and men with like courage . " " Few voyages to Brazil and India were so well executed as Cabral ' s " , affirmed historian Bailey Diffie , which laid down a path leading to the immediate commencement " of a Portuguese seagoing empire from Africa to the far East " , and eventually to " a land empire in Brazil " . Later years and death . Upon Cabral ' s return , King Manuel I began planning another fleet to make the journey to India and to avenge the Portuguese losses in Calicut . Cabral was selected to command this " Revenge Fleet " , as it was called . For eight months Cabral made all preparations , but for reasons which remain uncertain , he was relieved of command . It had apparently been proposed to give another navigator , Vicente Sodré , independent command over a section of the fleet , and Cabral strongly opposed this . Whether he was dismissed or requested himself that he be relieved of command , the result was that when the fleet departed in March 1502 , its commander was Vasco da Gama — a maternal nephew of Vicente Sodré — and not Cabral . It is known that hostility had developed between a faction supporting da Gama and another supporting Cabral . At some point , Cabral left the court permanently . The King was greatly irritated by the feud , to such an extent that mentioning the matter in his presence could result in banishment , as it did for one of da Gama ' s supporters . Despite the loss of favor with Manuel I , Cabral was able to contract an advantageous marriage in 1503 to " Dona " ( Lady ) Isabel de Castro , a wealthy noblewoman and descendant of King Dom Fernando I of Portugal . Her mother was a sister of Afonso de Albuquerque , one of the greatest Portuguese military leaders during the Age of Discovery . The couple had at least four children : two boys ( Fernão Álvares Cabral and António Cabral ) and two girls ( Catarina de Castro and Guiomar de Castro ) . There were two additional daughters named Isabel and Leonor according to other sources , which also say that Guiomar , Isabel and Leonor joined religious orders . Afonso de Albuquerque attempted to intercede on Cabral ' s behalf and on 2 December 1514 asked Manuel I to forgive him and allow his return to court , but to no avail . Suffering from recurrent fever and a tremor ( possibly malaria ) since his voyage , Cabral withdrew to Santarém in 1509 . He spent his remaining years there . Only sketchy information is available as to his activities during that time . According to a royal letter dated 17 December 1509 , Cabral was party to a dispute over a transaction involving property which belonged to him . Another letter of that same year reported that he was to receive certain privileges for an undisclosed military service . In 1518 , or perhaps previously , he was raised from " fidalgo " to knight in the King ' s Council and was entitled to a monthly allowance of 2 , 437 " reais " . This was in addition to the annual allowance granted to him in 1497 , and still being paid . Cabral died of unspecified causes , most probably in 1520 . He was buried within Santarém ' s " Convento de Graça " ( today the " Asylo de São Antonio " ) in a side - chapel of the convent ' s church . Legacy . Posthumous rehabilitation . The first permanent Portuguese settlement in the land which would become Brazil was São Vicente , which was established in 1532 by Martim Afonso de Sousa . As the years passed , the Portuguese would slowly expand their frontiers westward , conquering more lands from both indigenous Americans and the Spanish . Brazil had secured most of its present - day borders by 1750 and was regarded by Portugal as the most important part of its far - flung maritime Empire . On 7 September 1822 , the heir of Portuguese King Dom João VI secured the independence of Brazil from Portugal and , as Dom Pedro I , became its first Emperor . Cabral ' s discovery , and even his resting place in the land of his birth , had been almost completely forgotten during the span of nearly 300 years since his expedition . This began to change beginning in the 1840s when Emperor Dom Pedro II , successor and son of Pedro I , sponsored research and publications dealing with Cabral ' s life and expedition through the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute . This was part of the Emperor ' s ambitious larger plan to foster and strengthen a sense of nationalism among Brazil ' s diverse citizenry — giving them a common identity and history as residents of a unique Portuguese - speaking empire , surrounded by Hispanic - American Republics . The initial resurgence of interest in Cabral had resulted from the rediscovery , in 1839 , of his resting place by the Brazilian historian Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen ( later Viscount of Porto Seguro ) . The completely neglected state in which Cabral ' s tomb was found nearly led to a diplomatic crisis between Brazil and Portugal — the latter then ruled by Pedro II ' s eldest sister , Maria II . In 1871 the Brazilian Emperor — then on a trip to Europe — visited Cabral ' s gravesite and proposed an exhumation for scientific study , which was carried out in 1882 . In a second exhumation during 1896 , an urn containing earth and bone fragments was allowed to be removed . Although his remains still lay in Portugal , the urn was eventually brought to the old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on 30 December 1903 . Cabral has since become a national hero in Brazil . In Portugal , however , he has been much overshadowed by his rival Vasco da Gama . Historian William Greenlee argued that Cabral ' s exploration is important " not only because of its position in the history of geography but because of its influence on the history and economics of the period . " Though he acknowledges that few voyages have " been of greater importance to posterity " , he also says that " few have been less appreciated in their time . " Nevertheless , historian James McClymont affirmed that " Cabral ' s position in the history of Portuguese conquest and discovery is inexpungable despite the supremacy of greater or more fortunate men . " He concluded that Cabral " will always be remembered in history as the chief , if not the first discoverer of Brazil . " Intentional discovery hypothesis . A controversy that has occupied scholars for more than a century concerns whether Cabral ' s discovery was by chance or intentional . If the latter , that would mean that the Portuguese had at least some hint that a land existed to the west . The matter was first raised by Emperor Pedro II in 1854 during a session of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute , when he asked if the discovery might have been intentional . Until the 1854 conference , the widespread presumption was that the discovery had been an accident . Early works on the subject supported this view , including " História do Descobrimento e Conquista da Índia " ( History of the Discovery and Conquest of India , published in 1541 ) by Fernão Lopes de Castanheda , " Décadas da Ásia " ( Decades of Asia , 1552 ) by João de Barros , " Crônicas do Felicíssimo Rei D . Manuel " ( Chronicles of the most fortunate D . Manuel , 1558 ) by Damião de Góis , " Lendas da Índia " ( Legends of India , 1561 ) by Gaspar Correia , " História do Brasil " ( History of Brazil , 1627 ) by friar Vicente do Salvador and " História da América Portuguesa " ( History of Portuguese America , 1730 ) by Sebastião da Rocha Pita . The first work to advocate the idea of intentionality was published in 1854 by Joaquim Noberto de Sousa e Silva , after Pedro II had opened the debate . Since then , several scholars have subscribed to that view , including Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen , Capistrano de Abreu , Pedro Calmon , Fábio Ramos and Mário Barata . Historian Hélio Vianna affirmed that " although there are signs of the intentionality " in Cabral ' s discovery , " based mainly in the knowledge or previous suspicion of the existence of lands at the edge of the South Atlantic " , there are no irrefutable proofs to support it . This opinion is also shared by historian Thomas Skidmore . The debate on whether it was a deliberate voyage of discovery or not is considered " irrelevant " by historian Charles R . Boxer . Historian Anthony Smith concludes that the conflicting contentions will " probably never be resolved " . Forerunners . Cabral was not the first European to stumble upon areas of present - day Brazil , not to mention other parts of South America . Roman coins have been found in today ' s Venezuela , northwest of Brazil , presumably from ships that were carried away by storm in ancient times . Norsemen reached North America and even established settlements , though these ended in failure sometime before the end of the 15th century . Christopher Columbus , on his third voyage to the New World in 1498 , traveled along part of what would later become Venezuela . In the case of Brazil , it was once considered probable that the Portuguese navigator Duarte Pacheco Pereira had made a voyage to the Brazilian coast in 1498 . This belief has since been dismissed , however , and it is now thought that he voyaged to North America instead . There is more certain evidence that two Spaniards , Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and Diego de Lepe , traveled along the northern coast of Brazil between January and March 1500 . Pinzón went from what is today Fortaleza ( capital of the Brazilian state of Ceará ) to the mouth of the Amazon River . There he encountered another Spanish expedition led by Lepe , which would reach as far as the Oyapock River in March . The reason Cabral is credited with having discovered Brazil , rather than the Spanish explorers , is because the visits by Pinzón and Lepe were cursory and had no lasting impact . Historians Capistrano de Abreu , Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen , Mário Barata and Hélio Vianna concur that the Spanish expeditions did not influence the development of what would become the only Portuguese - speaking nation in the Americas — with a unique history , culture and society which sets it apart from the Hispanic - American societies which dominate the rest of the continent .