Cabral

a Portuguese navigator, the discoverer of Brazil. He lived about 1460-1526. On the successful return of Vasco da Gama from India, Cabral was sent out to follow up the discovery. He set out from Lisbon, March 9, 1500. It was his intention to round the Cape of Good Hope, but he kept too far out in the Atlantic, and was carried by a current upon the coast of Brazil April 22, 1500. This will not seem strange if we recall that the eastern coast of Brazil is less than seventeen degrees west of the African coast, and that the route was as yet largely guess-work. Cabral took possession of the coast in the name of Portugal and sent back one of his ships with tidings. This was the basis of Portuguese claims in the New World. Continuing his voyage around Cape of Good Hope, Cabral lost four ships in a storm; yet finally reached Calicut (whence calico), India, where he erected a fort. Cabral entered into treaties with various native princes and loaded his ships with cargoes of spices, then a fortune. He returned to Lisbon July 23, 1501. His subsequent life is unknown.