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crossed the Indian Ocean, as had da Gama,
to arrive at Calicut. There he fell into dis-
putes with the local potentate and Muslim
clergy over Portuguese plans for commercial
and missionary activity. Cabral's ships (only
eight of which had survived) bombarded
the city but then withdrew for fear of losing
the trade goods they had already taken on
board. On returning to L
ISBON
Cabral was
reprimanded for being neither successful as
a diplomat nor triumphant as a soldier, and
he does not seem to have been considered
for any further command. Despite his ulti-
mate misfortune Cabral retains the double
distinction of being a pioneer of Portuguese
empire-building in Asia and the presump-
tive discoverer of Brazil.
Cabrillo, Juan Rodríguez (João
Rodrigues Cabrilho)
(?-1543)
Portuguese-born Spanish explorer
A native of Portugal with maritime experi-
ence, Cabrillo (as he was usually known in
Spain) traveled to C
UBA
shortly after it was
brought under Spanish rule. In 1520 he
accompanied the force of P
ÁNFILO
DE
N
ARVÁEZ
that was sent to arrest H
ERNÁN
C
ORTÉS
for exceeding his authority. When
Narváez was defeated, Cabrillo, like most of
his men, joined the army of Cortés. During
the next few years he participated in the
conquest of M
EXICO
and then moved on to
Oaxaca and G
UATEMALA
. In these operations
he became a close friend of P
EDRO
DE
A
LVA R A D O
. When that conquistador devel-
oped his plan for an expedition to the East
Indies, he appointed Cabrillo as his naviga-
tor. Proceeding to the Pacific coast of Mex-
ico, they put their men to work building
several ships. The voyage to the Moluccas
was postponed after Alvarado made an
Pedro Álvares Cabral, engraving from c. 1943
(Library
of Congress)
lay a solid foundation upon the tentative
base that da Gama had established two
years earlier. Varying his predecessor's route
down the West African coast to obtain more
favorable winds, he found himself driven
across the narrowest part of the Atlantic
and arrived on the shores of South Amer-
ica. Cabral claimed this newly discovered
land for King Manuel under the designa-
tion “Island of the True Cross,” which would
later be changed to B
RAZIL
. Some historians
have suggested that Cabral was not actually
the first Portuguese to reach this coast and
that his supposed accidental discovery was
actually intended to secure his country's
control over an area originally assigned to
Spanish exploration. In any event Cabral
returned to his original sailing plan and
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