Pedro de Sintra, also known as Pero de Sintra, Pedro da Cintra or Pedro da Sintra, was a Portuguese explorer. [1] He was among the first Europeans to explore the West African coast. Around 1462 his expedition reached what is now Sierra Leone and named it. Although according to professor C. Magbaily Fyle this could have possibly been a misinterpretation of historians; there has been evidence of Serra Lyoa being mentioned prior to 1462, the year when de Sintra's expedition reached the coast of Sierra Leone. [2] This would suggest that the person who named Sierra Leone is still unknown. However, if de Sintra did name the area, it is unclear whether he named it after the landforms or climate in the area. According to some the coastal regions resembled lion's teeth while others suggest the thunderstorms sounded like the roar of a lion. [3] Sixteenth century English sailors called the area Sierra Leoa which later evolved to Sierra Leone in the 17th century. The British, prior to the area being colonised, officially adopted the name Sierra Leone in 1787. [3]
De Sintra continued his journey from Sierra Leone to contemporary Liberia, and passed Cape Mount, Cape Corso (aka Cape Mesurado) and stopped at some forested hills, which he called Bosco de Santa Maria- probably contemporary 'Bassa Hills', where he turned since his interpreters could not understand the local language. De Sintra returned to Portugal in 1462 and one of his mariners, who had been on an earlier voyage of Alvise da Ca da Mosto, 1455 or 1456, gave the latter an account of this voyage, which Ca da Mosto published in Venice, after he left Portugal in 1463. Ca da Mosto's Navigazioni, [4] were first published in Venice in the mid-1460s. [5] [ circular reference ] Pero de Sintra's voyage is the first and only one commanded by the new king Alfons V - who, however, in 1468 negotiated a contract with the private merchant Fernao Gomes to fit out caravels for further exploration of the West African coast (1468-1474). [6] João de Barros mentions that de Sintra captained an urca (hulk) during the 1481 expedition that was sent to build the feitoria of São Jorge da Mina. [7]
Diogo Cão, also known as Diogo Cam, was a Portuguese mariner and one of the most notable explorers of the fifteenth century. He made two voyages along the west coast of Africa in the 1480s, exploring the Congo River and the coasts of present-day Angola and Namibia.
Dom Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu, better known as Prince Henry the Navigator, was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15th-century European maritime discoveries and maritime expansion. Through his administrative direction, he is regarded as the main initiator of what would be known as the Age of Discovery. Henry was the fourth child of King John I of Portugal, who founded the House of Aviz.
The Senegal River is a 1086-kilometre-long (675 mi) river in West Africa; much of its length marks part of the border between Senegal and Mauritania. It has a drainage basin of 270000 km2, a mean flow of 680 m3/s (24,000 cu ft/s), and an annual discharge of 21.5 km3 (5.2 cu mi). Important tributaries are the Falémé River, Karakoro River, and the Gorgol River. The river divides into two branches once it passes Kaédi The left branch, called the Doué, runs parallel to the main river to the north. After 200 km (120 mi) the two branches rejoin a few kilometers downstream of Podor.
Alvise Cadamosto (Portuguese pronunciation:[alˈvizɨkɐðaˈmoʃtu]; Italian pronunciation:[alˈvizeˌkadaˈmosto])(c. 1432 – 16 July 1483) was a Venetian explorer and slave trader, who was hired by the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator and undertook two known journeys to West Africa in 1455 and 1456, accompanied by the Genoese captain Antoniotto Usodimare. Some have credited Cadamosto and his companions with the discovery of the Cape Verde Islands and the points along the Guinea coast from the Gambia River to the Geba River, the greatest leap in the Henrican discoveries since 1446. Cadamosto's accounts of his journeys, including his detailed observations of West African societies, have proven invaluable to historians.
Gomes Eanes de Zurara, sometimes spelled Eannes or Azurara, was a Portuguese chronicler of the European Age of Discovery, the most notable after Fernão Lopes.
Nuno Tristão was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea. Legend has it that he sailed as far as Guinea-Bissau, however, more recent historians believe he did not go beyond the Gambia River.
Antonio de Noli was a 15th-century Genoese nobleman and navigator, and the first governor of the earliest European overseas colony in Subsaharan Africa. He discovered some of the Cape Verde islands on behalf of Henry the Navigator and was made the first Governor of Cape Verde by King Afonso V. In most history or geographic books, including ancient chronicles, or encyclopedias, he is referred as Antonio de Noli. In Italy, he is known also as Antonio da Noli or sometimes as Antoniotto Usodimare.
The geography of North Africa has been reasonably well known among Europeans since classical antiquity in Greco-Roman geography. Northwest Africa was known as either Libya or Africa, while Egypt was considered part of Asia.
Cristóvão de Mendonça was a Portuguese noble and explorer who was active in South East Asia in the 16th century.
Antoniotto Usodimare or Usus di Mare (1416–1462) was a Genoese trader and explorer in the service of the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator. Jointly with Alvise Cadamosto, Usodimare discovered a great stretch of the West African coast in two known voyages in 1455 and 1456. They notably discovered the Cape Verde islands, and the Guinea coast from the Gambia River to the Geba River
Diogo Gomes was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer. Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim. They are an invaluable account of the Portuguese discoveries under Prince Henry the Navigator, and one of the principal sources upon which historians of the era have drawn. He explored and ascended up the Gambia River in West Africa and discovered some of the Cape Verde islands.
Álvaro Fernandes, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer from Madeira, in the service of Henry the Navigator. He captained two important expeditions, which expanded the limit of the Portuguese discovery of the West African coast, probably as far as the northern borderlands of modern Guinea-Bissau. Álvaro Fernandes's farthest point would not be surpassed for ten years, until the voyage of Alvise Cadamosto in 1456.
Portuguese maritime exploration resulted in the numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese as a result of their intensive maritime journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of European exploration, chronicling and mapping the coasts of Africa and Asia, then known as the East Indies, and Canada and Brazil, in what came to be known as the Age of Discovery.
The Second Portuguese India Armada was assembled in 1500 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral. Cabral's armada famously discovered Brazil for the Portuguese crown along the way. By and large, the Second Armada's diplomatic mission to India failed, and provoked the opening of hostilities between the Kingdom of Portugal and the feudal city-state of Calicut. Nonetheless, it managed to establish a factory in the nearby Kingdom of Cochin, the first Portuguese factory in Asia.
Pero de Anaia or Pedro d'Anaya or Anhaya or da Nhaya or da Naia was a Castilian-Portuguese 16th-century knight, who established and became the first captain-major of the Portuguese Fort São Caetano in Sofala, and thus the first colonial governor of Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique).
Lançarote de Freitas, better known as Lançarote de Lagos or Lançarote da Ilha, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and slave raider from Lagos, Portugal. He was the leader of two large Portuguese slaving raids on the West African coast in 1444–1446.
Gonçalo de Sintra or de Cintra (d.1444/45), was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and servant of Prince Henry the Navigator.
João Faras, better known simply as Mestre João, was an astrologer, astronomer, physician and surgeon of King Manuel I of Portugal who accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral in the discovery of Brazil in 1500, and wrote a famous letter identifying the Southern Cross constellation.
Cape Roxo is a headland in West Africa, marking the westernmost frontier of Guinea-Bissau with Senegal. On the lower side is the São Domingos district of the Cacheu Region of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau; above it is the Oussouye Department of the Ziguinchor Region of the Republic of Senegal.
The Lion Mountains are a mountain range in Sierra Leone. The range stretches 30 kilometres (19 mi) on the Freetown Peninsula by the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of the capital, Freetown. The mountains are part of the Western Area Forest Reserve, a nature reserve with a hunting ban, established in 1916. The highest point is Picket Hill at 888 metres (2,913 ft).
Gasparrini Leporace, Tullia Le Navigazioni Atlantiche del Veneziano Alvise da Mosto, 1966, Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato;
João de Barros, Decadas da Asia, Nova edição, Lisbon, 1778 Decada I, livro II, cap.II, 142 (in archive.org)