Last updated • 11 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Portuguese explorer
Álvaro Fernandes (sometimes given erroneously as António Fernandes), was a 15th-century Portugueseexplorer from Madeira, in the service of Henry the Navigator. He captained two important expeditions (in 1445 and 1446), 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 (approximately Cape Roxo) would not be surpassed for ten years, until the voyage of Alvise Cadamosto in 1456.
Álvaro Fernandes was the nephew João Gonçalves Zarco, discoverer and donatary captain of Funchal. Fernandes was brought up (as a page or squire) in the household of Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator.[1]
1st expedition
In 1448, as part of a larger expedition mainly based in Lagos, Algarve, a small caravel fleet was assembled in Madeira. Two of the ships were outfitted by João Gonçalves Zarco, donatary of Funchal, who appointed his nephew, Álvaro Fernandes, created by Prince Henry, to captain one of them. Another ship was commanded by Tristão da Ilha, donatary captain of Machico, and another by Álvaro de Ornellas.[2][3]
According to 15th-century chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara, Álvaro Fernandes went out alone, personally instructed by Prince Henry to avoid any raids, and aim straight for Guinea for the glory of exploration alone.[4] Skipping Arguin, Álvaro Fernandes sailed straight south, reaching the mouth of the Senegal River. He stopped there only long enough to fill two barrels with river water.[5]
Sea chart of West Africa, c.1765
Álvaro Fernandes continued sailing down the Grande Côte of Senegal until Cape Verde, the farthest point reached by Dinis Dias. It is uncertain if Dias actually surpassed the cape. If not, then Álvaro Fernandes may very well have been the first European to double Cape Verde and sail into the Angra de Bezeguiche (Bay of Dakar). Fernandes anchored at Bezeguiche island (Gorée island), which was uninhabited, but had many wild goats, which the crew proceeded to slaughter for food.[6] Fernandes is said to have left his marker on the island by carving Prince Henry the Navigator's knightly motto, Talent de bien faire ("Hunger for good deeds") on a tree trunk.[7]
While idling off the island, a couple of curious native canoes (five men each) from the mainland (Wolof or more probably Lebou people) paddled out to the caravel. The first encounter went smoothly enough—gestures were exchanged expressing peaceful intentions, and several of the natives were invited aboard, and given food and drink by the Portuguese, before setting back in their canoes and returning to the mainland. Encouraged by the report of the initial pacific encounter, six more canoes decided to paddle out to the caravel. But this time Álvaro Fernandes decided to set up an ambush, and prepared a launch with armed men, behind the concealed side of the caravel. As the native canoes got within range, Fernandes gave the signal and the hidden Portuguese armed launch darted out from behind the ship. The native canoes immediately began to turn around to make their way back to shore, but not before the Portuguese boat reached the closest African canoe. Cut off, the native crew leaped overboard and tried to swim back to shore. Two of the swimmers were captured by the Portuguese, but put up such a fight that by the time the second man was captured and subdued, all the others had made it safely to the mainland.[8]
Cliffs of Popenguine, just above the Cape of Masts (Cap de Naze), farthest point reached by Álvaro Fernandes in 1445
The ambush had yielded only two captives, and raised the alarm on the mainland shore. With the element of surprise now gone, Álvaro Fernandes saw little point in remaining in the vicinity, and set sail out of Bezeguiche bay.[9] He proceeded south along the Petite Côte a little way, until he reached an imposing cliff rock he called the Cabo dos Mastos ("Cape of Masts", on account of a set of dry, naked tree trunks, which resembled a cluster of ship's masts; now Cape Naze, 14°32′14″N17°6′14″W / 14.53722°N 17.10389°W / 14.53722; -17.10389 (Cape Naze)).[10] Fernandes ordered a launch to scout the nearby area. They came upon a small hunting party of four natives (possibly Serer) in the vicinity, and tried to capture them by surprise, but the startled hunters managed to escape and outrun the Portuguese.[11]
Alvaro Fernandes returned to Portugal thereafter, with the two captives from Bezeguiche, the barrels of Senegal River water and the hunters' weapons to show for it. His hostile action had raised the alarm among the populations around Bezeguiche bay. The next Portuguese ships to arrive in the area—the large slaving fleet of Lançarote de Freitas a few months later—would be greeted by a hail of arrows and poisoned darts, and forced away.
Álvaro Fernandes sailed further south than any prior Portuguese captain, setting up the Cape of Mastos as the farthest marker. For that, he and his uncle, João Gonçalves Zarco, were amply rewarded by Prince Henry.[12]
2nd expedition
In the following year, João Gonçalves Zarco set out again on a caravel, commanded by his nephew Álvaro Fernandes.[13] Fernandes headed straight to his last point (Cabo dos Matos), and landed a little exploring party, but finding nobody, re-embarked and continued sailing on. At an indeterminate point south of there, they spotted a local coastal village and disembarked a party, only to be met by an armed native force (probably Serer), intent on defending their village. Álvaro Fernandes killed what he believed was the native chieftain at the beginning of the encounter, prompting the rest of the local warriors to briefly halt the fight. The Portuguese landing party availed themselves of the pause to hurry back to their ship.[14]
The environs of the Casamance River, from a French map c.1726
Having sailed a little on, the next day, the Portuguese captured two young local women collecting shellfish by the shore. The caravel resumed sail, and continued "for a certain distance", until they reached a large river, which is recorded in the chronicles as "Rio Tabite" (location uncertain, see below). Although probably aware of the fate of Nuno Tristão on a similar river venture, Alvaro Fernandes nonetheless decided to set a launch to explore upriver. The first exploratory boat made a landing on the bank near some local huts, where they quickly captured a local woman and brought her back to the caravel. Then refitting the boat, they set out again, this time intending to sail further upriver. But they did not get far before they came upon four or five native canoes with armed men heading towards them. Fernandes immediately turned the boat around and began racing back to the caravel, with the canoes hot on his tail. One of the canoes went fast enough to nearly catch up with Fernandes's boat, prompting Fernandes to turn and prepare for a fight. But the lead native canoe, realizing it was alone, slowed down to wait for the others, thus giving the Portuguese boat the opportunity to resume their flight back to the caravel. The Portuguese escaped, but Álvaro Fernandes himself was gravely wounded in the leg by a poisoned arrow shot from one of the canoes. Once aboard ship, he disinfected the wound with urine and olive oil. He lay in fever for a few days, on the edge of death, but recovered.[15]
Despite the near-fatal experience, the caravel proceeded straight south for a little longer, until they reached a sandy cape and large sandy bay.[16] They put a small boat to explore near the beach, but found a force of some 120 natives, armed with shields, assegais and bows marching towards them. The explorers immediately returned to the caravel. Nonetheless, the armed native party gave what seemed like a peaceful festive demonstration from the beach - waving and inviting the Portuguese to land. But given Fernandes's ill condition and still shaken by their earlier near-escape, the decision was made to quit the area and set sail back to Portugal.
On the way home, Fernandes stopped by Arguin island and a nearby cape in the bay, where they negotiated the purchase of a black slave-woman from some Berber traders. Upon arrival in Portugal, Álvaro Fernandes was amply rewarded by Prince Henry the Navigator who offered him 100 dubloons, and regent Peter of Coimbra, who gave him another 100, for having sailed further than any other Portuguese captain thus far.[17]
Extent of explorations
Of all the Henrican captains of the 1440s, Álvaro Fernandes seemed to have pushed the discovery marker farthest. It is almost certain that, on his first expedition (1445), Álvaro Fernandes surpassed all others and was the first European to land on Bezeguiche (Gorée island, in the bay of Dakar), sailing as far as the Cape of Masts (Cape Naze) in central Senegal.
The extent of his second 1446 journey is more uncertain. Zurara reports Fernandes sailed as far as 110 leagues beyond Cape Vert.[18] If Zurara was exactly correct, that would mean Fernandes reached the environs of Cape Verga (10°12′16″N14°27′13″W / 10.20444°N 14.45361°W / 10.20444; -14.45361 (Cape Verga), in modern Guinea), an incredible leap beyond his last point.[19] Chronicler João de Barros goes even further, identifying the river Fernandes sailed up as the "Rio Tabite". The exact identification of "Rio Tabite" is uncertain, for that name is not found on old charts.[20] Barros notes merely that Rio Tabite is 32 leagues beyond the "Rio de Nuno Tristão".[21] If we assume the latter to be the Nunez River (in modern Guinea), that would lead us to identify the "Rio Tabite" with the Forecariah River9°16′57″N13°20′10″W / 9.28250°N 13.33611°W / 9.28250; -13.33611 (Forecariah River) in modern Guinea, implying Fernandes sailed a tremendous 135 leagues beyond Cape Vert, well beyond the 110 suggested by Zurara.[22] At the other extreme, the Viscount of Santarém identified the Rio Tabite with the Rio do Lago (Diombos River, in the Sine-Saloum Delta of Senegal), a mere 24 leagues from Cape Vert.[23] However, the Diombos is the prime candidate location for the death of Nuno Tristão himself.[24] If that was also sailed by Fernandes, then that eliminates Fernandes's claim to have exceeded Nuno Tristão's last point by many leagues. The Tabite has also been tentatively identified with the Gambia River,[25] although this does not find many adherents for the same reasons of being too close to Tristão's last point.
Modern historians believe both Zurara and Barros greatly exaggerated in implying Álvaro Fernandes reached modern Guinea.[26] In particular, it is highly unlikely he would have sailed past the huge Geba River and the many Bissagos Islands and other notable promontories and landmarks without exploring them or making the least mention of them. Moreover, Zurara claims that all along Fernandes's route from Cape Vert, the "coast tendeth generally south",[27] thus eliminating the wilder estimates (the coast runs steadily southeast after Cape Roxo).
The only real difficulty with the Casamance hypothesis is the use of poisoned arrows, which was common among the Serer, Nimoninka and Mandinka peoples of the Saloum-Gambia area, but not among the Jola people (Felupes) of the Casamance. But historians doubt whether Fernandes was actually hit with a poisoned arrow at all, rather than a regular arrow and simply suffered a common infection in the aftermath. The very fact that he survived suggests it was not poisoned, as does the fact that no other sailors reported any similar injuries.[29] (It contrasts sharply with the fate of Nuno Tristão and his crew in the Diombos River, where a score of men fell dead quickly from Niominka poison. Given Tristão's fate, Zurara may have simply assumed all tribes south of Cape Verde used poison.[30])
The other footnote is why Fernandes' caravel was ambushed on the river by the Jola of the Casamance, who were unfamiliar with the Portuguese. Teixeira da Mota points to the abduction of the woman on the bank may have alerted the river peoples to the hostile intentions of the Portuguese. This contrasts with the Jola people on the beaches of Cape Varela, whose festive reception and hailing to the Portuguese ships from the shore reveals they had little or no prior notion of Portuguese slavers.[31]
Unfortunately, Zurara reports no topographic names bestowed by Álvaro Fernandes on his second journey, and the imprecise magnitudes reported ("some days", "a certain distance") are not very elucidating, leaving this conclusion still open to dispute. All that seems certain is that Fernandes sailed beyond his previous marker in 1446, and that this would remain standing as the record length reached by the Portuguese discoveries for the next decade. Fernandes's marker was only surpassed ten years later, in 1456, by Alvise Cadamosto, a Venetian explorer in Henry's service. Cadamosto laid claim to be discoverer of the Casamance River, and named it after the local king (mansa) of the Kasa (a near-extinct people related to the Bainuk people).
Related Research Articles
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.
Year 1446 (MCDXLVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.
The history of the Kingdom of Portugal from the Illustrious Generation of the early 15th century to the fall of the House of Aviz in the late 16th century has been named the "Portuguese golden age" and the "Portuguese Renaissance". During this period, Portugal was the first European power to begin building a colonial empire as during the Age of Exploration Portuguese sailors and explorers discovered an eastern route to India as well as several Atlantic archipelagos and colonized the African coast and Brazil. They also explored the Indian Ocean and established trading routes throughout most of southern Asia, sending the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to Ming China and to Japan, at the same time installing trading posts and the most important colony: Portuguese Macau. The Portuguese Renaissance produced a plethora of poets, historians, critics, theologians, and moralists. The Cancioneiro Geral by Garcia de Resende is taken to mark the transition from Old Portuguese to the modern Portuguese language.
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.
Articles related to Guinea-Bissau include:
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.
Antão Gonçalves was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer who was the first European to capture Africans in the Rio do Ouro region.
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.
Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia was a 15th-century Portuguese nautical explorer. He explored much of the coast of Western Sahara in 1435–1436 on behalf of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. He would later become one of the first colonists of Terceira Island in the Azores.
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 Niominka people are an ethnic group in Senegal living on the islands of the Saloum River delta. They are currently classified as a subgroup of the Serer.
The 4th Portuguese India Armada was a Portuguese fleet that sailed from Lisbon in February, 1502. Assembled on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of D. Vasco da Gama, it was the fourth of some thirteen Portuguese India Armadas, was Gama's second trip to India, and was designed as a punitive expedition targeting Calicut to avenge the numerous defeats of the 2nd Armada two years earlier.
The 1505 expedition of Pêro de Anaia to Sofala led to the establishment of Fort São Caetano, the first permanent Portuguese colony in East Africa. The Capitaincy of Sofala would eventually evolve into the colonial government of Portuguese 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 1444–46.
Gonçalo de Sintra or de Cintra (d.1444/45), was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and servant of Prince Henry the Navigator.
Fernando de Castro was a 15th-century Portuguese nobleman, diplomat and military figure. Fernando de Castro was the 1st Lord of Paúl de Boquilobo. He was a member of the royal council of John I of Portugal, and governor of the household of Prince Henry the Navigator.
André Álvares de Almada was a Cape Verdean writer, trader and explorer of mestiço (mixed) descent. He was one of the first recorded Cape Verdean writers.
↑ In his 1490s memoirs, Henrican captain Diogo Gomes (p.276) claims the bay was named Bezeguiche after a local mainland king. He does not, however, make mention of Álvaro Fernandes himself.
↑ Zurara (p.228). Barros does not give details of this incident, but notes later (p.113) that the natives on this shore were provoked to hostility by Fernandes actions.
↑ Zurara, Ch. 87 (p.p.258) (Port: p.406). Barros (Dec. I.1, Ch.14, p.121). Quintella (p.149) and Diffie and Winius (p.86-87) place this in 1446. Faria e Sousa (p.528) in 1447.
↑ Viscount of Santarém, in the first edition of Zurara, (1841: p.408), basing himself on a Juan de la Cosa map. But then Santarém (p.410) goes on to dramatically claim they continued sailing as far as Cape St. Ann in Sierra Leone, a gigantic leap from Diombos. Another source, the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica (op. cit), describes Fernandes as having sailed to "perhaps in the neighborhood of Conakry...but little short of Sierra Leone."
João de Barros (1552) Décadas da Ásia: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento, e conquista, dos mares, e terras do Oriente.. Vol. 1 (Dec I, Lib.1-5).
Gomes Eanes de Zurara (1453) Crónica dos feitos notáveis que se passaram na Conquista da Guiné por mandado do Infante D. Henrique or Chronica do descobrimento e conquista da Guiné. (Trans. 1896–99 by C.R. Beazley and E. Prestage), The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, London: Halyut, v.1, v.2
Beazley, C.R. and E. Prestage (1896–99) "Introduction" & "Notes" in English translation of Zurara's Chronicle.
Castilho, A.M. de (1866) Descripção e roteiro da costa occidental de Africa, desde o cabo de Espartel até o das Agulhas, Lisbon: Impresa Nacional, 2 vols.
Cortesão, Armando (1931) "Subsídios para a história do Descobrimento de Cabo Verde e Guiné", Boletim da Agencia Geral das Colonias, No. 75. As reprinted in 1975, Esparsos, vol. 1, Coimbra. online
Diffie, Bailey W., and George D. Winius (1977) Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415–1580 Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press
Diogo GomesDe prima inventione Guineae (Portuguese translation by Gabriel Pereira (1898–99) as "As Relações do Descobrimento da Guiné e das ilhas dos Açores, Madeira e Cabo Verde" in Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, no. 5 online)
Leite, Duarte (1941) Acerca da «Crónica dos Feitos de Guinee». Lisbon: Bertrand
Magalhães Godinho, Vitorino de (1945) Documentos sôbre a Espansão Portuguesa, 2 vols, Lisbon: Gleba.
Peres, Damião (1943) História dos descobrimentos portugueses, Porto: Portucalense.
Quintella, Ignaco da Costa (1839–40) Annaes da Marinha Portugueza, 2 vols, Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias. vol. 1
Teixeira da Mota, Avelino (1946) "A descoberta da Guiné", Boletim cultural da Guiné Portuguesa, Vol. 1. Part 1 in No. 1 (Jan), p.11-68, Pt. 2 in No. 2 (Apr), p.273-326; Pt. 3 in No. 3 (Jul), p.457-509.
Teixeira da Mota, Avelino (1972) Mar, além Mar: Estudos e ensaios de história e geographia. Lisbon: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
