Gaspar de Lemos facts for kids
Gaspar de Lemos was a Portuguese explorer and a captain in the fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral. Cabral's fleet is famous for arriving in Brazil.
Before Cabral's fleet, another explorer named Amerigo Vespucci was already exploring the same region. Vespucci discovered the Amazon River and parts of Brazil a few months before Cabral's ships arrived.
Gaspar de Lemos was given an important task: he was sent back to Portugal to tell King Manuel I about the new lands they had found. He is also credited with discovering the Fernando de Noronha islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Gaspar de Lemos was one of many brave explorers who sailed to the New World.
About Gaspar de Lemos
We don't know much about Gaspar de Lemos's personal life. It's thought that his family, the Morgadas, originally came from the Kingdom of Galiza. They moved to Portugal during the time of King Afonso IV (1325–1357).
After Gaspar de Lemos returned to Europe from exploring the new world, his name disappears from historical records for a while. It reappears later, between 1536 and 1537, when he was serving Martim Afonso de Sousa in India. Beyond this, not much more information about him has been found.
His Discoveries and Journeys
Gaspar de Lemos was the commander of a supply ship in Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet. When the fleet sighted the new world, Cabral chose Lemos to sail back to Portugal. His mission was to inform King Manuel I about this important discovery. Lemos returned to Portugal carrying a letter from Pêro Vaz de Caminha, which announced the "discovery" of Brazil.
This expedition is given credit for several important discoveries:
- The discovery of the Fernando de Noronha islands.
- The discovery of the bay he named Bay of All Saints on November 1, 1501.
- The discovery of the Bay of Guanabara on January 1, 1502. He thought it was a river and named it Rio de Janeiro.
- The discovery of the island of São Vicente on January 22, 1502.
See also
In Spanish: Gaspar de Lemos para niños
