Gonçalo Coelho facts for kids

Gonçalo Coelho was a brave Portuguese explorer. He lived a long time ago, around the late 1400s and early 1500s. He came from an important family in northern Portugal. Gonçalo is famous for leading two big trips to explore the coast of Brazil. These journeys helped Portugal learn more about the new lands they had found.

Exploring with Gonçalo Coelho

First Trip to Brazil (1501-1502)

In 1501, Portugal sent Gonçalo Coelho on an important mission. They wanted him to explore the new land of Brazil. Another explorer, Pedro Álvares Cabral, had just found it. On May 10, Gonçalo left Lisbon, Portugal's capital. He was the "Captain General" of three small ships called caravels.

A famous mapmaker named Amerigo Vespucci was also on this trip. He was from Florence but lived in Seville. On August 17, Gonçalo's ships reached the coast of Brazil. They landed near 5° South latitude. The fleet then sailed south along the coast.

On New Year's Day in 1502, they reached Guanabara Bay. This bay is at 23° South latitude. They named it "Rio de Janeiro," which means "River of January." The ships continued even further south. They reached a place near modern Cananéia.

On February 13, 1502, they left Brazil. Amerigo Vespucci later wrote that the expedition went as far as 52° South latitude. This would be in the very cold lands of present-day Patagonia. He said they found "inhospitable seas and shores." However, whether they actually went that far is still debated by historians. Only one of the three caravels made it back to Lisbon. It arrived on September 7, 1502.

Second Adventure and Shipwreck (1503-1504)

Gonçalo Coelho sailed from Lisbon again on May 10, 1503. This time, he had a bigger fleet of six ships. Amerigo Vespucci joined him once more. Vespucci was now the captain of one of the ships.

After stopping at the Cape Verde Islands, the ships headed towards Brazil. They reached an island in the middle of the sea. This was probably Fernando de Noronha. On August 10, the main ship hit a reef. It was badly damaged and wrecked. Luckily, all the men on board were saved. They moved to Vespucci's ship.

The explorers found a safe harbor. There, they met up with another ship from their fleet. Then, they sailed to Brazil. They arrived in November at a bay they named "Todos os Santos." Today, this is known as Baía de Todos os Santos.

They waited there for the rest of their fleet, but the other ships never arrived. So, they sailed south to another bay. They stayed there for five months. During this time, they built a fort. They also loaded their ships with logwood. Logwood was a valuable wood used to make red dye.

When they left, they left twenty-four men at the fort. These men were to continue loading more logwood. Gonçalo and his fleet then sailed back to Lisbon. They reached home on June 28, 1504.