Gonçalo Coelho (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1501–04) was a Portuguese

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

who belonged to a prominent family in northern Portugal. He commanded two expeditions (1501–02 and 1503–04) which explored much of the coast of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Biography

In 1501 Coelho was sent on an expedition to follow up on

Pedro Álvares Cabral Pedro Álvares Cabral ( or ; born Pedro Álvares de Gouveia; c. 1467 or 1468 – c. 1520) was a Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. He was the first human ...

's discovery of Brazil. On 10 May, he sailed from

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

as "Captain General" of three caravels. Among his crew was a Florentine resident in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, Amerigo Vespucci. On 17 August his expedition made landfall off the Brazilian coast at about 5° S. The fleet continued south, reaching

Guanabara Bay Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói a ...

(23° S) on New Year's Day 1502, naming it "Rio de Janeiro". They sailed two degrees further south (reaching modern

Cananéia Cananéia is the southernmost city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, near to where the Tordesilhas Line passed. The population in 2020 was 12,541 and the area is 1,242.010 km². The elevation is 8 m. The city of Cananéia is host to the ...

), before leaving Brazil on 13 February 1502. If Amerigo Vespucci`s account is to be believed, the expedition reached the latitude "South Pole elevation 52° , in the ''cold'' latitudes of present-day

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

, reaching ''inhospitable seas and shores'' (or ''islands''), before turning back, but this is still a matter of controversy. Only one of the three

caravel The caravel (Portuguese: , ) is a small maneuverable sailing ship used in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave it speed and the capacity for sailing w ...

s returned to Lisbon, arriving there on 7 September, 1502. Brazilian historian Varnhagen believed that in April 1502 the expedition might have discovered the

South Georgia Island South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

, finding evidence of this in a report by Vespucci.L. Ivanov and N. Ivanova. Roché Island / South Georgia. In
''The World of Antarctica''.
Generis Publishing, 2022. pp. 68-70. Coelho again sailed from Lisbon on 10 May 1503, this time with a fleet of six sail. Vespucci once more accompanied him, now as captain of one of the ships. After stopping at the Cape Verde Islands the ships came to "an island in the midst of the sea" (probably

Fernando de Noronha Fernando de Noronha () is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, and located off the Brazilian coast. It consists of 21 islands and islets, extending over an area of . Only the eponymous main island is in ...

), where the flagship struck a reef and wrecked on 10 August. All the men were saved, being loaded into Vespucci's ship. They found a harbor, where they rendezvoused with one of the fleet. They then sailed to Brazil, arriving there in November at a bay they named "Todos os Santos" (today

Baía de Todos os Santos The Bay of All Saints ( pt, Baía de Todos os Santos), also known as All Saints' Bay and Todos os Santos Bay, is the principal bay of the Brazilian state of Bahia, to which it gave its name. It sits on the eastern coast of Brazil, surrounding pa ...

). After waiting here in vain for the rest of the fleet, they sailed south to another bay, where they stayed for five months, building a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

and loading

logwood ''Haematoxylum campechianum'' (blackwood, bloodwood tree, bluewood, campeachy tree, campeachy wood, campeche logwood, campeche wood, Jamaica wood, logwood or logwood tree) is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is ...

. They left twenty-four men at the fort to load more logwood, and sailed for Lisbon, which they reached on 28 June 1504.

References

Portuguese explorers of South America 16th-century explorers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Maritime history of Portugal Portuguese colonization of the Americas 1450s births 1512 deaths {{Portugal-explorer-stub