Gonçalo Velho Cabral ( 1400 – c. 1460) was a Portuguese monk and Commander in the Order of Christ, explorer (credited with the discovery of the Formigas, the re-discovery of the islands of Santa Maria and São Miguel in the Azores) and hereditary landowner responsible for administering Crown lands on the same islands, during the Portuguese Age of Discovery.
Biography
Early life
He was son of Fernão Velho, Lord and Alcaide of Veleda, and his wife Maria Álvares Cabral (great-aunt of Pedro Álvares Cabral). His siblings Álvaro Velho Cabral, Teresa Velho Cabral, wife of Fernão Soares de Albergaria, and Violante Velho Cabral, wife of Diogo Gonçalves de Travassos also established settlements in the Azores with their families. Although referenced as Gonçalo Velho Cabral in most modern biographies, he is generally referred to as Gonçalo Velho in historical documents.
Explorer
In 1431, Gonçalo Velho was in the Vila de Tancos, along the Tagus River, when he received a summons from the Prince Henry, Governor of the Order of Christ, who ordered him to depart from Sagres in a caravel, with instructions to navigate to the western sea, and to "discover some land, [and] return with notice". This first voyage was made to determine the location of "islands" first identified by the Portuguese pilot Diogo de Silves, in 1427. Although the noted chronicler Gaspar Frutuoso has attributed to Gonçalo Velho Cabral the discovery of the seven islands of the Azores, modern historiographer contest this record, limiting his discoveries to the eastern islands alone. In 1431, with less than a few days of travel, Gonçalo Velho discovered a scattering of rocky outcroppings, which he examined and were later named the "Formigas". He quickly returned to Sagres, probably due to bad weather.
The following year, and during the reign of his brother (King D. Duarte) the Infante, D. Henrique, founded a nautical school in the provincial village of Sagres. Gonçalo Velho Cabral was one of the mariners and monks, in the devotion to the Virgin Mary that worked for the Infante. On his orders, Cabral was sent, once again, to search the Ocean Sea to discover new territories for the Portuguese Crown, promising to name the first island to the Virgin. Gonçalo Velho Cabral scanned maps and nautical charts for days while at sea, noting the currents and wind directions, during several nights, through storms and gales in search of these mythical lands identified by the Greeks outside the Pillars of Hercules.
Finally, on the morning of 15 August (the Feast day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary), His group circled and explored the island, examining the forested interior, before finally returning to continental Portugal. In 1432, the Infante Henry, upon receiving notice of a mystical island to the north of Santa Maria, sent orders to Gonçalo Velho to explore the waters and relate any discovery. On 3 April 1443, King Afonso V of Portugal, on the request of the Henry the Navigator, had bestowed on Gonçalo Velho the title of Commander of the Islands of the Azores.
On his return, Gonçalo Velho and his crew made port in Praia dos Lobos on Santa Maria before embarking; Cabral and his Algarvean sailors eventually discovered a large island on 8 May 1444. On this first expedition, the crew ported in the small islet (today near Vila Franca do Campo) naming the large island in honour of the apparition of the archangel Michael (or São Miguel. In 1445, Cabral returned to the waters of São Miguel with nobles and settlers (bringing with them herd animals, birds, wheat and vegetables) in order to settle the island. Arriving in a period of seismic activity, his crew discovered floating pumice stone and tree trunks as arrived closer to their port.