The first ship, which left the port of Sagres for reconnaissance trip to the south, under the command of Gonzalo Velho, weighed anchor at 1416. Gonzalo Velho first overcome psychological barriers that prevent the sailors to move along the coast of Africa to the south. It was the fear of the "Cape No." (Cabo de NAO), near the mouth of the southern Moroccan Wadi Draa (Oued Draa), located at the latitude of the Canary Islands. This limit was set during the Arab influence.There was an opinion: "Who will round the Cape of No, do not come back." In other words, it was the extreme limit of navigation.
Indeed, the nature of coastal shipping, seemed to have put a barrier. In the bleak monotony here extends the coast of the Sahara and the seemingly infinite length, strikingly bleak and apparently without life. No natural harbor and estuary not promised shelter and protection of the ship, nowhere sources to fill drinking water supplies. In addition, hazardous shoals and reefs as a threat to the courts.
Gonçalo Velho 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 .
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 Frutuosohas attributed to Gonçalo Velho 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, Velho 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.
On the morning of 15 August (the Feast day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary ), as was the custom, Gonçalo Velho and his crew began their day with morning mass, benedictions and oratory to God and the Virgin Mary, to help them on their journey and to request their assistance in finding land.As the legend suggests,when the crow were just pronouncing "Santa Maria" the cry was heard “Terra à vista!” ( Land in sight! ).:. The commander considered it a miracle and, remembering the promise he had made, named the island as Santa Maria .
With his crew he disembarked on a small beach in the north-western part of the island. His group circled and explored the island, examining the forested interior, before finally returning to continental Portugal. Velho sent with him various canisters of earth and water to give the Infante, including examples of the woods unfamiliar to them in Europe.
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
Оn 8 May 1444 Velho and his Algarvean sailors eventually discovered a large island, naming the island in honour of the apparition of the archangel Michael (or São Miguel ). Settlement of Santa Maria and São Miguel began in earnst, and Gonçalo Velho became the Donatary-Captain of both islands (Santa Maria was settled in 1439, and colonists started arriving on São Miguel in 1444. Under his administration, São Miguel and Santa Maria remained a single Captaincy until 1474, when Velho sold São Miguel to Rui Gonçalves da Câmara .
Gonzalo Velho statue near the gate of the city of Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores
Portugal 1945;2,0;SG? Sources:W.Kramer: Neue Horizonte.Leipzig. 1997. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia