Pedro Álvares Cabral was a nobleman, military commander, and navigator, and was also considered as the discoverer of Brazil. He was born in Belmonte, in 1467, and died in Santarém in 1520. He made the first significant exploration of the northeastern coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal. Although the details of his life are scarce, it is known that he came from a noble family from the inland and received a good formal education. He was appointed to lead an expedition to India in 1500, following the newly inaugurated route by Vasco da Gama, around Africa. There, his 13-ship fleet moved away from the coast of Africa, maybe intentionally, and disembarked in what he initially thought to be a large island, which he named Vera Cruz and of which Pêro Vaz de Caminha made a reference in his letter. He explored the coast and realized that this enormous landmass was probably a continent, sending a ship to inform King Manuel I about the discovery of these lands right after. As this territory was inside the Portuguese hemisphere according to the Treaty of Tordesillas, he claimed it for the Portuguese crown. He had disembarked in South America and the lands he had claimed for the kingdom of Portugal would later form Brazil. Although he lost the king's good graces, Cabral managed to get a beneficial marriage in 1503 with Isabel de Castro, a rich noblewoman and descendant of King Fernando I. The couple had at least four children: two boys (Fernão Álvares Cabral and António Cabral) and two girls (Catarina de Castro and Guiomar de Castro). Cabral died of unspecified causes, probably in 1520, and was buried inside the Chapel of John the Evangelist in the church of the old convent of the Grace in Santarém.

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