For centuries it has been taken for granted Christopher Columbus It was the First European to get to America in 1492. More recently, the Vikings headed by Leif Erikson won prominence thanks to documented settlements in Terranova (Canada), towards him year 1,000.
However, there are historical tests and hypotheses that point to another even more surprising possibility: a Portuguese navigator would have stepped on American lands before both. His name was Joao Vaz Corte-Real and according to official documents of the fifteenth century, I could have reached the coasts of America in 1472, Twenty years before the arrival of Columbus.
A trip to “cod”: the track that points to America
In 1474, King Alfonso V of Portugal granted Joao Vaz Corte-Real the captaincy of the island Terceirain the Azores, as a reward for a mysterious discovery: a place that the documents call “La Land of Cod” (the land of cod). This name has made the alarms of many historians jump, since cod is an abundant fish in the waters of the Atlantic.
The records of the time are not explicit, but several scholars have indicated that this term could refer to an American coastal area visited by Portuguese fishermen long before Columbus's first trip. Some even suggest that Corte-Real reached those lands after a trip sponsored by Denmark, which would explain the subsequent confusion with the Vikings.
Joao Vaz Corte-Real, the Portuguese “Christopher Columbus”
A well -kept secret by Portugal?
Portugal had reasons not to make this possible finding public. During the fifteenth century, the Portuguese kingdom was focused on exploring the route to India Bordering Africay He had no interest in opening a new competition with Castilla in the western Atlantic. In addition, the signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 reinforced the distribution of the world between Portuguese and Castellanos, thus consolidating the interests of both crowns.
Therefore, some historians believe that Portugal could have hidden or minimized the discovery of cut-real so as not to compromise your geopolitical plans. Even so, the documentary indications on the trip continue to appear in files and forgotten chronicles.
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The figure of Corte-Real has been relegated to a footnote for centuries, but in recent years Portuguese and Canadian researchers have recovered their possible role as the first modern European to reach America. They do not exist conclusive tests such as Travel Maps or DiariesE, but the official documentation of the fifteenth century and parallels with other subsequent explorers feed an increasingly serious hypothesis.
While Columbus is still the great protagonist of 1492, he was not necessarily the first. And either was it Leif Erikson. João Vaz Corte-Real could have stepped on America in 1472, without pomp or monuments, but with the merit of having advanced to the greatest geographical turn of modern history.
