Duarte Pacheco Pereira

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Duarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India. His accomplishments in strategic warfare, exploration, mathematics and astronomy were of an exceptional level.

Pacheco Pereira was the son of João Pacheco and Isabel Pereira. In his youth he served as the King of Portugal's personal squire.

In 1488 he explored the west coast of Africa. His expedition fell ill with fever and lost their ship. Pacheco Pereira was rescued from the island of Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea by Bartolomeu Dias when Dias was returning from rounding the Cape of Good Hope.

Recent research shows he probably discovered Brazil in 1498, two years before the 1500 voyage to Brazil by Pedro Álvares Cabral, who is generally regarded as the first European to discover Brazil. However, this fact was kept secret by the Portuguese Crown as it violated the exploration and territorial claims set by Portugal and Spain. In fact, King Manuel I had commissioned Pacheco Pereira to search the area under secret orders of the Crown, and purposely broke the treaty in secret.

In 1504 Pacheco Pereira helped defend a Portuguese trading station at Kochi (Cochin) in India, from attacks by the ruler of Kozhikode (Calicut). With vastly outnumbered Portuguese troops, he successfully resisted attacks from Indians for five months. For this he was honoured by the king on his return to Portugal in 1505.

His diary (1506), preserved in the Portuguese National Archive (Torre do Tombo), is probably the first European document to acknowledge that chimpanzees built their own rudimentary tools. Between 1505 and 1508 he wrote a book, Esmeraldo de situ orbis, which was not published until the nineteenth century, probably due to Portugal's official censorship of documents about its discoveries.^[1]

Later in life, while away governing São Jorge da Mina, he was slandered by his enemies at court with accusations of theft and corruption. He was recalled to the capital and briefly imprisoned until he was exonerated by the Crown. But the damage was done as he had lost his governorship, his wealth, and influence. Although it was unlikely that he had committed any crimes against the king, the fact that King João II of Portugal had died and been replaced by a king who didn't know Duarte Pacheco as personally could be a major factor. Duarte Pacheco had served the previous king as a squire, and had served King Manuel merely as a high ranking servant. His distance from Lisbon and his success meant he had many enemies abroad, and few friends in the capital to defend him. He died alone and penniless.

[edit] Marriage and descendants

He married Antónia de Albuquerque, daughter of Jorge Garcês and wife Isabel de Albuquerque Galvão, only daughter of Duarte Galvão by first wife Catarina de Sousa e Albuquerque, and had eight children:

João Fernandes Pacheco, who married Dona Maria da Silva, without issue and had a bastard daughter married with issue
Jerónimo Pacheco, who died unmarried and without issue in Tangier
Maria de Albuquerque, married to João da Silva, Alcaide-Mór of Soure, and had a daughter married and with issue
Isabel de Albuquerque
Garcia Pacheco
Gaspar Pacheco
Duarte Pacheco
Lusuarte/Lisuarte Pacheco, a bastard son according to records. He fought and died at the age of thirty after being shot with an arrow between his temple and neck during a hopeless battle. He was raised and trained by his father as a squire, and mastered various weapons. He was a strong man with a husky build. He was famous for his feats in India while under his father's command, and was knighted at the age of 20. He later commanded a ship against the Egyptian fleet and was gravely wounded, but continued to fight for 10 more years in various continents and countries until his death. Information about any possible marriage or children is unknown. His father named him after the character King Lisuarte of the Amadis de Gaula stories.