Pedro Álvares Cabral

Portuguese military commander and explorer (c.1467/8 – c.1521)

  • Fame65.0
  • Momentum15.0
  • Portugal rank#40
Source-basedRising
  • Fame65.0
  • Momentum15.0
  • Portugal rank#40
  • Historical Figures rank#172
  • Wikipedia24K
Lived 1467–1520, aged 53Portugal
  • Wikipedia
    80 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Rank in Portugal
    #40
    Historical Figures
  • Era
    1467–1520
    Aged 53
  • Awards
    1
    recognised work
Summary
Updated 2026-06-08

He sailed west across the Atlantic in 1500, stumbled onto Brazil, claimed it for Portugal, then kept going east to India—making him the first person to set foot on four continents in a single voyage. The spices he brought back funded an empire, but a falling-out with the king sent him into obscurity for three centuries.

Biography

About

Pedro Álvares Cabral came from minor Portuguese nobility and received a solid education, though his early years are hazy. In 1500 he was handed command of a 13-ship expedition bound for India via Vasco da Gama's new African route, tasked with breaking the Arab-Turkish-Italian stranglehold on the spice trade. His fleet veered far into the western Atlantic—perhaps on purpose, perhaps not—and in April made landfall on what Cabral thought was an island but soon realized was a continent: South America, inside Portugal's zone under the Treaty of Tordesillas. He sent word home, reprovisioned, and pus…

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Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Rising
65.0
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum15.0
Historical22.9
Now attention67.3
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence