Álvaro Martins, also known as Álvaro Martins Homem, was a 15th-century

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

explorer alleged to have explored the western

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and later the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n coast. He is claimed to have accompanied

João Vaz Corte-Real João Vaz Corte-Real (; c. 1420 – 1496) was a Portuguese sailor, claimed by some accounts to have been an explorer of a land called ''Terra Nova do Bacalhau'' (''New Land of the Codfish''), speculated to possibly have been a part of North Americ ...

on an undocumented expedition to ''

Terra Nova do Bacalhau Bacalao, Bacallao, or Terra do Bacalhau was a phantom island depicted on several early 16th century Portuguese maps and nautical charts. The name first appears on a chart in 1508, but there are earlier accounts of Bacalao. The name is a variation ...

'' (literally, "New Land of the

Codfish Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not calle ...

") in the early 1470s, by

Gaspar Frutuoso Gaspar Frutuoso (c.1522 in Ponta Delgada – 1591 in Ribeira Grande) was a Portuguese priest, historian and humanist from the island of São Miguel, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. His major contribution to Portuguese history was hi ...

in his 1570s book ''Saudades da Terra''.Diffie et al., 1977, p. 447. It is known that he was granted the captaincy of

Praia Praia (, Portuguese language, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.

, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, on 17 February 1474 for his services to

Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu and Beja (or ''Fernando,'' , 17 November 1433 – 18 September 1470) was the third son of Edward, King of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon. Biography Ferdinand was born in Almeirim on 17 November 14 ...

, an office he held for some years. It was following the disappearance of

Jacome de Bruges Jacome or Jácome is a Portuguese and Spanish surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Jácome de Bruges (born 1418), Flemish businessman *Jacome Gonsalves (1676–1742), Sri Lankan priest and missionary * Jácome Ratton (173 ...

that the King divided the island between Angra and Praia, granting Praia to Álvaro Martins, while

obtained the

Captaincy A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule ...

of Angra. Álvaro Martins and his son (Antão) were responsible for the fortifications, and the development of agriculture and commerce in northern Terceira.Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.28 He is also said to have accompanied

Bartolomeu Dias Bartolomeu Dias ( 1450 – 29 May 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships lay in the o ...

on his journey around the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

from 1487 to 1488.Dutra, 1997, p. 216.

References

;Notes ;Sources * * * Martins Homem Portuguese explorers 15th-century explorers of Africa Maritime history of Portugal 15th-century Portuguese people {{Portugal-explorer-stub