Fernão Gomes (15th century) was a

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 ...

merchant and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

from

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, possibly the son of Tristão Gomes de Brito. In 1469, King

Afonso V of Portugal Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa. ...

granted him the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

of trade in the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

. Besides the payment of an annual rent of 200,000 ''reais'', Gomes was to explore 100

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

s of the coast of

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 ...

per year, for five years (later the agreement would be extended for another year). He also received a monopoly of trade in guinea pepper for another yearly payment of 100,000 ''reais'' (then called " malagueta", it was a popular substitute for

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diame ...

). Gomes employed explorers

João de Santarém João de Santarém (15th century) was a Portuguese discoveries, Portuguese explorer who discovered São Tomé (in December 21, 1471), Annobón (in January 1472) and Príncipe (January 17, 1472). Together with Pêro Escobar, he also encountered th ...

Pedro Escobar Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

Lopo Gonçalves Lopo may refer to: People Surname * Alberto Lopo (born 1980), Spanish football player * Fausto Lopo de Carvalho, Portuguese pulmonologist * Santiago Lopo (born 1974), Galician author Given name * Lopo Fernandes Pacheco (died 1349) * Lopo Gomes de ...

Fernão do Pó Fernão do Pó (; ''fl.'' 1472), also known as Fernão Pó, Fernando Pó or Fernando Poo, was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer of the West African coast. He was the first European to see the islands in the Gulf of Guinea around 14 ...

and

Pedro de Sintra Pedro de Sintra, also known as Pêro de Sintra, Pedro da Cintra or Pedro da Sintra, was a Portuguese explorer. He was among the first Europeans to explore the West African coast. Around 1462 his expedition reached what is now Sierra Leone and named ...

, He exceeded the requirements of his grant: his expeditions reached the Cape of Santa Catarina, already in the Southern Hemisphere, and also the islands of the Gulf of Guinea. In 1471 they reached

Elmina Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante people, Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem Municipal District, Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, Ghana, Centra ...

(meaning "the Mine"), where they found a thriving

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

trade. With the substantial revenues he got, especially the trade of his warehouse in Mina, he became known as "Fernão Gomes da Mina" in 1474. With his profits from African trade, Fernão Gomes assisted the Portuguese king in the conquests of

Asilah Asilah (; ar, أزيلا or أصيلة; pt, Arzila; es, Arcila) is a fortified town on the northwest tip of the Atlantic coast of Morocco, about south of Tangier. Its ramparts and gateworks remain fully intact. History The town's history da ...

Alcácer Ceguer Ksar es-Seghir ( ar, القصر الصغير, ⵇⵙⴰⵔ ⵙⵖⵉⵔ, ''al-Qasr as-Seghir''), also known by numerous other spellings and names, is a small town on the Mediterranean coast in the Jebala region of northwest Morocco, between Ta ...

, and

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

in Morocco, where he was knighted. Later, in 1478, gathering honors and with an enormous influence on the economy of the kingdom, he was appointed to the royal council. Given the large profits, in 1482 new King

John II of Portugal John II ( pt, João II; ; 3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince ( pt, o Príncipe Perfeito, link=no), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for re-establishi ...

ordered a

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

to be built in Elmina, to manage the local gold industry:

Elmina Castle Elmina Castle was erected by the Portugal, Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina (''St. George of the Mine Castle''), also known as ''Castelo da Mina'' or simply ''Mina'' (or ''Factory (trading post), Feitoria da Mina''), in presen ...

. Gomes married Catarina Leme, an illegitimate child of the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

-Portuguese merchant Martim Leme. Martin Leme was the son of Martin Lems and his noble Portuguese wife Joana Barroso. They had two children. Catarina Leme married João Rodrigues Pais. Nuno Fernandes da Mina married Isabel Queimado and Violante de Brito.http://www.geneall.net/P/per_page.php?id=130326 Fernão Gomes in a Portuguese Genealogical site

References

Further reading