Gonçalo de Sintra or de Cintra (d.1444/45), 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 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 ...

and servant of

Prince Henry the Navigator ''Dom'' Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator ( pt, Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15t ...

. According to chronicler Zurara, Gonçalo de Sintra was a young

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...

(''escudeiro'') or stirrup boy in the household of Portuguese prince

Henry the Navigator ''Dom'' Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator ( pt, Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15t ...

Duke of Viseu Duke of Viseu (in Portuguese ''Duque de Viseu'') was a Portuguese Royal Dukedom created in 1415 by King John I of Portugal for his third male child, Henry the Navigator, following the conquest of Ceuta. When Henry the Navigator died withou ...

. Others have characterized Sintra as older, an illustrious

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

(''cavaleiro''), distinguished for his military service at Ceuta (although it is possible these were two different men with the same name).

African Expedition

In late 1444 (or 1445), Henry dispatched Gonçalo de Sintra in command of a

caravel The caravel (Portuguese: , ) is a small maneuverable sailing ship used in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave it speed and the capacity for sailing win ...

on an exploratory expedition down the

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

n coast, with strict instructions to sail straight to the 'land of

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

', and to not detract from that objective. Earlier that year, a Portuguese

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

-raiding expedition under

Lançarote de Freitas Lançarote de Freitas, better known as Lançarote de Lagos or Lançarote da Ilha, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and slave trader from Lagos, Portugal. He was the leader of two large Portuguese slaving raids on the West African coast in 14 ...

had raided the

Bay of Arguin The Bay of Arguin (french: Baie d'Arguin; pt, Baía de Arguim) is a bay on the Atlantic shore of Mauritania and the former mouth of the Tamanrasset River, now a Paleo-river. Geography It is located south of Cap Blanc, north of Cap Timiris. Th ...

(

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

), an area clustered with Sanhaja Berber fishing settlements, and taken a few hundred Berber captives, which were sold as slaves in

Lagos, Portugal Lagos (; literally "lakes"; cel-x-proto, Lacobriga) is a city and municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal. The population of the municipality in 201 ...

at great profit. Desirous to make some quick profit of his own, Gonçalo de Sintra disobeyed Henry's instructions and decided to make a quick slave-raiding detour to the Arguin banks. But Lançarote's raid had driven much of the local population to evacuate the islands and coasts, with the result that Sintra found the fishing settlements deserted. Sintra managed to capture two Berber women who had lingered on Arguin island, but a Berber slave-boy Sintra had brought from Portugal to serve as translator escaped. This turn of events probably persuaded Sintra to make an effortful search for captives to 'make up' for the loss of the slave-boy rather than just call it quits and go on to Guinea. According to Zurara, Gonçalo de Sintra directed his caravel to Nair island (''ilha do Nar''), at the southern end of Arguin bay. At first Nair seemed abandoned, like all the other settlements. But taking a handful of crew aboard a launch, Sintra led a landing party to investigate. Not long after they landed, the Portuguese were ambushed by a hidden force of some seventy armed Sanhaja Berber tribesmen. The conditions of the surf and tide prevented the caravel from approaching the island and rescuing the landing party. Gonçalo de Sintra and seven crewmen were killed on the spot. The caravel, with its remaining crew, immediately returned to Portugal. Although Zurara identified the location of Sintra's death at Nair island, in the Arguin banks, later chronicler

João de Barros João de Barros () (1496 – 20 October 1570), called the ''Portuguese Livy'', is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his ''Décadas da Ásia'' ("Decades of Asia"), a history of the Portuguese in India, Asia, and southea ...

asserted the event transpired much further north, just below

Rio de Oro Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

, at a location since known as Cintra Bay (''Angra de Cintra'',

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

).. Modern historians have tended to side with Zurara's identification of Nair, suggesting that Cintra Bay was probably named in error by contemporary Portuguese cartographers.Cortesão (1931); Diffie & Winius (p.82) Gonçalo de Sintra was the first of

's captains to be killed on an expedition, and is generally regarded as the first known Portuguese casualty of the era of

Portuguese discoveries Portuguese maritime exploration resulted in the numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese as a result of their intensive maritime journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of Eu ...

. Although some historians allege Gonçalo de Sintra was a relative (possibly the father) of later Portuguese explorer

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 ...

(who explored the lands of Guinea in 1460), there is no evidence of this (or possibly Pedro is son of a namesake knight?)

Notes

Sources

(1552–59) ''Décadas da Ásia: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento, e conquista, dos mares, e terras do Oriente''. Vol. 1 (Dec I, Lib.1-5) *

Gomes Eanes de Zurara Gomes Eanes de Zurara (c. 1410 – c. 1474), sometimes spelled Eannes or Azurara, was a Portuguese chronicler of the European Age of Discovery, the most notable after Fernão Lopes. Life and career Zurara adopted the career of letters in middle ...

(1453) ''Crónica dos feitos notáveis que se passaram na Conquista da Guiné por mandado do Infante D. Henrique or Chronica do descobrimento e conquista da Guiné''. rans. 1896-99 by C.R. Beazley and E. Prestage, ''The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea'', London: Halykut* Cortesão, Armando (1931) "Subsídios para a história do Descobrimento de Cabo Verde e Guiné", Boletim da Agencia Geral das Colonias, No. 75. As reprinted in 1975, Esparsos, vol. 1, Coimbra * Diffie, Bailey W., and George D. Winius (1977) ''Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415-1580'' Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press * Quintella, Ignacio da Costa (1839–40) ''Annaes da Marinha Portugueza'', 2 vols, Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias
vol. 1
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sintra, Goncalo de 15th-century explorers of Africa Portuguese explorers Maritime history of Portugal 1440s deaths 15th-century Portuguese people Year of birth unknown