João Fernandes Lavrador (1453-1501) () was a Portuguese explorer of the late 15th century. He was one of the first modern explorers of the Northeast coasts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, including the large

Labrador peninsula The Labrador Peninsula, or Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by the Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the so ...

, which was named after him by European settlers in eastern Canada. The popular dog breed Labrador Retriever is named after the peninsula and thus by effect also bears his name. It was developed as a working breed for hunting.

Name

''Lavrador'' means "farmer - plower" () in Portuguese but has no immediate relation to the family's activity.

Expeditions

Lavrador was granted a patent by King Manuel I in 1498 that gave him the right to explore the part of the Atlantic Ocean as set out in the

Treaty of Tordesillas The Treaty of Tordesillas, ; pt, Tratado de Tordesilhas . signed in Tordesillas, Spain on 7 June 1494, and authenticated in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Em ...

. Kevin Major, ''As Near to Heaven by Sea: A History of Newfoundland and Labrador'', 2001, Together with Pêro de Barcelos, Lavrador first sighted what is now known as Labrador in 1498. Lavrador also charted the coasts of Southwestern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

and of adjacent Northeastern

around 1498; he reported on these observations and gave notice of them in Europe. The areas are believed to have been named ''island of the Labrador'' and ''land of the Labrador'' (modern-day

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

), respectively, after him. In the 1532 Wolfenbüttel map, believed to be the work of Diogo Ribeiro, along the coast of Greenland the legend was added: "As he who first sighted it was a farmer from the Azores Islands, this name remains attached to that country." For the first seven decades or so of the sixteenth century, the name Labrador was most often applied to what we know as Greenland.See James A. Williamson, ''The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery under Henry VII'' (London, 1962), pp. 98, 120-1, 312-17. This name Labrador, i.e., means the land of the laborer. In the earliest maps it was designated as Terra Corterialis. The farmer referred to (''lavrador'' in Portuguese) is believed to have been João Fernandes Lavrador. Upon his return from Greenland, Lavrador sailed to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

. He received a patent for exploration from

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, ...

. In 1501 Lavrador set sail for discovery of lands in the name of England. He was never heard from again. Lavrador was granted title to much of the lands he had discovered and is considered the first European landowner in Labrador.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Joao 1505 deaths Portuguese explorers 15th-century explorers Portuguese explorers of North America 15th-century Portuguese people 1453 births Maritime history of Portugal