Estêvão Gomes (– 1538), also known by the Spanish version of his name Esteban Gómez, was a Portuguese explorer. He sailed in the service of Castile (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) in the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan, but deserted the expedition when they had reached the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natura ...

and returned to Spain in May 1521. In 1524, he explored the coast of present-day

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. As a result of Gomes' expedition, cartographer Diogo Ribeiro was the first to accurately portray North America with a continuous coastline stretching from Florida to Nova Scotia.

Life

Gomes was born in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in northern Portugal, of African ancestry. He sailed in the

Portuguese India Armadas The Portuguese Indian Armadas (; meaning "Armadas of India") were the fleets of ships funded by the Crown of Portugal, and dispatched on an annual basis from Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal to Portuguese India, India. The principal destination w ...

during his youth. In 1518, he moved to Castile, where he was appointed a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

for the

Casa de Contratación The ''Casa de Contratación'' (, House of Trade) or ''Casa de la Contratación de las Indias'' ("House of Trade of the Indies") was established by the Crown of Castile, in 1503 in the port of Seville (and transferred to Cádiz in 1717) as a cro ...

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Magellan expedition

In 1519, Gomes sailed with the

Magellan expedition The Magellan expedition, sometimes termed the MagellanElcano expedition, was a 16th-century Spanish Empire, Spanish expedition planned and led by Portuguese Empire, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. One of the most important voyages in th ...

as the ''pilot major'' of the fleet aboard the ''San Antonio''. His real ambition, however, was to become captain of the ship. Gomes frustration grew when he was passed over for promotion in favor of Magellan's inexperienced nephew, Alvaro de Mesquita. Near the

, Gomes overpowered Mesquita, took control of the ''San Antonio'' and sailed back to Spain in May 1521. Upon their return, Gomes claimed his mutiny was justified by Magellan's abuses and poor management. The mutineers were thrown in jail while their claims were investigated, but within six months all except Mesquita were freed.

North American coast

In 1523 Gomes received authorization from the Spanish Crown to search along the North American coast for an alternate passage to Asia that would be quicker and easier than the Strait of Magellan. A 50-ton caravel, ''La Annunciada'', was built for the purpose and set sail from Corunna on 24 September 1524 with a crew of 29 men. No eyewitness accounts of this expedition have survived. Knowledge of the voyage comes from brief second-hand summaries by contemporary historians

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

, Peter Martyr, and Alonzo de Santa Cruz, as well as cartographic information captured by Diogo Ribeiro. Even the general direction they sailed has been disputed. For a long time, it was assumed that Gomes explored the American coast from north to south. More recently, a good case has been made that he started from the Spanish Caribbean and sailed north. If Gomes proceeded from south to north along the coast, it is likely that he stopped first at Santiago de Cuba to load fresh supplies. From there, the explorers followed the coast from Florida to Labrador, making their most careful survey along the shores of what would become New England. Gomes sailed up the Penobscot River to the future site of Bangor, Maine, naming the waterway "El Rio de Las Gamas". He named other significant landmarks such as "Rio de San Antonio" (now the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...

) and "Cabo de las Arenas" (present-day

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

). While exploring the area of Penobscot, Gomes abducted at least 58 natives and took them back to Spain as evidence of a potentially lucrative slave trade. When he reached Spain in August 1525, Gomes sent word to the king of his return. Peter Martyr claimed that when the message reached court, the word for slaves (''esclavos'') had been misunderstood to mean cloves (''clavos''), creating for a moment the false impression that Gomes had found a route to the Orient. When the mistake was cleared up, Charles was upset that the injunction against enslaving American natives had been ignored and ordered them to be freed. As a result of Gomes' expedition, cartographer Diogo Ribeiro's 1525 Castiglione map was the first to accurately portray North America with a continuous coastline stretching from Florida to Nova Scotia. Ribeiro labeled the region of present-day New England as the "Land of Estêvão Gomes" ().

Later career

After his return from North America, Gomes supervised shipbuilding in Corunna until 1528. In 1533, he received a commission to build a proposed Guadalquivir canal, an effort that soon collapsed. In 1535, Gomes joined Pedro de Mendoza's expedition to the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...

. He was killed by natives of the Paraguay River in 1538.

Citations

Bibliography