Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia

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Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia (15th century) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer .

Only a few secure life data of Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia have survived. Essential information is based on the passages of the contemporary historian and chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara in Chapters IX and X of his Chronica do descobrimento e conquista da Guiné .

Baldaia, who came from Porto , belonged to the lower nobility, held an important position as cupbearer (copeiro) at the court of Henry the Navigator and was one of the Infante's confidants. After successfully overcoming the Cape Bojadors by Gil Eanes in 1434 ordered Heinrich another trip the following year at the sailors. A Barca under Gil Eanes and a smaller two-master, a Barinel, under Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia took part in the expedition. Both drove about 50 leguas (about 250 km) south via Cape Bojador, reached Angra dos Ruivos and were able to find traces of people and camels on the coast. In 1436 Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia set sail again. He was given the task of establishing contact with coastal residents and examining trade opportunities. On this trip Baldaia reached an area in the south of today's Western Sahara near Ad-Dakhla and Pedra or Porto de Galé at about 22 ° 3 'north latitude. Gomes Eanes de Zurara referred to this region in Chapter X of his Chronica as the area of ​​the Rio de Ouro (Gold River).

Further trips by Baldaia are not known. Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia was also one of the first settlers on the Azores island of Terceira . There are no reliable data on the time and place of his death.

See also

literature

  • Gomes Eanes de Zurara: Crónica da Guiné. (Introduction and remarks by José de Bragança), Porto (Liv. Civilização) 1973

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Baldaia, Afonso Gonçalves
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese navigator and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH 15th century