João Gonçalves Zarco

This article deals with the explorer João Gonçalves Zarco. For the warships of this name, see NRP Gonçalves Zarco .

Funchal : statue of the seafarer

João Gonçalves Zarco (* around 1380; † around 1467 in Madeira ) is a Portuguese navigator and is considered to be the rediscoverer of Madeira.

Life

The year of birth is also 1392, and the years 1465 and 1469 are also given as years of death.

João Gonçalves Zarco came from the lower nobility and lived as a confidante of Henry the Navigator at his court. He was one of the first seamen who carried out reconnaissance missions from Infante Heinrich. He had acquired his seamanship as commander of the coastal defense of the Algarve .

In 1418 he landed together with Tristão Vaz Teixeira on the island of Porto Santo , part of the Madeira archipelago , whose existence in Europe had been forgotten again, although the archipelago was shown on some nautical maps from the 14th century. On their second voyage, the two sailors discovered the main island of Madeira. Bartolomeu Perestrelo , whose daughter Dona Filipa de Perestrelo e Moniz later became the wife of Christopher Columbus , also took part in this trip .

As early as 1419, Heinrich the Navigator ordered the settlement and cultivation of the archipelago. The archipelago was divided into three capitanias (a kind of inheritance). João Gonçalves Zarco received as capitão donatário the southern part of Madeira with the seat of Funchal , which later became the capital. The northern part with the seat Machico was given to Tristão Vaz Teixeira . The island of Porto Santo fell to Bartolomeu Perestrelo .

Around 1430 João Gonçalves married Zarco Constança Rodrigues. Some of their eight children married into families belonging to the Portuguese aristocracy. Later the family carried the name "Câmara de Lobos" or just "Câmara" given by Heinrich the Navigator .

In 1437 João Gonçalves Zarco was a loyal comrade in arms of Heinrich's in his failed attempt to conquer Tangers . Then he retired to his capitania, equipped ships that explored the West African coast to Cape Bojador . One of his captains, his nephew Álvaro Fernandes , explored the island of Arguim, now part of Mauritania , south of Cape Branco and the coast down to the mouth of the Senegal River, on behalf of Heinrich in 1445 .

João Gonçalves Zarco is considered to be one of the first seafarers to experiment with various ways of placing artillery on ships.

literature

• Portugal. Dicionário Histórico, Corográfico, Heráldico, Biográfico, Bibliográfico, Numismático e Artístico, vol. I -VII, Lisboa, 1904–1915, here: vol. VII (TZ), Lisboa 1915, p. 722.

Web links

• Article on Zarco in the Dicionário Histórico

Commons : João Gonçalves Zarco  - Collection of images, videos and audio files