Nicolao Coelho

Portrait of Nicolao Coelho at the Padrão dos Descobrimentos in Lisbon

Nicolao or Nicolau Coelho (* approx. 1460 in Felgueiras , † 1504 on the Quirimbas Archipelago off Mozambique ) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer .

Nicolao Coelho came from the lower nobility and developed into one of the most experienced captains of the Portuguese king.

As one of the captains named by King Emanuel , Nicolao Coelho took part in the discovery of the sea route to India in 1497 under Vasco da Gama . He commanded the Nau "Bérrio" in the small fleet . Its pilot was the experienced Pêro de Escobar, who traveled the coast of what is now Ghana as early as 1471 and later explored the waters of the Congo estuary with Diogo Cão . After bypassing the Cape of Good Hope , it was Coelho who, as the captain of the smallest Nau, probed the waters and led the fleet through the still completely unknown Strait of Mozambique .

On the return voyage in March 1499 he lost contact with the ships of Vasco da Gama in a heavy storm near the Cape Verde Islands . He led his Nau back alone to Portugal, which he reached on July 10, 1499, and was thus the first seaman to bring King Emanuel the long-awaited news of the found sea route to India. The remaining ships did not reach Lisbon until August 18, 1499.

Nicolao Coelho was granted the right to wear a coat of arms after the discovery of the sea route to India. He also received other honors. However, he never received supreme command of a fleet.

Nicolao Coelho was immediately involved in the preparations for the great expedition to India under Pedro Álvares Cabral and left with his fleet as the captain of a Nau on March 9, 1500. Among the captains, he took fifth place in the command structure, ahead of Bartolomeu Diaz .

As he was one of the most experienced participants in the expedition, it was Nicolao Coelho who, on April 23, 1500, became the first European to contact the native Indians of Brazil . Accompanied by a few sailors and the (not understanding a word) interpreter Gaspar da Gama , he went ashore and was greeted curiously by 18 naked men armed with bows and arrows and kindly dismissed after exchanging gifts.

Nicolao Coelho was one of the approximately 500 survivors of Pedro Álvares Cabral's expedition who returned to Lisbon in July 1501.

But he didn't stay on land long. As commander of the Nau "Faial" he ran back to India in 1503 under Afonso de Albuquerque . On the return voyage, his ship failed in a storm in 1504 and he and his entire crew died as a sailor.

Web links

• Biography Nicolao Coelho (Portuguese) ( Memento from February 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive )