Cabrals

Diary

March 9, 1500

It was before I left that I saw my friend, Vasco da Gama. He gave me the way to get to Asia. Once I sent my 13 ships, I went the way Vasco told me to. He gave me his maps and shared his experiences.  Vasco warned me to be careful not to get stuck in the Gulf of Guinea. The ocean was really calm. It felt like we weren’t going anywhere. I headed south.

April 1, 1500

I was a bit worried and nervous, but sailed on going southwest in the Atlantic Ocean. I had to keep the crew’s spirit’s up that we weren’t lost.

April 18, 1500

Land! Land! We have spotted land! It must be India,but it didn’t seem like we sailed around Africa.It turned out to be Brazil in South America! We went the wrong way but discovered a new place.

April 26, 1500

I will claim Brazil for the king. I will meet some of the people and tell them we are friendly. It turned out that our mistake got us to a new interesting discovery.

May 3, 1500

Oh no! This is terrible!  We lost 9 ships filled with my best men in a storm.  I’m so sad but I had to move on.

May 5, 1500

The storm is over.  I’m so happy that we finally  made it to India, where we traded for the red dye! The crew and I are so happy that we got lots of gold and spices. We headed back to Portugal and told the king about our experiences. We also told him about the new land that I claimed.