Pedro Álvares Cabral (c. 1467] - c. 1520), was the Portuguese navigator and explorer; generally called as first European discoverer of Brasil (April 22, 1500). He is thought to have been born in Belmonte, in the Beira Baixa province of Portugal. He was the third son of Fernao Cabral, Governor of Beira and Belmonte, and Isabel de Gouvea, and married Isabel de Castro, the daughter of the distinguished Fernando de Noronha. He must have had an exellent training in navigation and large experience as a seaman, for King Manuel I of Portugal considered him competent to continue the work of Vasco da Gama.