Lived: 1467-1520 Pedro Alvares Cabral was a Portuguese sailor and discoverer of Brazil. A highly skilled and respected navigator and sailor, Cabral led an expedition to reach India from the West, complementing the earlier work of his colleague, Vasco de Gama, who had sailed to India not two years before around the southern tip of Africa. Cabral's fleet included some of the most renowned explorers of the time, including Bartholomeu Diaz, the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope. The enormous fleet of thirteen ships was as much a symbol as an exploration - Portugal was more than prepared to overtake Spain in the race for primacy over the New World.