Álvaro Fernandes
Portuguese explorer
Álvaro Fernandes (sometimes given erroneously as António Fernandes), was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer from Madeira, in the service of Henry the Navigator. He captained two important expeditions (in 1445 and 1446), which expanded the limit of the Portuguese discovery of the West African coast, probably as far as the northern borderlands of modern Guinea-Bissau. Álvaro Fernandes's farthest point (approximately Cape Roxo) would not be surpassed for ten years, until the voyage of Alvise Cadamosto in 1456.
Background
Álvaro Fernandes was the nephew João Gonçalves Zarco, discoverer and donatary captain of Funchal. Fernandes was brought up (as a page or squire) in the household of Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator.
1st expedition
In 1448, as part of a larger expedition mainly based in Lagos, Algarve, a small caravel fleet was assembled in Madeira. Two of the ships were outfitted by João Gonçalves Zarco, donatary of Funchal, who appointed his nephew, Álvaro Fernandes, created by Prince Henry, to captain one of them. Another ship was commanded by Tristão da Ilha, donatary captain of Machico, and another by Álvaro de Ornellas.
According to 15th-century chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara, Álvaro Fernandes went out alone, personally instructed by Prince Henry to avoid any raids, and aim straight for Guinea for the glory of exploration alone. Skipping Arguin, Álvaro Fernandes sailed straight south, reaching the mouth of the Senegal River.
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This entry incorporates text from “Álvaro Fernandes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.