Miguel Corte-Real

Miguel Corte-Real (Portuguese pronunciation: [miˈɡɛɫ ˈkoɾtɨ ʁiˈaɫ]; c. 1448 – 1502?) was a Portuguese explorer who charted about 600 miles of the coast of Labrador. In 1501 he disappeared while on an expedition and was believed lost at sea.

Life

Miguel Corte-Real was a son of João Vaz Corte-Real and a brother of explorer Gaspar Corte-Real. Gaspar explored Greenland in 1499. He stayed there for several months with his team before icebergs forced them to return to Portugal.

In 1500, Gaspar set out again with Miguel. The Corte-Real brothers kidnapped and enslaved 57 First Nations people and charted about 600 km of coastline of what is now Labrador. Gaspar sent Miguel with two ships back to Portugal. Following this, Gaspar was never heard from again.

In May 1502, Miguel set out on an expedition to search for his brother, but he, too, disappeared, although two of the three ships returned to Portugal after they were separated. He is thought to have perished in a storm. The sole surviving brother, Vasco Anes Corte-Real, wanted to sail in search of his brothers, but the King of Portugal would not fund such an expedition.

In 1912 Edmund B. Delabarre claimed that markings on the Dighton Rock in Massachusetts suggest that Miguel Corte-Real reached New England. However, Samuel Eliot Morrison dismissed this evidence in his book The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages (1971).

The Corte-Real family originates from a rural area near the town of Tavira in southern Portugal.

See also

• Age of Discovery
• Northwest Passage

Additional reading

• E. B. Delabarre, Dighton rock (New York, 1928).
• F. F. Lopes, The brothers Corte Real, tr. F. de Andrade (Lisboa, 1957).
• G. S. Marques, Pedra de Dighton (New York, 1930).

External links

• "Miguel Corte-Real", Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

Persondata
Name	Corte-Real, Miguel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1448
Place of birth
Date of death	1502
Place of death