Corte Real, Gaspar

Corte Real or Corte-Real, Gaspar (gəshpär` kôr`tə rĕäl`), c.1450–1501?, Portuguese explorer. Sent by King Manuel I to search for the Northwest Passage, he is said to have discovered Greenland in 1500 and may have touched on the North American coast. He made a second voyage with his brother Miguel in 1501. He then sent Miguel home and continued his exploration, sailing southwest along the present U.S. coast. Gaspar Corte Real was lost. In 1502 Miguel Corte Real went in search of him but was also lost. The brothers certainly reached Newfoundland and made sweeping discoveries, but the results were inconclusive.

Bibliography

See H. P. Biggar, Voyages of the Cabots and the Corte-Reals (1903).