The Portuguese discovered Australia?

 

Most people argue that the Portuguese arrived in Australia around 1520, about five years after they had arrived Timor, at the height of the Portuguese maritime expansion.

 

They argue that it was difficult that in their regular maritime voyages using Timor as a transit stop, especially on route for the commercial centre of Malacca (now Malaysia) the Portuguese had not realized the existence of an island continent of 7,741,220 km2, over two times the size of Europe, so close by.

 

The theory is supported by some archaeological finds of Portuguese origin including two late 1400s early 1500s copper cannons, discovered off the west coast of Broome, in the Northern Territory in 1916. Cartography by the French school of Dieppe, which includes maps of the XVI Century of Portuguese influence which show the outline of a land similar to Australia and the most recent discovery ofa bronze cannon that appears to be of Portuguese origin near Darwin, Northern Territory, in 2010.

 

There were however never found official documents and chronicles speaking of the Portuguese discovery of Australia which makes it difficult to prove that the Portuguese indeed discovered it.

 

 

It is known through official documents that in 1521 Christopher Mendonca left India in search of the Island of Gold (Pulo Mas), which some argue is the north western part of Australia and ended the trip in Malacca (now Malaysia). According to the advocates of the theory of the Portuguese discovery of Australia Cristovão Mendonça would have explored the Australian coast. If the theory is ever proven it would mean that the Portuguese would have reached Australia long before the Dutch and the British came here.

 

The late Australian Kenneth McIntyre, Professor of Literature, Law and a man passionate about Portuguese history, was one of the best-known supporters of this theory. In his book ´The Secret Discovery of Australia ', published in 1977, he attributed the discovery of Australia to Christovão de Mendonca.

 

The teacher defended the Portuguese discovery based on the analysis of a Portuguese-French map of 1536, called the Dauphin Map, showing an island called Java quite similar to Australia. The author believes that the map was the result of the voyage of the Portuguese explorer Christovão Medonça to Australia in 1521.

 

In his book McIntyre also speaks of a sunken mahogany ship which he claims to have belonged to the fleet of Christovão Mendonca. The caravel is said to have become stranded in the dunes near Warrnambool, in the state of Victoria, west of Melbourne. Two sealers even claimed to have seen its wreckage in 1836.

 

In spite of their accounts the wreck was never found, and today the boat is considered to be mere legend. Its history is celebrated in the Warrnambool Portuguese festival that takes place there every two years.

 

The Portuguese government offered two busts, that of navigator Vasco da Gama and of Prince Henry, as well as a Monument of the Discoveries to celebrate the Portuguese explorations and that ultimately led to the Portuguese festival of Warrnambool. A festival celebrating the legend of the mahogany ship, the Portuguese discoveries and more recently the ties between the Algarve town of Lagos and the city of Warrnambool, twin cities since 2011.

 

As for McIntyre his theory was well accepted in Australia and the translation of his book to Portuguese brought recognition to the teacher in the Portuguese territory. McIntyre was awarded by the Portuguese Government in 1983, with the Order of Infante D. Henry, for his research work focused on the Portuguese exploration of Australia.

 

More recently the book by British journalist Peter Trickett, 'Beyond Capricorn', published in 2007, revived the theory of Portuguese discovery by Christovão Mendonca. This time based on the interpretation of the map Atlas Vallard 1547, the original of which is preserved at the Huntington Library, in the state of California, USA.

 

According to the author, Peter Trickett, the location on the map of various points on the east coast of the Australian continent and some archaeological remains proves that the Portuguese Christovão Mendonca and his fleet of four ships arrived in Australia 250 years before Captain Cook. The book is also available in Portuguese and a copy of the map can be found in the estate of the National Library of Australia.

 

According to the writers the Portuguese discovery of Australia would have been a secret because Australia was out of reach of Portugal since the ratification of the Treaty of Tordesillas treaty that divided the world into two in 1494. At that time, Australia, still unknown to the Portuguese, would have be beyond the Tordesillas Meridian, largely in the Spanish half.

 

Many other authors and historians have pored over the years and will probably continue to do so on the theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia. Theory that even hosts some consensus in the scientific community but until proven otherwise officially Australia was discovered by the British in 1770.