Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Cortereal, Gaspar

CORTEREAL, or CORTERREAL, Gaspar (cor-tay-ray-al′), Portuguese navigator, b. in Lisbon; d. in 1501. In 1500, by appointment of the king of Portugal, he left the mouth of the Tagus with two ships, well equipped at his own cost, and went as far as the regions since known as Canada. He reached 60° N., and imposed upon many places purely Portuguese names, such as Labrador. Sebastian Cabot had visited these coasts in 1497, but did not land. After his return from this voyage, he again left Lisbon for the arctic regions, 15 May, 1501, but never returned; and an expedition sent by King Emanuel in 1503 found no traces of him. In this last voyage he carried off fifty-seven natives, most of whom were lost in his ship. The other ship reached Lisbon in October, 1501. His father, John Vaz Costa Cortereal, a gentleman of the household of Alphonso V. of Portugal, is said to have discovered Newfoundland about 1463.