Abreu (António de)

This Madeiran was one of the Portuguese who most distinguished themselves in the lands of the East in the work of conquest and discovery, having already given signal proof of his remarkable courage and valour in Morocco. He was the son of João Fernandes de Andrade, who became known as João Fernandes do Arco because he held a great deal of land by sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation) in Arco da Calheta (‘arc of Calheta’) and had been the first settler of this parish (freguesia).

After serving in Morocco, he went to India in 1511 and accompanied Afonso de Albuquerque on an expedition to the Red Sea, where he distinguished himself greatly. He was wounded there, and when Albuquerque wished to have him replaced in the post he held, he retorted to the great captain that, if he had lost the strength to fight and his tongue was hindered from giving orders, he still had his life left to lose, and until that happened he would not leave the place he held.

Having been present at the taking of Malacca, says Pinheiro Chagas, he was entrusted by the great Portuguese general with reconnoitring and exploring the Moluccas, islands whose great riches were the subject of marvellous tales. António de Abreu set out with three ships: the commander of the small squadron himself captained one of them, Francisco Serrão another, and Diogo Afonso the third. Well armed, and carrying 120 men on board, António de Abreu’s three ships left Malacca in November 1515. António de Abreu and his companions followed the coast of the island of Sumatra and then passed on to Java, continuing by way of Madeira, Bali, Sumbawa, Solor and even New Guinea. Finally António de Abreu reached Ambon, while Francisco Serrão lost his ship at Ternate but was saved together with his crew, and was very well received by the natives. António de Abreu thus visited the principal Moluccas, and returned with an extremely rich cargo.

Richard Henry Major, however, in the remarkable work on the Portuguese voyages that he published under the title Vida do Infante D. Henrique, goes further and supposes that António de Abreu reached the coasts of Australia. There is indeed a map of around 1530 that marks a large territory named Great Java, lying opposite Sumatra, which incorporates many of the islands we know António de Abreu visited, such as Sumbawa, and this territory extends to latitudes and longitudes that already belong to Australia. Richard Henry Major says that before 1530 no one could have given information about the distant lands of Oceania except António de Abreu, who visited them. He supposes, with considerable plausibility, that many of the islands scattered across the Indian Ocean and the South Sea, together with the Australian continent, which Abreu seems to have sighted, were taken to form a single, unbroken territory.

Thus António de Abreu would not only have discovered the Moluccas but would also have been the first Portuguese to visit Australia, which was positively identified a century later by another Portuguese navigator, Heredia.

On his return from the Moluccas, António de Abreu remained in Malacca as sea captain, and gave effective help to the Portuguese in defending themselves against attempts by the former holders of that territory, who had been expelled by Afonso de Albuquerque, to reclaim it.

Shortly afterwards he returned to the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal), and went back to India in 1526, appointed captain-major (capitão-mor, commander of the local militia) of Malacca. He had to winter in Mozambique and reached Goa the following year, where he found the quarrels that had broken out between Lopo Vaz de Sampaio and Pedro de Mascarenhas. He took the side of the former, and even assisted him with State money that he was carrying in his carrack. He was, however, among the most moderate members of that party, and strongly urged Lopo Vaz de Sampaio not to set aside the forms of justice in his dispute with his rival. When it was resolved that twelve noblemen, six appointed by each contender, should decide the matter, António de Abreu was one of the judges chosen by Lopo Vaz. He distinguished himself greatly in Malacca when Dom Estêvão da Gama was governor of India.

António de Abreu was the only Madeiran who truly distinguished himself as a navigator and discoverer, leaving a name crowned with glory in the history of our maritime discoveries. And yet that name is almost unknown in this archipelago, and it is much to be lamented that nothing here commemorates the existence of this illustrious son of Madeira. It is to be supposed that justice will still be done, and that an omission going back centuries will be put right.

This, then, is a summary of what various writers have set out about the warrior and navigator António de Abreu, corroborated by the statements of some old Madeiran books of nobility, which regard him as born on this island and as belonging to the noble families of the ‘Andrades’ and ‘Abreus’. In volumes I and IV of the important publication Arquivo Histórico da Madeira (‘Historical Archive of Madeira’), the certainty of this birthplace is contested with weighty arguments that raise doubts in the reader’s mind. We record it here simply as a pointer for those who may wish to investigate the truth of this claim more fully.