Australian History: PortugUese Explorers
Of late there have been suggestions of the Portugese being the first Europeans to actually have discovered Australia. Evidence that supports that Portuguese sailors were the first to discover Australia are:
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During the 1400s and 1500s Spain and Portugal were both rich and powerful countries. Their merchants sailed to many parts of the world to trade. Portugal had trading posts in Africa, India and South-East Asia.
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The island of Timor (now part of Indonesia) was an important trading port from the beginning of the fifteenth century. Portuguese traders often used Timor as a base. Timor is only 620km from Darwin in the north of Australia.
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Spain and Portugal were rivals. They were jealous of each others power and influence. In 1494 the two countries made a deal. They drew an imaginary line between north and south and divided the world between them. Spain was allowed to trade in one port and Portugal allowed in the other. Although they did not know it, this line passed through Australia.
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Sailors from Spain and Portugal did not always stick to the deal of 1494. They sometimes crossed the line and sailed into each other’s territory. But if they did this, they tried to keep it a secret. They did not want to start a war or be attacked by ships from the other country.
In 1521 Cristoval de Mendonca, a Portuguese sea captain was put in charge of three ships. His job was to patrol the area around Portuguese trading posts in Southeast Asia and to keep the Spaniards away. It was hard to do without crossing the imaginary boundary line. Mendonca sailed from Timor and made maps and charts of the land he saw while he was sailing in the Pacific.