Pedro Álvares Cabral led a fleet of 13 ships and over 1,500 men in the second Portuguese voyage to India. He wanted to find a route that would go around Africa and make it easier for Portugal to trade with India and other countries in the East. The fleet left Portugal in the spring of 1500. They made it to the Canary Islands and then set out across the sea. The voyage went well until the fleet started to get into storms. The storms knocked the ships off course and they ended up closer to South America than Cabral intended.
On April 22, 1500, Cabral and his fleet stumbled upon the coast of present-day Brazil. Cabral claimed the land for Portugal, thus laying the foundation for the Portuguese Empire in the Americas. After exploring the coastline and interacting with the indigenous peoples, the fleet continued its journey to India, reaching Calicut (Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast in the following year.
Although the main objective of Cabral's voyage was to establish trade relations with India, his discovery of Brazil became a significant milestone in Portuguese history. It marked the beginning of Portuguese colonization efforts in the Americas and paved the way for further exploration and expansion of the Portuguese Empire.