Porguguese Explorations towards Australia
The Portuguese mariners and explorers of the early sixteenth century did not head straight to Australia. They had business to do and that was their primary aim. To conduct business and make profits. To do that Portuguese mariners had to explore and chart the sources for their trading supplies.
In 1497 Vasco de Gama reached India and settled Goa, making it a great trading center and the colonial capital of the orient. The Portuguese then looked towards Malacca, the hub of produce and riches for the Chinese and Malays. In 1511 Albuguerque captured Malacca after a big fight. The Portugese traders had access to the much-desired spices. But the Portuguese were still the middle men and wanted direct access to the spice supplies to cut out the percentage taken by the Chinese and other traders. For Portugal, it was necessary to find the source of the spices and deal directly with the local growers. But the Portuguese did not know whether the Moluccas were on their side of the Great Meridian, the line which demarcated the Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence , as allowed by the pope.
The Portuguese had to go out and find the Moluccas and chart them. In 1512, King Manoel ordered Albuquerque to send out an expedition to explore the rest of the Portuguese hemisphere up to the Line of Demarcation, and hoping that the spice islands, the Moluccas, were on the Portuguese side of the line. Albuquerque sent out Antonio de Abreu in three caravels, the Sabaia, the Santa Catarina, and another unknown ship. The fleet sailed from Malacca down past Sumatra, through the Banka Strait, and landed at Grisee, near Surabaya in East Java. A ship was lost at Sapudi Island, the passed Batu Tara and Gunung Api. They landed at Buru and Amboina.
Abreu then sailed along the south coast of Ceram and landed at Gule Gule, then on to Banda and sailed south following the line of Demarcation. Serrao was left at Ternate. After leaving Ternate, Abreu turned south west past Wettar, Timor, Alor and Solor. Abreu, then sailed back to Malacca.
Portuguese Explorations of Australia Resources
Exploration voyage by Abreu to Moluccas, google earth
Portuguese explore the moluccas - google maps
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