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{{short description|Portuguese-Galician explorer (1460–1509)}}
{{infobox person
| name = João da Nova
| image = Joao da Nova.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1460
| birth_place = [[Maceda, Ourense|Maceda]], [[Kingdom of Galicia|Galicia]], [[Crown of Castile|Castile]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1509|7|16|1460}}
| death_place = [[Kochi, India|Kochi]], [[Kingdom of Cochin]]
| other_names =
| known_for = Discoverer of [[Ascension Island|Ascension]] and [[Saint Helena]] islands
| occupation = Explorer
}}

'''João da Nova''' ({{langx|gl|Xoán de Novoa, Joam de Nôvoa}}; {{langx|es|Juan de Nova}}; {{IPA|pt|ʒuˈɐ̃w dɐ ˈnɔvɐ}}; {{circa|1460}} in [[Maceda, Ourense|Maceda]], [[Province of Ourense|Ourense]], [[Kingdom of Galicia|Galicia]], [[Spain]] – July 16, 1509, in [[Kochi, India]]) was a Galician-born explorer in the service of [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]]. He is credited as the discoverer of [[Ascension Island|Ascension]] and [[Saint Helena]] islands.

The [[Juan de Nova Island]], in the [[Mozambique Channel]], is named after him. The [[Farquhar Group|Farquhar atoll]] (in the [[Seychelles]]) was, for a long time, known as the João da Nova islands.<ref group="N">The appellation 'João da Nova islands' for the Farquhar atoll appeared in most European navigational charts until the 19th century, when they were renamed after British Mauritius governor [[Robert Townsend Farquhar]], to avoid confusion with the Mozambique Channel island.</ref><ref>[[Alexander George Findlay|Findlay, A. G.]] (1866) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HgQPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA479 A Directory for the Navigation of the Indian Ocean]'', London: Laurie, p.479</ref> It is sometimes thought that the [[Agaléga]] islands (in the Indian Ocean) were also named after him (although it is almost certain he never visited them).<ref group="N">Theories behind the 'Agalega' name are reviewed by Robert Scott (1961) ''Limuria: The Lesser Dependencies of Mauritius''</ref>

==Biography==
Juan da Nova was born into a noble family in [[Maceda, Ourense|Maceda]], [[Kingdom of Galicia|Galicia]], then a constituent kingdom of the [[Crown of Castile|Crown of]] Castile.<ref> João de Barros, Manoel Severim de Faria, and João Baptista Lavanha, Da Asia de João de Barros e de Diogo de Couto, vol. I, book V, chapter X (Lisbon: Regia Officina Typografica, 1777), 463.[https://archive.org/details/daasiadejoodebar01p1barr/page/462/mode/2up]</ref> Nova was sent by his family to [[Portugal]], where he grew up, to escape the struggles between aristocratic factions known as the [[Irmandiño revolts]].{{cn|date=April 2014}} In Portugal, he was also known as ''João Galego'' ("the Galician"). In 1496, he was appointed as ''Alcaide menor'' ([[mayor]]) of [[Lisbon]] by King [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel I]].

It was only realised around the turn of the millennium that when writing about the discoverer of [[St Helena]], most English sources had incorrectly appended the word “Castella” to his name, i.e., naming him as João da Nova Castella.<ref> Alexander H Schulenburg, ‘Joao Da Nova and the Lost Carrack’, Wirebird: The Journal of the Friends of St Helena 16 (Autumn 1997): 19–23.[https://www.friendsofsthelena.com/upload/files/Joao_da_Nova_and_the_Lost_Carrack.pdf]</ref><ref> Trevor W. Hearl, ‘Everyone Knows Joao Da Nova Castella Discovered St Helena or Did He?’, South Atlantic Chronicle XXII, no. 1 (1998): 10.</ref><ref> Alexander H Schulenburg, ‘St Helena Historiography, Philately, and the “Castella” Controversy’, South Atlantic Chronicle XXIII, no. 3` (1999).</ref><ref>, J. Edgar Williams, ‘More on João Da Nova Castella Controversy’, South Atlantic Chronicle XXV, no. 1 (2001): 15, 20.</ref> This error was traced back to an 1817 guidebook by the Town Major of [[Jamestown, Saint Helena]], John Barnes.<ref>Barnes, John. A Tour through the Island of St Helena; London: J M Richardson, 1817: 2.</ref> Just as an earlier author had added the Portuguese word of “Galego” as a suffix to da Nova’s name to indicate the latter was born in the province of Galicia,<ref>George Forster, Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty’s Sloop Resolution Commanded by Capt. James Cook during the Years 1772, 3, 4 and 5, vol. II (London: B. White, 1777), 571.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ph1nAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA571]</ref> so it was speculated that Barnes’ handwritten book used the Portuguese word of “Castela” as a suffix to also show that he was born in the kingdom of Castile, this being misspelt by Barnes or his printer as “Castella”, an error that was then repeated by later English authors for nearly the next two centuries.<ref>Bruce, Ian. ‘The Origin of the Name Castella’. Wirebird: The Journal of the Friends of St Helena No 48 (2019): 72–76
[https://sainthelenaisland.info/ianbruceoriginofthecastellaname.pdf]</ref>

== First voyage to India ==
{{Main|3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)}}

The date of João da Nova’s departure from [[Lisbon]] as commander of the third Portuguese expedition to [[India]] has variously been quoted as 1 March,<ref>Gaspar Corrêa and Rodrigo Jose de Lima Felner, Lendas da India. Publicadas de ordem da Classe de sciencias moraes, politicas e bellas lettras da Academia real das sciencias de Lisboa e sob a dirrecção de Rodrigo José de Lima Felner, vol. 2 (Lisboa Typographia da Academia Real das Sciencias, 1858), 235. </ref> 5 March,<ref>João de Barros, Manoel Severim de Faria, and João Baptista Lavanha, Da Asia de João de Barros e de Diogo de Couto, vol. I, book V, chapter X (Lisbon: Regia Officina Typografica, 1778), 466.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Epo2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA466]</ref><ref> Damião de Góis, Chronica do serenissimo senhor rei D. Manoel (Lisbon: Na officina de M. Manescal da Costa, 1749), 84.[https://books.google.com/books?id=0vTmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA84]</ref> 11 March,<ref>Duarte Leite, História da colonização portuguesa do Brasil, Chapter IX, O mais antigo mapa do Brasil, ed. Carlos Malheiro Dias, vol. 2 (Porto: Litografia Nacional, 1922), 251.[https://archive.org/details/histriadacoloniz1922sous/page/n13/mode/2up]</ref> 26-27 March<ref>William Brooks Greenlee, The Voyage of Pedro Alvares Cabral to Brazil and India (London: Hakluyt Society, 1938), 139.[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.57073]</ref> or 10 April.<ref> Edzer Roukema, ‘Brazil in the Cantino Map’, Imago Mundi 17 (1963): 15 </ref> He led a small four-vessel fleet under a joint private initiative of Florentine [[Bartolomeo Marchionni]]<ref group="N">Bartolomeo Marchionni, possibly the richest man in Lisbon then, was the chief merchant in sugar from Madeira island and had participated extensively in voyages to Guinea, Brazil, Madeira, and would finance several voyages to India.</ref><ref>Greenlee, William Brooks (1995). ''The voyage of Pedro Álvares Cabral to Brazil and India: from contemporary documents and narratives'', p.146, Issue 81, Hakluyt Society, Asian Educational Services. {{ISBN|81-206-1040-7}}</ref> and Portuguese [[Álvaro de Bragança]].<ref>Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1997). ''The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama'', p.182, New York: [[Cambridge University Press]], {{ISBN|978-0-521-47072-8}}</ref> Suggestions that da Nova’s ships were sent to reinforce [[Pedro Álvares Cabral|Cabral]]’s ships following the outbreak of war with the [[Calicut]] kingdom (e.g., “as the plight of the Portuguese at Calicut was acute, three ships were sent on ahead under the Admiral, Joao da Nova Castella, to reinforce de Cabral, the Portuguese commander in India”.<ref> Thomas H. Brooke, A History of the Island of St Helena: From Its Discovery by the Portuguese to the Year 1806 (Black, Parry and Kingsbury, 1808), 35.[https://archive.org/details/historyofsthelen00brooiala/page/34/mode/2up]</ref><ref>Gosse, Philip. St Helena 1502-1938. Oswestry: Anthony Nelson, 1938.
[https://sainthelenaisland.info/gossesthelena15021938.pdf]</ref>
) are now doubted because the Portuguese monarchy was unaware of the outbreak of war at India until the first of Cabral’s ships returned to Lisbon some six months ''after'' da Nova sailed from Lisbon. It has been suggested that da Nova was charged to block any attempt by the Spanish to enter the spice trade.<ref>Geneviève Bouchon, Vasco de Gama (Paris: Fayard, 1997), 232.[ Geneviève Bouchon, Vasco de Gama - Persée (persee.fr)]</ref> If true, given the small size of his fleet, he was entrusted with a very delicate mission.

Two chronicles claimed these ships discovered [[Ascension Island]] during the outward voyage, naming it Conception Island. Thus, [[João de Barros]] wrote that passing eight degrees beyond the equator, towards the south, an island was found to which the name Concepcão was given<ref>Barros, Faria, and Lavanha, Da Asia de João de Barro, I, book V, chapter X:466.</ref> whilst [[Damião de Góis]]’ later chronicle described the sighting of an island south of the line which was named Conçeicam.<ref>Góis, Chronica do serenissimo, 84.[https://books.google.com/books?id=0vTmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA84]</ref> There are at least three reasons why it is thought this name was quoted by de Barros in error, this later being repeated by de Góis.<ref>Bruce, Ian. 'The Discovery of St Helena'. Wirebird: The Journal of the Friends of St Helena 51 (2022): 26–43 [http://sainthelenaisland.info/thediscoveryofsthelena_ianbruce.pdf]</ref> First, the [[Latin Church|Church of Rome]] has long celebrated the feast of the [[Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary]] on the fixed date of 8 December, yet by then the third armada had already reached India. Second, the Portuguese [[Cantino Planisphere]], completed in 1502 after the third armada returned, shows the newly sighted island marked as ''ilha achada e chamada Ascenssam'' [island found and called Ascension], not as Conception. Third, in 1503 a division of the [[4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)]] under [[Estêvão da Gama (c. 1470)|Estêvão da Gama]] also named the island as Ascension, not as Conception. It is usually presumed that the island was discovered on the movable feast of [[Ascension Day]], which fell on 20 May in 1501, 39 days after [[Easter]].<ref> Side-by-side Easter calendar reference for the 16th century[http://5ko.free.fr/en/easter.php?y=16]</ref>

Two sources, a letter from King [[Manuel I of Portugal]]<ref>Edzer Roukema, ‘Brazil in the Cantino Map’, Imago Mundi 17 (1963): 15.</ref> and [[Gaspar Corrêa]]’s chronicle,<ref>Gaspar Corrêa, Lendas de India, vol. 1 (Lisbon: Typ. da Academia Real das Sciencias, 1858), 235. </ref> made no mention of either Ascension or Conception, instead describing a visit to [[Brazil]].

After doubling the [[Cape of Good Hope|Cape]], it is thought da Nova called at [[Mossel Bay]], [[South Africa]]. Here he is believed to have picked up letters left in a shoe placed in a conspicuous situation by Pedro de Atayde from the [[2nd Portuguese India Armada (Cabral, 1500)]]. This will have been da Nova’s first opportunity to learn he should avoid trade with [[Calicut]], with whom a state of war now existed. It is speculated that the Mossel Bay Stone found after the demolition of the old Government House bears an inscription of João da Nova’s name and provides evidence of this visit<ref> Louis Albert Péringuey, ‘Inscriptions Left by Early European Navigators on Their Way to the East’, Annals of the South African Museum XIII (1913): 6–7.[http://archive.org/details/inscriptionsleft01peri]</ref> It is also believed that da Nova built a ''[[hermida]]'' or a small hermitage with space for only a few supplicants at a promitory at Mossel Bay. A letter written by Pedro Quaresma to King Manuel II described a visit to this location a few years later in 1506.<ref> George McCall Theal, Records of South-Eastern Africa: Collected in Various Libraries and Archive Departments in Europe, vol. 1 (Govern-ment of the Cape Colony, 1898), 54 [https://archive.org/details/recordssoutheas01theagoog/page/54/mode/2up]</ref> This same reference source includes a description of the walls of a ruined ''hermida'' dedicated to [[Saint Blaise]] on the high ground (Cape St Blaise) between two coves at Mossel Bay in 1576. Later in his outward voyage, Da Nova is also said to have discovered what has since been called [[Juan de Nova Island]] in the [[Mozambique Channel]].<ref>Birch, 1877, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IoLpAAAAMAAJ&dq=Joao%20da%20Nova%20Conception&pg=PR20 p.xx]</ref>

Arriving in India, Nova established a [[Factory (trading post)|''feitoria'' (trading post)]] in [[Kannur|Cannanore]] and left behind a factor (on behalf of the private Marchionni-Braganza consortium, not the Portuguese crown). On December 31, 1501, João da Nova's little fleet [[First Battle of Cannanore|engaged the fleet]] of the [[Zamorin]] of [[Kozhikode|Calicut]] in a battle outside of Cannanore harbor, the first Portuguese [[naval battle]] in the [[Indian Ocean]].<ref>K.S. Matthew (1997) "Indian Naval Encounters with the Portuguese: Strengths and weaknesses", in K.K.N. Kurup, editor, ''India's Naval Traditions'', New Delhi: Northern Book Centre. p.11</ref><ref>Marinha.pt, 2009, ''[http://www.marinha.pt/pt/amarinha/historia/combatesnavais/pages/cananor31dedezembrode1501a2dejaneirode1502.aspx site Cananor - 31 de Dezembro de 1501 a 2 de Janeiro de 1502] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820093508/http://www.marinha.pt/pt/amarinha/historia/combatesnavais/pages/cananor31dedezembrode1501a2dejaneirode1502.aspx |date=2016-08-20 }}''</ref> In this action, João da Nova’s four ships won a memorable sea battle, largely due to their superior cannonry and one of the earliest combinations of line-ahead and standoff gun battle tactics.<ref>K. K. N. Kurup, India’s Naval Traditions: The Role of Kunhali Marakkars (New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 1997), 11</ref><ref>K. K. N. Kurup, India’s Naval Traditions: The Role of Kunhali Marakkars (New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 1997), 11; Frederick Charles Danvers, The Portuguese in India: A.D. 1481-1571 (London: W.H. Allen & Company, 1894), 76.</ref>
In 1898, a large 20-ton boulder was discovered at the bottom of the old Breakwater Office building at the site in the Fort of [[Colombo]], [[Sri Lanka]]. This featured a finely produced carving of the Portuguese coat of arms, above which was carved a cross and to one side a cruder carving, apparently of the numerals “1501”.<ref> dry Correspondents, ‘Antiquarian Discovery Relating to the Portuguese in Ceylon’, Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 16 (1899)[https://archive.org/details/journalofceylonb16roya/page/n29/mode/2up]</ref> Some historians have conjectured that Nova (or one of his captains) visited Sri Lank at some point on this trip, four years before the first officially documented Portuguese visit by D. [[Lourenço de Almeida]] in 1505-6.<ref>Bouchon, G. (1980) "A propos de l'inscription de Colombo (1501): quelques observations sur le premier voyage de João da Nova dans l'Océan Indien", ''Revista da Universidade de Coimbra'', Vol. 28, p. 233-70. [https://books.google.com/books?id=p5k1uy7-kSMC&pg=PA229 Offprint.]</ref> However, an alternative suggestion made in the 1899 paper by F. H. de Vos tentatively suggested that the characters might be read as “ISOI” representing a phrase such as Jesus Salvator Orientalium Indicorum [Jesus the Saviour of the East Indies].<ref>Sundry Correspondents, ‘Antiquarian Discovery Relating to the Portuguese in Ceylon’, 18.</ref>

Nova's armada left India around the turn of 1501/2. On his return journey, Nova is commonly said to have discovered the South Atlantic island of [[Saint Helena]] on 21 May 1502, the feast day of [[Helena, mother of Constantine I|Helena of Constantinople]]. However, a paper published in 2015<ref>Ian Bruce, ‘St Helena Day’, Wirebird The Journal of the Friends of St Helena, no. 44 (2015): 32–46.[http://sainthelenaisland.info/sthelenadayarticleianbruce.pdf]</ref> reviewed the discovery date and suggests [[Jan Huyghen van Linschoten]] was probably the first (in 1596) to state that the island was so named because it was found on the 21 May.<ref>Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, Itinerario, voyage ofte schipvaert van Jan Huygen Van Linschoten naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien, inhoudende een corte beschryvinghe der selver landen ende zee-custen... waer by ghevoecht zijn niet alleen die conterfeytsels van de habyten, drachten ende wesen, so van de Portugesen aldaer residerende als van de ingeboornen Indianen. (C. Claesz, 1596)[https://archive.org/details/itinerariovoyage00lins].</ref><ref>Jan Huygen van Linschoten, John Huighen Van Linschoten, His Discours of Voyages Into Ye Easte [and] West Indies: Divided Into Foure Bookes (London: John Wolfe, 1598).[https://books.google.com/books?id=nRN-HgO3tREC&pg=PA172]</ref> Given that Linschoten correctly stated [[Whitsunday]] fell on the Western Christian date of 21 May 1589 (rather than the Orthodox Church date of 28 May),<ref>[http://5ko.free.fr/en/easter.php?y=16 Side-by-side Easter calendar reference for the 16th century]</ref> the paper suggests that Linschoten was referring to the [[Protestant]] feast-day for Saint Helena on 21 May, not the Orthodox Church version on the same date. It is then argued the Portuguese found the island two decades before the start of the [[Reformation]] and the establishment of [[Protestantism]], and it is therefore not possible that the island was so named because it was found on the Protestant feast day. An alternative discovery date of 3 May on the Catholic feast-day celebrating the finding of the [[True Cross]] by [[Saint Helena]] in [[Jerusalem]], as quoted by [[Odoardo Duarte Lopes]] in 1591<ref>Duarte Lopes and Filippo Pigafetta, Relatione del Reame di Congo et delle circonvicine contrade tratta dalli scritti & ragionamenti di Odoardo Lope[S] Portoghese / per Filipo Pigafetta con disegni vari di geografiadi pianti, d’habiti d’animali, & altro. (Rome: BGrassi, 1591).[https://books.google.com/books?id=-aurfsHGclwC]</ref> and by [[Sir Thomas Herbert]] in 1638,<ref>Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Africa et Asia the Great: Especially Describing the Famous Empires of Persia and Industant as Also Divers Other Kingdoms in the Orientall Indies and I’les Adjacent (Jacob Blome & Richard Bishop, 1638), 353.[https://books.google.com/books?id=mlJBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA353]</ref> is suggested as historically more credible than the Protestant date of 21 May. The paper observes that if da Nova made the discovery on 3 May 1502, he may have been inhibited from naming the island Ilha de Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross) because [[Pedro Álvares Cabral]] had already assigned that same name to the Brazilian coastline, which he thought to be a large island, on 3 May 1500.<ref>Corrêa and Felner, Lendas da India, [Edited by R. J. de Lima Felner], Vol 1 Part 1:152.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YmVKAAAAYAAJ&dq=editions:LCCN05022145&pg=PA152]</ref> News of Cabral’s discovery reached Lisbon directly from South America before da Nova’s fleet set off on the voyage to India in 1501. If da Nova knew the True Cross name had already been assigned, the most obvious and plausible alternative name for him to give the island was "Santa Helena".

The tradition that da Nova discovered Saint Helena has been reviewed by a 2022 paper<ref>Bruce, Ian. ‘The Discovery of St Helena’. Wirebird: The Journal of the Friends of St Helena 51 (2022): 26–43. [http://sainthelenaisland.info/thediscoveryofsthelena_ianbruce.pdf]</ref> which concluded the Portuguese chronicles<ref>Cardozo, Manoel. ‘The Idea of History in the Portuguese Chroniclers of the Age of Discovery’. The Catholic Historical Review 49, no. 1 (1963): 1–19. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25017190#metadata_info_tab_contents]</ref> published at least 50 years later, are the sole primary source to the discovery. Although contradictory in describing other events, these chronicles almost unanimously claim João da Nova found St Helena sometime in 1502, although none quote the precise date.<ref>João de Barros, Manoel Severim de Faria, and João Baptista Lavanha, Da Asia de João de Barros e de Diogo de Couto, vol. I, book V, chapter X (Lisbon: Regia Officina Typografica, 1778), 477; [https://books.google.com/books?id=Epo2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA477]</ref><ref>Luiz de Figueiredo Falcão, Livro em que se contém toda a fazenda e real patrimonio dos reinos de Portugal, India, e ilhas adjacentes e outras particularidades (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional, 1859), 138; [https://books.google.com/books?id=OzdJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA138]</ref><ref>Damião de Góis, Chronica do serenissimo senhor rei D. Manoel (Lisbon: Na officina de M. Manescal da Costa, 1749), 85; [https://books.google.com/books?id=0vTmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA85]</ref><ref>Barros, Faria, and Lavanha, Da Asia de João de Barro, I, book V, chapter X:118; [https://books.google.com/books?id=yqM2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA118]</ref><ref>Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Asia Portuguesa, vol. 1 (En La Officina de Henrique Valente de Oliueira, 1666), 50; [https://books.google.com/books?id=WHo25-BfGO0C&pg=PA50]</ref><ref>Melchior Estacio Do Amaral, Tratado das batalhas e sucessos do Galeão Sanctiago com os Olandeses na Ilha de Sancta Elena: e da náo Chagas com os Vngleses antre as Ilhas dos Açores, 1604, 20; [https://books.google.com/books?id=XIWI6WIIGi4C&pg=PA18]</ref> However, there are several reasons for doubting da Nova made this discovery. First, given that da Nova either returned on 11 September<ref>Barros, Faria, and Lavanha, Da Asia de João de Barro, I, book V, chapter X:477; Góis, Chronica do serenis-simo, 477</ref> or 13 September 1502<ref>Marino Sanuto, I Diarii di Marino Sanuto, ed. Nicolò Barozzi, vol. 4 (Venice: F. Visentini, 1880), 486 [https://books.google.com/books?id=nfNRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA485]</ref> it is usually assumed the [[Cantino planisphere]] completed by the following November<ref>Guglielmo Berchet, Fonti italiane per la storia della scoperta del Nuovo mondo, vol. 1, part III (Rome: Ministero della pubblica istruzione, 1892), 152 [https://books.google.com/books?id=14gyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA152]</ref> includes his discovery of [[Ascension Island]] (shown as an [[archipelago]] with one of six islands marked as "ilha achada e chamada Ascenssam"), yet this map fails to show St Helena.<ref>Duarte Leite, História da colonização portuguesa do Brasil, Chapter IX, O mais antigo mapa do Brasil, ed. Carlos Malheiro Dias, vol. 2 (Porto: Litografia Nacional, 1922), 251, [https://archive.org/details/histriadacoloniz1922sous/page/n13/mode/2up]</ref><ref>Harold Livermore, ‘Santa Helena, A Forgotten Portuguese Discovery’’, Estudos Em HOmenagem a Louis Antonio de Oliveira Ramos, 2004, 623–31, [http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/4999.pdf?iframe=true&width=80%&height=80%]
</ref> Second, when a section of the [[4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)|Fourth Armada]] under the command of [[Estêvão da Gama (c. 1470)|Estêvão da Gama]] sighted and landed at St Helena the following year on 30 July 1503 its [[captain's clerk|scrivener]] [[Thomé Lopes]] regarded it as an unknown island yet named Ascension as one of five reference points to the new island’s location. On 12 July 1502, nearly three weeks before reaching St Helena, Lopes described how Estêvão da Gama’s ships met up with a section of the [[5th Portuguese India Armada (Albuquerque, 1503)|Fifth Armada]] led by [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] off the [[Cape of Good Hope]]. The latter left Lisbon about six months after João da Nova’s return so Albuquerque and his captains should all have known whether João da Nova had indeed found St Helena. An anonymous Flemish traveler on one of da Gama's ships reporting that bread and victuals were running short by the time they reached the Cape, so from da Gama's perspective there was a pressing need that he be told water and meat could be found at St Helena.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berjaeu |first=Jean Philibert |url=http://archive.org/details/calcoenadutchna00berjgoog |title=Calcoen: a Dutch narrative of the second voyage of Vasco da Gama to Calicut, printed at Antwerp circa 1504; |date=1874 |publisher=London, B. M. Pickering |others=University of Michigan}}</ref> The fact that nothing seems to have been said about the island, da Gama's scrivener Lopes regarding the island as unknown, again implies da Nova found Ascension but not St Helena. The 2022 paper also reviews cartographic evidence that St Helena and Ascension were known to the Spanish in 1500, before either João da Nova or Estêvão da Gama sailed for India. The suggestion that João da Nova discovered Tristan da Cunha naming it St Helena is discounted.<ref>George E. Nunn, The Mappemonde of Juan de La Cosa: A Critical Investigation of Its Date (Jenkintown: George H. Beans library, 1934</ref><ref>Edzer Roukema, ‘Brazil in the Cantino Map’, Imago Mundi 17 (1963): 15.</ref>

== Second voyage to India ==

===1505-06===
On 5 March 1505, he undertook another voyage to [[India]] as captain of the ''[[Flor de la Mar]]'' in the [[7th Portuguese India Armada (Almeida, 1505)|7th Portuguese India armada]] commanded by [[Francisco de Almeida]], the first Portuguese [[Viceroy]] of India. Nova had been granted credentials by the king entitling him to be Captain-Major ({{langx|pt|Capitão-mor}}) of the Indian coast fleet if suitable. In East Africa, the armada captured [[Kilwa Kisiwani|Kilwa]] (in which event Nova played a critical role relaying secret missives between Almeida and local pretender Muhammad Arcone){{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} and proceeded to raid [[Mombassa]].

After crossing the Indian Ocean, the armada spent some time erecting forts and raiding ports, before eventually arriving at [[Cochin]] in October. There D. Francisco de Almeida inaugurated his term as [[Viceroy]] of [[Portuguese India]], but refused to allow João da Nova to invoke his credentials as Captain-Major of the Indian coastal patrol. Almeida claimed that the ''Flor de la Mar'' was too large to enter the Indian coastal inlets and lagoons and thus unsuitable as a patrol ship. Almeida offered João da Nova the option of switching to a [[caravel]], and sending the ''Flor'' back under another captain, but Nova chose to bring her back to Lisbon himself. Almeida then appointed his own son, [[Lourenço de Almeida]], as captain-major of the patrol.

Leaving India in February 1506, Nova's heavy-laden ''Flor de la Mar'', developed a leak in the hull in the environs of [[Zanzibar]] and was forced to stop for repairs in the islands of the [[Mozambique Channel]]. He would spend the next eight months in the area repairing the ship, a delay prolonged by illness and contrary winds.

===1507===
He was still stranded with his leaky ship in February, 1507, when the [[8th Portuguese India Armada (Cunha, 1506)|8th Armada]], under command of [[Tristão da Cunha]], arrived in [[Mozambique Island]]. Cunha helped complete the repairs, transferred its cargo to a Lisbon-bound transport, and annexed Nova and the ''Flor de la Mar'' into his own India-bound fleet.

João da Nova took part in the Portuguese capture of [[Socotra]] in August 1507. Much to his surprise, he was assigned to remain in Socotra with the Red Sea patrol, a detachment of six ships under D. [[Afonso de Albuquerque]]'s command, rather than continue with Cunha on to India. But his presence in the Red Sea patrol turned out to be a disturbance to Albuquerque, even if his exact role in the subsequent "mutiny of the captains" may have been somewhat murky. Besides his own frustrations, Nova regaled fellow patrol captains with tales of Indian riches, a much more attractive option than the barren coasts of Arabia they were assigned to patrol. In August–September, 1507, Albuquerque led his little squad into the [[Gulf of Oman]] and began to raid a series of coastal cities in succession - [[Qalhat]], [[Qurayyat, Oman|Qurayyat]], [[Muscat, Oman|Muscat]] - signalling his intention to proceed in this manner all the way up the Arabian coast and across to the island of [[Hormuz Island|Hormuz]]. The patrol captains, who were lured to the East Indies with dreams of quick and easy riches, balked at the prospect of a tiring succession of profitless, dangerous fights with insufficient men-at-arms. After Muscat, the exhausted João da Nova submitted a formal request to Albuquerque for permission to leave the patrol and proceed to India (ostensibly to request reinforcements from the viceroy Almeida). When this was denied, Nova protested and was placed under arrest. He was later pardoned and released, as his command was needed for the [[Capture of Ormuz (1507)|Battle of Hormuz]] in October, 1507.

===1508===
Shortly after the battle, Nova once again was at the center of a renewed series of complaints, this time over the establishment of a fortress in the city of Hormuz. In early 1508, during the construction of the fortress, three of the patrol ships slipped away from Albuquerque's sight and set sail to India, intending to lodge formal complaints against Albuquerque with the vice-roy [[Francisco de Almeida]] in [[Cochin]]. João da Nova was not among them, but Albuquerque nonetheless decided to let him go as well, hoping that by this belated magnanimous gesture, Nova might argue on his behalf. He didn't. Once in Cochin, João da Nova joined the three other captains in opening a formal case against Albuquerque.

===1509===
João da Nova fought in the [[Battle of Diu (1509)|Battle of Diu]] in February 1509, his ship, the ''Flor de la Mar'', being used by the vice-roy Francisco de Almeida as the flagship of the Portuguese battle fleet. In March of that year, Afonso de Albuquerque, by then in Cochin himself, invoked his own secret credentials to relieve Francisco de Almeida as governor of India. But João da Nova, along with the other captains, assembled a petition demanding that Almeida refused to yield it, characterizing Albuquerque as unfit to govern.<ref>Albuquerque's ''Commentaries'', Vol. II, p.33 [https://books.google.com/books?id=IoLpAAAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AOXFORD590011672&pg=PA33 online]</ref> In May of the same year, Almeida formally opened a council in Cochin to consider the reception of Albuquerque. Nova and the other patrol captains presented the case against him.

João da Nova died shortly after, in July 1509, just a couple of weeks before Almeida delivered the indictment and ordered Albuquerque's arrest. In spite of all this, Albuquerque is said to have personally paid for Nova's funeral in memory of his achievements in the Hormuz campaign.<ref>Albuquerque's ''Commentaries'', vol. ii, p.49 [https://books.google.com/books?id=IoLpAAAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AOXFORD590011672&pg=PA49 online]</ref>

==See also==
*[[4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)]]
*[[7th Portuguese India Armada (Almeida, 1505)]]
*[[Exploration of Asia]]
*[[List of maritime explorers]]
*[[First Luso-Malabarese War]]

== Notes ==
<references group="N" />

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
*{{Cite book |last=de Albuquerque |first=Afonso |others=Translated by Walter de Gray Birch |authorlink=Afonso de Albuquerque |title=The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, Second Viceroy of India |year=1877}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nova, Joao Da}}
[[Category:1460s births]]
[[Category:1509 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Allariz – Maceda]]
[[Category:16th-century Spanish explorers]]
[[Category:Explorers of Asia]]
[[Category:Explorers of South Asia]]
[[Category:Recipients of Portuguese royal pardons]]
[[Category:Portuguese India Armadas]]
[[Category:Maritime history of Portugal]]
[[Category:16th-century Portuguese explorers]]

João da Nova - Revision history

MargueriteMcEwan at 12:48, 6 March 2026