The Herald

Brothers Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real sailed from Portugal in 1501 on a mission to find a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They reached Newfoundland and captured 60 natives as slaves whom Miguel took back to Europe. Gaspar was meant to follow him but was attacked by more natives who burned his vessel and held him and his men captive, taking them inland away from the shores. Although resentful for the enslavement of their people, mostly women and children, the natives didn’t seem inclined to kill the outsiders safe for the few who tried to escape, so Gaspar judged it wiser to keep quiet. Having no ship or supplies, they were likely to die in the wilderness. Two nights later, they reached a community near a creek and Gaspar was taken to their leader, an ancient-looking woman who shocked him by speaking his language. “Your arrival was announced, you owe us a debt of blood,” she said. “You came with another who is gone with our people, but he shall return. You and your men will be unbound. Your behavior will decide how we shall treat him.” Gaspar felt humiliated but also awed, and ordered his men to follow the natives’ rules, hoping that the woman had been truthful, that Miguel would one day rescue them.