João Fernandes Lavrador
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
João Fernandes (pron. IPA [ʒu'ɐ̃ũ fɨɾ'nɐ̃ðɨʃ]) (1453 - 1505) was a Portuguese navigator and sea explorer.
Fernandes charted the coasts of Southwestern Greenland and of adjacent Northeastern North America around 1498 and gave notice of them in Europe. The areas are believed to have been named island of the Labrador and land of the Labrador, respectively, after him. Fernandes was granted title to much of the lands he had discovered and is considered the first European landowner in Labrador. Because of this, the word Lavrador (pron. IPA [lɐvɾɐ'ðoɾ]) is often added to his name. It means is a "landholder" in Portuguese.
