Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer
1460 CE
to 1504 CE
Nicolau Coelho (c.1460, Felgueiras - 1502, off the coast of Mozambique) is an expert Portuguese navigator and explorer during the age of discovery.
He participates in the discovery of the route to India by Vasco da Gama where he commands Berrio, the first caravel to return; is captain of a ship in the fleet headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral who lands in Brazil.
He dies at sea, possibly off the coast of Mozambique, while returning from India in the 5th Portuguese Armada with Francisco de Albuquerque.