João da Nova was a Galician nobleman who, in the service of the Portuguese crown, twice sailed to East Asia following Vasco da Gama’s route, in 1501 and 1505, and died shortly after the battle of Hormuz, in 1509, at the age of 49.
Historical accounts emphasise his rivalry with Afonso de Albuquerque, and on several occasions, he is known to have taken positions that opposed the decisions of the man who would become the 2nd Viceroy (and 1st Duke of Goa), particularly in relation to the complicated succession of Francisco de Almeida.
Notwithstanding his quarrels with Albuquerque, João da Nova showed himself to be an excellent officer and sailor, and even his enemies recognised his naval expertise and bravery in combat.
He discovered the islands of Ascension and Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic, and his name is linked to another island in the Mozambique Channel, although there is some doubt as to whether he ever went there.
The figure of João da Nova is associated with the postal activity of his time, even though King Manuel I had not yet appointed a Master of the Post at the time of his voyages. In fact, in 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral, after taking the diversion that allowed him to officially claim the discovery of Brazil, instead of returning to Portugal continued to India. On his return journey, in 1501, in the bay now called Mossel Bay, in South Africa, the commander left a letter inside a boot, hanging from a tree.
In the letter, he described the events of his trip to India, the shipwrecks that occurred and the loss of vessels, particularly that of Bartolomeu Dias, who died when his ship went down. This letter was addressed to the first Portuguese fleet that passed that way, and came to be read by João da Nova, who had left Lisbon on his first journey to India on 5 March 1501, before the arrival in Lisbon of Cabral’s ravaged fleet.
The letter read by João da Nova is thought to have been the first letter to be “posted” at the “Post Office Tree”, conveying details of the voyages of the various fleets on the Carreira da Índia, or Indian Run. This “Post Office Tree”, more than 500 years old, is still standing today, preserving the memory of the role it once played.
