Tristão Vaz Teixeira was a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 navigator and explorer who, together with João Gonçalves Zarco

João Gonçalves Zarco

João Gonçalves Zarco was a Portuguese explorer who established settlements and recognition of the Madeira Islands, and was appointed first captain of Funchal by Henry the Navigator.-Life:...

 and Bartolomeu Perestrelo

Bartolomeu Perestrelo

Bartolomeu Perestrello , 1st Capitão Donatário, Lord and Governor of the Island of Porto Santo was a Portuguese navigator and explorer that is claimed to have discovered and populated Porto Santo Island together with João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira...

, discovered the Madeira Islands (1419–1420). His true name was just Tristão Vaz, the name Teixeira being later added because of his wife Branca Teixeira.

Nobleman of Prince Henry the Navigator's House, he was granted, as hereditary fief (Capitania), half the island of Madeira and, together with his fellow fleet commanders, started the colonization of the islands.