The first documented Portuguese foray into upper Amazonia was the expedition of Portuguese explorer and military officer Pedro Teixeira, who followed the great river from the Atlantic Ocean to Quito, Equador with 70 soldiers and 1,200 Indians in forty-seven great canoes (1637–1639). He returned by the same route, arriving back in Belem in 1639. According to the Portuguese, Pedro Teixeira placed a possession marker at the upper Japurá River in 1639. Soon after that the Portuguese "bandeirante" António Raposo Tavares, whose "bandeira", leaving the captaincy of São Vicente travelling overland, reached the Andes, and following the Amazon River, returned to Belém, visiting a total of about , between 1648 and 1651.