- Jorge Álvares
Jorge Álvares (died
July 8 ,1521 ) is credited as the first Portugueseexplorer to have reachedChina andHong Kong . The Fundação Jorge Álvares (Jorge Álvares Foundation), founded byVasco Joaquim Rocha Vieira prior to the handover ofMacau , got its name for also having reached there.Exploration
In May 1513 Álvares sailed under the
Portuguese Malacca captain, Rui de Brito Patalim in a junk fromPegu . The expedition was accompanied by 5 other junks. Álvares himself was accompanied by 2 other Poruguese mariners [Porter, Jonathan. [1996] (1996). Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present. Westview Press. ISBN 0813337496] .Álvares made first contact on Asian soil in
Guangdong ,Southern China in May 1513. [Edmonds. [2002] (2002) China and Europe Since 1978: A European Perspective. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521524032] Upon landing, he raised aPadrão from the king ofPortugal , where they landed onLintin Island in the Pearl Riverestuary . [Porter, Jonathan. [1996] (1996). Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present. Westview Press. ISBN 0813337496] Based on information from their captain, they were to expect to find trade. Soon after this, the Viceroy of the Estado da India dispatchedRafael Perestrello —a cousin ofChristopher Columbus — to seek trade relations with the Chinese. In a ship from Malacca, Rafael landed on the southern shores of Guangdong later that year in 1513, being the first to actually land on the coast of mainland China.Brook, 124.]Álvares later joined the venture of establishing the settlements in
Tuen Mun ,Hong Kong around 1513 to 1514 [Ride, Lindsay. Ride, May. Fairbank, John K. The Voices of Macao Stones: Abridged with Additional Material by Jason Wordie. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 962-2094872] . This visit was followed by the establishment of a number of Portuguese trading centres in the area, which were eventually consolidated inMacau . In 1517 the Portuguese settlers were in a battle with Imperial Chinese army troops in the region [China Briefing Media. [2004] (2004) Business Guide to the Greater Pearl River Delta. China Briefing Media publishing. ISBN 988-9867311] . There is a possibility that Álvares took part in the combat.Notes
References
*Brook, Timothy. (1998). "The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China". Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22154-0 (Paperback).
ee also
*
Exploration of Asia External links
* http://english.sohu.com/20050203/n224228767.shtml
* [http://jorgealvares.com/index.asp?LANG=2 The Jorge Álvares Foundation]
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