Cristóvão de Mendonça

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[edit] Mendonça in João de Barros’s Décadas da Ásia

Main article: João de Barros

Cristóvão de Mendonça was a Portuguese sailor and statesman who was active in South East Asia in the 16th century. He is known from a small number of Portuguese sources, notably João de Barros. Barros was one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his work Décadas da Ásia (Decades of Asia), a history of the Portuguese Empire in India and Asia, published between 1552-1615. Barros mentions that Cristóvão de Mendonça was the son of a Pedro de Mendonça of Mourão, but his date of birth is not given. [1]Mendonça later governed Hormuz (Ormus) as Captain-Major from 1527. He died there in 1532. [2]

Mendonça is named by Barros as the captain of a ship that left Lisbon in 1519. Mendonça appears again in Barros account with instructions to search for Magellan and later Marco Polo’s legendary Isles of Gold. However Mendonça and other Portuguese sailors are then described as assisting with the construction of a fort at Pedir (Sumatra). Barros promises to return to the topic of the voyage to the Isles of Gold, but does not. [3] [4]

[edit] Mendonça and the Theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia

Main article: Theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia

In the 1970s Mendonça’s name became well known in Australian History discussions when it was connected to the Theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia by Kenneth McIntyre.[5] While there are few Portuguese documents or maps beyond Barros that mention Mendonça, and none to directly connect Mendonça with Australia, McIntyre hypothesized that in 1521-4 Mendonça captained a fleet of three caravels which charted the east coast of Australia. McIntyre suggested that the voyage was kept secret because it would likely violate the ambiguous Treaty of Tordesillas, under which Portugal agreed that Spain would have exclusive rights to exploration in most of the Americas and the regions between the Americas and Asia (Pacific).[6] In addition he argued, many Portuguese records were lost in a disastrous Lisbon earthquake in 1755. [7]

McIntyre’s indentification of Mendonça as the likely commander of a Portuguese fleet that charted Australia's east coast c1521-4 has also been accepted by other writers of the Theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia, including Lawrence Fitzgerald (1984)[8]and Peter Trickett [9]. McIntyre suggested that one of Mendonça's caravels sailed along the southeast coast of Australia and was wrecked somewhere near Warrnambool, Victoria, becoming the Mahogany Ship of Australian folklore. Although this wreck has not been seen since the 1880s, it is now often described in the Australian media as a Portuguese caravel or one of Mendonça’s fleet, largely on the basis of McIntyre’s theory.[10] However, writing in one of his last pieces on the topic in 1994,McIntyre acknowledged that the identity of the Portuguese discoverer remained unclear. "Whether the discoverer was Mendonça or some other, at least (I am) certain he was Portuguese " [11]

[edit] Recent work

In his 2007 book Beyond Capricorn, science journalist Peter Trickett revealed other information relating to Mendonça’s life, including a fragment of stone engraved with Mendonça's name found in South Africa [12] and clearly dated to 1524, and a drawing that may show the 1519 fleet on its way to Goa. [13] Trickett also connected Mendonça with the discovery of the North Island of New Zealand.

[edit] Other Points of View

Commenting on McIntyre’s theory in 1984, Captain A. Ariel [14] suggested it was extremely unlikely any sixteenth century mariner would have taken a voyage southwards down Australia’s eastern coast, through uncharted dangerous waters and against prevailing winds, on the assumption Magellan was sailing westwards, in southern latitudes, against the roaring forties.

Writing in 2006, Associate Professor W.A.R.(Bill) Richardson of Flinders University, South Australia suggested the claim that Cristóvão de Mendonça sailed down the east coast of Australia is sheer speculation, based on voyages about which no real details have survived. [15]

[edit] References

  1. ^ João de Barros quoted in Trickett, P.(2007) Beyond Capricorn. How Portuguese adventurers discovered and mapped Australia and New Zealand 250 years before Captain Cook p.79 East St. Publications. Adelaide. ISBN 9 78097511459 9
  2. ^ World Statesmen - Iran.Hormuz was ruled by Portugal from 1515 to 1622 under the submission of Goa, then a Portuguese possession, before being incorporated into Persia in 1622.
  3. ^ João de Barros quoted in McIntyre, K.G. (1977) The Secret Discovery of Australia, Portuguese ventures 200 years before Cook, p.241-243 Souvenir Press, Menindie ISBN 028562303 6
  4. ^ João de Barros quoted in Trickett, P.(2007) p.79
  5. ^ McIntyre, K.G. (1977) P.239-248
  6. ^ McIntyre, K.G. (1977) p.42-51
  7. ^ However, a significant library of Portuguese discovery maps and documents apparently still exists in Goa. See http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/the-goans-get-tough-and-mystery-remains/2007/04/13/1175971344776.html
  8. ^ Fitzgerald, L (1984). Java La Grande p. 69+. The Publishers, Hobart ISBN 0 94932500 7
  9. ^ Trickett, P.(2007) p.11+
  10. ^ See for example; Adams, D, "Buried in the dunes…" The Age, March 10, 2000
  11. ^ McIntyre, K.G. (1994) Quoted by Peter Schumpeter "Great Questions of Our Time Series; Who Discovered Australia?" The Age, 26 January 1994
  12. ^ Trickett, P. (2007) p.180 Plate 11
  13. ^ Trickett, P. (2007) p.180 Plate 1
  14. ^ Ariel, A. “Navigating with Kenneth McIntyre” in The Great Circle, Vol 6, No 2, 1984. p135-139
  15. ^ Richardson, W.A.R. (2006). Was Australia charted before 1606? The Jave La Grande inscriptions. Canberra, National Library of Australia, p.39, ISBN 0 64227642 0

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