Jorge Álvares
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jorge Álvares (died July 8, 1521) is credited as the first Portuguese explorer to have reached China and Hong Kong. The Fundação Jorge Álvares (Jorge Álvares Foundation), founded by Vasco Joaquim Rocha Vieira prior to the handover of Macau, got its name for also having reached there.
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[edit] Exploration
In May 1513 Álvares sailed under the Portuguese Malacca captain, Rui de Brito Patalim in a junk from Pegu. The expedition was accompanied by 5 other junks. Álvares himself was accompanied by 2 other Poruguese mariners[1].
Álvares made first contact on Asian soil in Guangdong, Southern China in May 1513.[2] Upon landing, he raised a Padrão from the king of Portugal, where they landed on Lintin Island in the Pearl River estuary.[3] Based on information from their captain, they were to expect to find trade. Soon after this, the Viceroy of the Estado da India dispatched Rafael Perestrello—a cousin of Christopher Columbus—[4] 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.[4]
Álvares later joined the venture of establishing the settlements in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong around 1513 to 1514[5]. This visit was followed by the establishment of a number of Portuguese trading centres in the area, which were eventually consolidated in Macau. In 1517 the Portuguese settlers were in a battle with Imperial Chinese army troops in the region[6]. There is a possibility that Álvares took part in the combat.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Porter, Jonathan. [1996] (1996). Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present. Westview Press. ISBN 0813337496
- ^ Edmonds. [2002] (2002) China and Europe Since 1978: A European Perspective. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521524032
- ^ Porter, Jonathan. [1996] (1996). Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present. Westview Press. ISBN 0813337496
- ^ a b Brook, 124.
- ^ 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
- ^ China Briefing Media. [2004] (2004) Business Guide to the Greater Pearl River Delta. China Briefing Media publishing. ISBN 988-9867311
[edit] 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).
