Diogo Botelho Pereira was a 16th-century Portuguese nobleman, colonial official, navigator and cartographer. He famously undertook a daring voyage by sea from India back to Portugal aboard a

fusta The fusta or fuste (also called foist) was a narrow, light and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail—in essence a small galley. It typically had 12 to 18 two-man rowing benches on each side, a single mast with a lateen (t ...

. Born in

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

, Botelho was the son of Iria Pereira and António Real, captain of Fort Emmanuel of Cochin. In India, Botelho learned to navigate and compiled detailed portolan charts for the Portuguese navy, in the service of which he commanded ships of the

Portuguese India Armadas The Portuguese Indian Armadas ( pt, Armadas da Índia) were the fleets of ships funded by the Crown of Portugal, and dispatched on an annual basis from Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal to Portuguese India, India. The principal destination was Por ...

and participated in military expeditions. Coming to Lisbon, King John III granted him an official title of ''

fidalgo ''Fidalgo'' (, ), from Galician and Portuguese —equivalent to nobleman, but sometimes literally translated into English as "son of somebody" or "son of some (important family)"—is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility that refers to a m ...

'', but Pereira fell out of royal favour over disagreements with the monarch regarding his proper compensation for services to the Crown, and was instead banished to India in perpetuity. This motivated his audacious enterprise of sailing a minuscule vessel from India back to Portugal, between November 1535 and May 1536, bearing the first news of the construction of the Portuguese fortress of Diu, to prove his worth and loyalty. King John awarded him with the post of captain of

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álva ...

, between 1541 and 1545, but his vessel was destroyed, to prevent rival European nations from presupposing that the voyage to the East might be easily undertaken, and Portugal's monopoly challenged. Pereira continued serving in the royal Portuguese navy afterwards, sailing ships linking Lisbon and Goa; in 1549 he commanded a fleet of five carracks bound to India, and returned in 1551.Luiz de Figueiredo Falcão:
Livro em que se contém toda a fazenda e real patrimonio dos reinos de Portugal, India, e ilhas adjacentes e outras particularidades
', Imprensa Nacional, 1859. p.163 Later in his life he was attributed the post of captain of the Portuguese fortress of Canannore in India.

References

* João de Barros
Da Asia de João de Barros e de Diogo de Couto, Volume 12, Decade V, Book I chapter II
1779 edition. * Ignacio da Costa Quintella
Annaes da marinha portugueza, Volume 1
1839, p. 441 *
Carta de Diogo Botelho Pereira dando conta ao Barão de Alvito D. Rodrigo Lobo, dos Sucessos que teve na viagem da Índia e estado dela. Que o Turco tomara Adém, no Estreito de Meca, e, no de Ormuz, Baçorá e Catifa (Al-Qatif). Que o rei de Cambaia preparava grande armada e o de Calecut não queria guerra.
'- Letter from Diogo Botelho Pereira to the Baron of Alvito, regarding the state of affairs in India, preserved in the Torre do Tombo Arquives in Lisbon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pereira, Diogo Botelho 16th-century Portuguese people Portuguese explorers Portuguese navigators Governors of Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe Year of birth missing Year of death missing

See also

References