Fernão Nunes, also known as ''Fernao Nuniz'', was a Portuguese-Jewish traveler, chronicler and horse trader who spent three years in

Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Vijayanagara district, Bell ...

, capital of the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Mahar ...

in the time period 1535-1537. His writings have brought to light many interesting details about Vijayanagara at that time, including construction of massive fortification works, watch towers and security walls. From his notes it is known that the expansion of the regal capital limits happened during the rule of King Bukka Raya II and Deva Raya I. Once Nunes fled the

inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, where he openly practiced his

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

. Nunes' brother was one Jacob Curiel of Coimbra, alias ''Duarte Nunes'', founder of the Curiel family that would come to greatly influence European trade and diplomacy. Jacob and Fernão frequently wrote letters to each other.

Notes

References

*K.A. Nilakanta Sastry, History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar, 1955, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002) *Robert Sewell, Fernão Nunes, Domingos Paes, "A forgotten empire: Vijayanagar; a contribution to the history of India" (Includes a translation of "Chronica dos reis de Bisnaga," from Domingos Paes and Fernao Nuniz from 1520 and 1535 respectively), Adamant Media Corporation, 1982, *Radhakamal Mukerjee, "A history of Indian civilization", Hind Kitabs, 1958 (refere Paes) *H. V. Sreenivasa Murthy, R. Ramakrishnan, "A history of Karnataka, from the earliest times to the present day", S. Chand, 1977

External links

* * 16th-century explorers Portuguese explorers Explorers of Asia Jewish explorers Portuguese Renaissance writers Portuguese travel writers Vijayanagara Empire Curiel family People of Sephardic-Jewish descent History of Karnataka 16th-century Portuguese people Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{Portugal-bio-stub 16th-century Jews