Gabriel Soares de Sousa (1540–1591) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and naturalist. A participant in

Francisco Barreto Francisco Barreto (occasionally Francisco de Barreto, 1520 – 9 July 1573) was a Portuguese soldier and explorer. An officer in Morocco during his early life, Barreto sailed to Portuguese India and was eventually appointed viceroy of the colon ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

expeditions, he settled in the Portuguese

colony of Brazil Colonial Brazil ( pt, Brasil Colonial) comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Dur ...

living there for seventeen years. He wrote ''Tratado Descritivo do Brasil'' (A Descriptive Treatise of Brazil), published in 1587. This part

encyclopaedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

and part personal narrative describes

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and cultivated plants, gives an account of the culture of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

, the medicinal qualities of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and the so-called “trees reaes” or royal trees, trees of commercial value. It also covers native tribes. In 1591 he led an expedition along the

São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon, the Paraná and t ...

References

* This article incorporates text from História da Literatura Brasileira, de José Veríssimo, in

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. * "Brasiliana da Biblioteca Nacional", Rio de Janeiro, 2001. * Gaspar, Lúcia. ''Viajantes em terras brasileiras'' - ''Documentos existentes no acervo da Biblioteca Central Blanche Kn''opf. Fundação Joaquim Nabuco. Recife.

External links

Souza, Gabriel Soaares de. ''Tratado Descritivo do Brazil em 1587''. São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1938.
1540 births 1591 deaths Portuguese naturalists Portuguese Renaissance writers Portuguese explorers of South America 16th-century explorers 16th-century Portuguese people Portuguese colonization of the Americas {{portugal-botanist-stub