Leonel de Sousa was the second

Captain-Major A donatary captain was a Portuguese colonial official to whom the Crown granted jurisdiction, rights, and revenues over some colonial territory. The recipients of these grants were called (donataries), because they had been given the grant as a ( ...

Portuguese Macau Portuguese Macau (officially the Province of Macau until 1976, and then the Autonomous Region of Macau from 1976 to 1999) was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colony that existed from the first official Portuguese settlement in 1557 to the ...

in 1558 (the equivalent of the later

governor of Macau The governor of Macau ( pt, Governador de Macau; ) was a Portuguese colonial official who headed the colony of Macau, before 1623 called captain-major ( pt, Capitão-mor). The post was replaced on 20 December 1999 upon the transfer of sove ...

). In 1554 he had negotiated an agreement with the local authorities of Guangzhou known as the first Luso-Chinese agreement which allowed the legalization of Portuguese commercial activities in China through the payment of taxes. This agreement opened the way for the establishment of

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

as Portuguese warehouse three years later. This agreement which was negotiated by Leonel de Sousa, captain-chief of Japan's voyage, opened a new era in Sino-Portuguese relations, because since 1522 the Portuguese were officially prevented from trading: several embassies had failed and trade was carried out as contraband and fought by the authorities, who considered them 'folanji' fighting them as pirates.

Agreement negotiation

Since the arrival in Japan in 1543, the Portuguese had begun an intense commerce between

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

and

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

with Japan. Leonel de Sousa, the chief captain of Japan's voyage, arrived at the coast of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

in 1552, where he learned that all foreigners were permitted to trade there for the fee payment, except the 'Folanji' (the pejorative name for the Europeans and for the Portuguese in particular, which were considered as pirates). He promised that the peace conditions and the taxes payment to be fulfilled providing the authorities to change this 'name'. In 1554 Leonel de Sousa, together with the chief captain of

Chaul Chaul is a historic town located in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. The Korlai Fort is located nearby. History The town was famous for cotton manufactured goods in the 15th and 16th century, According to Varthema, Chaul was prod ...

, made an agreement with officials of Canton to legalize the Portuguese commerce, on conditions that they would pay the stipulated customs duties. The only written testimony of this agreement is a letter from Leonel de Sousa of 1556 to the Infant D. Luís, where he affirmed that the Portuguese were to pay the fees and not to erect fortifications. The letter is one of the most important documents in the history of Sino-Portuguese relations, describes the prolonged negotiations with the superintendent of the navy of Canton, the Haitao Wang Po, identified in the Chinese sources as that who had accepted a bribe of the Portuguese by letting them pay taxes in Canton. As the port of

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

also faced impoverishment since it was closed to foreign trade the agreement was profitable for both sides. Leonel de Sousa tried to negotiate the payment of only 10% of the fees, to which Wan Po counterposed the obligatory 20% but focusing only on half the load, which Leonel de Sousa took with the help of the wealthy merchant Simão d'Almeida, and outside the Beijing government. This treaty would be followed by the recognition of Macao as a Portuguese official warehouse in 1557.The Cambridge history of China, Volume 2; Volume 8
Retrieved on 26 Feb 2018

In Popular Culture

-Leonel de Sousa is featured in the Total War: Shogun 2 mod "Portuguese Faction Mod" by locobilbo as the Faction leader.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Leonel de Governors of Macau 16th-century Portuguese people Portuguese diplomats