Domingo Paes (sometimes spelt Pais) was a traveller from

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 s ...

, who visited 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 ...

, located on the southern portion of the

Deccan Plateau The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by th ...

in around 1520. He journeyed together with a group of traders from what was then

Portuguese Goa Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa. T ...

, which was the capital of other territories such as

Portuguese Bombay 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 ...

. His visit took place during the rule of King

Krishnadevaraya Krishnadevaraya (17 January 1471 – 17 October 1529) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Empire, reigning from 1509 to 1529. He was the third monarch of the Tuluva dynasty, and is considered to be one of the ...

, Paes recorded his impressions of Vijayanagara in his work '' Chronica dos reis de Bisnaga'' ( Indo-Portuguese for "Chronicle of the king of Vijayanagar"). His detailed account is one of the few known descriptions of that empire and of its capital, Vijayanagara (

Hampi Hampi or Hampe, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Hampi town, Vijayanagara district, east-central Karnataka, India. Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th&n ...

), by a chronicler from abroad. Paes reported, "The kingdom has many places on the coast of India, which are seaports with whom we are at peace, and some of them have factories, in particular at ''Amcola'' ( Ankola), ''Mirgeo'' ( Mirjan, 14.48434, 74.42618), Honor, Batecalla, Mamgalor, Bracalor& Bacanor." Paes also records that advanced irrigation technology allowed the kingdom to produce high yields of crops at very reasonable prices, and a wide variety of cultures. He also describes a busy market of precious stones, and that the city was prospering. Its size in the eyes of the narrator, was comparable to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, with abundant vegetation, aqueducts& artificial

lakes A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

.Hampi on line
visited on 15 June 2009.

References

* . Repub. Adamant Media Corporation, 1982, . Includes a translation of the ''Chronica'' by Domingo Paes and

Fernão Nunes Fernão Nunes, also known as ''Fernao Nuniz'', was a Portuguese-Jewish traveler, chronicler and horse trader who spent three years in Vijayanagara, capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the time period 1535-1537. His writings have brought to ligh ...

about 1520 and 1535 respectively. * Radhakamal Mukerjee, "A history of Indian civilization", Hind Kitabs, 1958 (refers to Paes) * H. V. Sreenivasa Murthy, R. Ramakrishnan, ''A history of Karnataka, from the earliest times to the present day'', S. Chand, 1977

External links

* * Portuguese explorers Portuguese Renaissance writers Portuguese travel writers Vijayanagara Empire 16th-century explorers Explorers of Asia 16th-century Portuguese people {{Portugal-bio-stub

See also

References

External links