Fernão Nunes, also known as ''Fernao Nuniz'', was a

Portuguese-Jewish Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the i ...

traveler, chronicler and horse trader who spent three years in Vijayanagara, capital of the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, 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 an ...

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 Bukka Raya II (born 1363, reign 1405–1406 CE) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty The Sangama dynasty was a dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire founded in the 14th century by two brothers: Harihara I (also ca ...

and

Deva Raya I Deva Raya I (reigned 1406–1422 CE) was a king of the Vijayanagara Empire (of the Sangama Dynasty). After Harihara II died there was a dispute between his sons over the throne in which Deva Raya I eventually emerged victor. He was a very ca ...

. 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 the ...

. Nunes' brother was one

Jacob Curiel of Coimbra Jacob Curiel of Coimbra (1514-1576), also known as Jacob Curiel or Duarte Nunes of Coimbra, was a prosperous Portuguese cloth merchant and navy commander. Life and career Curiel was born into a family of crypto-Jews, the brother of Fernão Nun ...

, alias ''Duarte Nunes'', founder of the

Curiel family The Curiel family (Dutch: Curiël ''or'' also known as: da Costa) is a prominent Sephardi Jewish family. Until the late 18th century, the family held diplomatic positions for the Portuguese Crown in Hamburg and Amsterdam. History The family's ...

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