Gaspar Correia (1492 – c. 1563 in

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 ...

) 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 ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

considered a Portuguese Polybius. He authored ''Lendas da Índia'' (Legends of India), one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia.Ana Paula Avelar, "Gorreia, Gaspar"
, in CHAM Letra

Biography

Little is known of the author or his family origins and birthplace. It is assumed that he was born in 1492. He lived mostly in Portuguese India, reportedly arriving around 1512-14 to serve as a soldier and then chosen as

scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who could read and write or who wrote letters to court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written material. This usually indicated secretarial and ad ...

Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...

, for which he was very proud. He returned to Portugal in 1529 for some time but later returned to India. His work ''Lendas da Índia'', though written in a rude style, is considered an indispensable contemporary reference, having profited from his thirty-five years' work in India, and from privileged sources unknown to

Fernão Lopes de Castanheda Fernão Lopes de Castanheda (Santarém, c. 1500 – 1559 in Coimbra) was a Portuguese historian in the early Renaissance. His "History of the discovery and conquest of India", full of geographic and ethnographic objective information, was wid ...

or João de Barros. He wrote the first European account on Asiatic Cholera. One theory suggests that he was murdered in

Portuguese Malacca Portuguese control of Malacca, a city on the Malay Peninsula, refers to the 130 year period (1511–1641) when it was a possession of the Portuguese East Indies. It was conquered from the Malacca Sultanate as part of Portuguese attempts to ...

, by order of Governor Estêvão da Gama, the son of Vasco da Gama. The 3,500-page ''Lendas da Índia'' manuscript was brought from India to Portugal by

Miguel da Gama --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places *Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disamb ...

shortly after Correia's death and copies circulated only among authorised persons. One author claims, without citing any source, that the manuscript was published in 12 volumes in 1556 but, if it existed, no trace remains. His family retained the manuscript of the original, which was printed in 1858 (first part) and 1864 (second part) by the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. He died around 1563 in Goa, Portuguese India.

References

Bibliography

* CORREIA, Gaspar. ''Lendas da Índia'' (introduction and review by M. Lopes de Almeida). Porto: 1975. * BELL, Aubrey Fitz Gerald, "Gaspar Corrêa", Hispanic notes & monographs; essays, studies, and brief biographies issued by the Hispanic Society of America. Portuguese series v, Volume 5 of Hispanic society of America, Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1924. * BANHA de ANDRADE, António Alberto, ''Gaspar Correia, o 1.º historiador português do Oriente.'' (''Gaspar Correia, the First Portuguese Historian of the Far East'') Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Centro de Estudos de História e Cartografia Antiga, Lisbon, 1985.

External links

* CORREA, Gaspar. ''The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, and His Viceroyalty. From the'' Lendas da India ''of Gaspar Correa, accompanied by original documents'' (translated from the Portuguese, with notes and an introduction by the Hon. Henry E. J. Stanley). Printed for the Hakluyt Society, London: 1869

* CORREA, Gaspar. ''Lendas da India''. Lisboa: Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, 1858-1866. 8 volumes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Correa 1490s births 1560s deaths Portuguese male writers Maritime history of Portugal Portuguese chroniclers Portuguese Renaissance writers Portuguese travel writers 16th-century Portuguese historians History of Kerala