Fray Sebastien Manrique ( pt, Sebastião Manrique; c. 1590 – 1669) was a Portuguese

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

missionary and traveler. He traveled around countries of the East for about sixteen years during 1628–1643. In 1653, he published his work, titled ''Itinerario de las Missiones Orientales del P. Manrique'' (Itinerary of the Oriental Missions of Father Manrique), in Rome. Manrique traveled to India and reached

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

in September 1640 to inspect the Portuguese Catholic Church. He spent about 27 days in Dhaka. In 1628–29, he travelled from

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, residing in Hoogly for some months. He spent five years in

Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...

, following which he travelled to

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 ...

. He sailed for Japan, but was stopped by Portuguese authorities in Manila and Macao. After that, he returned to India. He returned to Europe by land, passing through Qandahar,

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

and Damascus. He had left India in 1641 and reached home in July 1643. Particularly noted among his writings are the ones relating to Arakan, where he recorded the customs of the court and people that were mixed with Buddhist, Muslim and animist ideas. The first volume of the ''Itinerario'' is one of few the pre-19th-century western accounts of the kingdom. He was murdered in 1669 in London by his Portuguese servant.

References

1590s births 1669 deaths Portuguese explorers Explorers of India People of Portuguese India 17th-century Portuguese people Portuguese travel writers People from Porto Portuguese murder victims Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries {{Portugal-writer-stub