Álvaro Velho (15th-16th century, born in Barreiro,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

) was a Portuguese sailor or soldier who took part in the first Portuguese expedition by sea to India, led by

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

in 1497. Velho is one of the purported authors of the anonymous ''Journal of Vasci Da Gama's trip of 1497'' (the other being João de Sá). This work survives in a single manuscript copy preserved at the Biblioteca Pública Municipal of Porto and first published in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in 1838 by

Diogo Kopke Diogo Kopke (1808–1844) was a Portuguese editor and publisher, mathematician, journalist and soldier of German descent. He was the first person to publish the only existing contemporary report of Vasco da Gama’s first trip to India. Backgroun ...

. In 1945, historian Franz Hümmerich identified the author of this manuscript with an Álvaro Velho who had spent eight years in

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

and provided information about the

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

region to

Valentim Fernandes Valentim Fernandes (died 1518 or 1519) was a printer (publisher), printer who lived in Portugal. An ethnic Germans, German originally from Moravia, he moved to Lisbon, Portugal in 1495 where he lived and worked for 23 years, he was a writer and a ...

. However, more recent studies by Carmen Radulet have exposed weaknesses in this theory and attributed the ''Journal'' with more certainty to scrivener João de Sá. In 2013, this document was inscribed by UNESCO on the Memory of the World heritage list. After this trip, Álvaro Velho will have spent eight years in Guinea (1499-1507). Currently, a school in Lavradio and a street in Barreiro are named after him.

References

Editions of the ''Journal'': * Diogo Kopke and Antonio da Costa Paiva (eds.), ''"Roteiro da viagem que em descobrimento da India pelo Cabo da Boa Esperança fez dom Vasco da Gama em 1497": Segundo um manuscripto da Bibliotheca publica portuense'', Porto: Typographia Commercial Portuense, 1838 (first edition of the manuscript, in Portuguese). Scan available a
Biblioteca Brasiliana Mindlin
* Ernest George Ravenstein (ed.), ''A journal of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497–1499'', London:Hakluyt Society, 1898 (first English translation). Scan available a
Archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velho, Alvaro Portuguese travel writers Maritime history of Portugal People from Barreiro, Portugal 16th-century Portuguese people 15th-century Portuguese explorers Explorers of Asia Portuguese male writers Portuguese Renaissance writers