António Galvão (c. 1490–1557), also known as Antonio Galvano, was a Portuguese soldier,
chronicle
A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...
r and administrator in the
Maluku islands
The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...
, and a
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
historian who was the first person to present a comprehensive report of the leading voyages and explorers up to 1550 by Portuguese explorers and those of other nationalities. His works, especially the
Treaty of Discovery that was published in Lisbon in 1563 and in English by
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt (; 1553 – 23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is known for promoting the British colonization of the Americas, English colonization of North America through his works, notably ''Divers Voyages Touching the Discov ...
in 1601, are notably accurate.
Life
António Galvão was the son of
Duarte Galvão, who was chief diplomat and chronicler to King
Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V (; 15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa. ...
.
In 1527, António Galvão sailed for
Portuguese India
The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...
where he became captain of
Maluku and governor of the fort of
Ternate
Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
from 1536 to 1540.
He is described in Chapter II of the Fifth
"Decade of Asia" as a respected governor, having sent a mission to
Papua and received local embassies. He funded a seminar in Ternate, where he spent 12,000 ''
cruzados'' from the inheritance he had received from his father, and was known for his integrity.
In 1540, Galvão handed the governance of the fortress to D. Jorge de Castro and returned to Portugal, where he learned he had fallen into disgrace.
He spent his last years in anonymity and poverty in the Royal Hospital awaiting a pension. He died in the hospital and was buried in 1557.
Works
António Galvão left two manuscripts; one was the treaty of the discoveries that was printed in 1563 in Lisbon by his friend
Francisco de Sousa Tavares. The work, which was based on numerous written sources and documents, presented for the first time a synthesis of all of the discoveries that were made by Portuguese and Spanish explorers until 1550.
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt (; 1553 – 23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is known for promoting the British colonization of the Americas, English colonization of North America through his works, notably ''Divers Voyages Touching the Discov ...
had the treaty translated into English and published in 1601, as "The discoveries of the world - by Antonio Galvano".
The second manuscript was a history of the
Moluccas
The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...
(Maluku) with the title: "Historia das Molucas, da natureza, e descubrimento daquellas terras divida em 10 livros". ("History of the Moluccas, nature and discovery of the lands divided into 10 books"). This remained unpublished; Francisco de Sousa Tavares passed the manuscript to the crown. It is referred to by 16th-century chroniclers
João de Barros
João de Barros (; 1496 – 20 October 1570), nicknamed the "Portuguese Livy", is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his (''Decades of Asia''), a history of the Portuguese in India, Asia, and southeast Africa.
Early y ...
and
João Baptista Lavanha; a good part of it is said to have been reproduced verbatim within
Damião de Góis's 1566-67 ''
Chronica del rey D. Manuel'' but all trace of the original Galvão manuscript disappeared after Góis's death.
[Diogo Barbosa Machado (1741) ''Bibliotheca Lusitana'', v.1, p.285] In 1928, a document was found in the
Archivo General de Indias in
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
with a history of the Maluku that was identified as being part—perhaps an early draft—of António Galvão's lost document. It was published in 1971 a in bilingual (Portuguese-English) edition that was arranged by
Hubert Jacobs with the title ''A Treatise on the Moluccas (c. 1544), probably the preliminary version of António Galvão's lost Historia das Moluccas'' (Rome: Jesuit Historical Society).
See also
*
Fernão Lopes de Castanheda
*
Gaspar Correia
Footnotes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galvao, Antonio
16th-century Portuguese explorers
16th-century Portuguese historians
16th-century Portuguese male writers
Portuguese Renaissance writers
Portuguese travel writers
1490s births
1557 deaths
People from the Malay Archipelago
Year of birth uncertain
Portuguese colonial governors and administrators
People from Lisbon