Gaspar Correia (1492 – c. 1563 in Goa) was a Portuguese historian who wrote ''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 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 ...

, reportedly arriving around 1512-14 to serve as a soldier and then chosen as

scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could literacy, read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying w ...

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

, 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 or

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 ...

. He wrote the first European account on Asiatic

Cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

. One theory suggests that he was murdered in

Portuguese Malacca Portuguese control of Malaccaa city on the Malay Peninsulaspanned a 130 year period from 1511 to 1641 as a possession of the Portuguese East Indies. It was captured from the Malacca Sultanate as part of Portuguese attempts to gain control of ...

, by order of Governor Estêvão da Gama, the son of

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 ...

. The 3,500-page ''Lendas da Índia'' manuscript was brought from India to Portugal by Miguel da Gama 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 1492 births 1560s deaths Maritime history of Portugal Portuguese chroniclers Portuguese Renaissance writers Portuguese travel writers 16th-century Portuguese historians 16th-century Portuguese male writers History of Kerala Historians of India Portuguese expatriates in Portuguese India Explorers of South Asia