Jorge Álvares (died 8 July 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is credited as the first European to have reached China by sea during the

Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...

. His starting of settlements on an island in what is now

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

is still considered a significant achievement, "for establishing commercial agreements with the Chinese nd formaintaining the peace".

Exploration

In May 1513, Álvares sailed under the

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 ...

captain Rui de Brito Patalim in a junk from

Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

. The expedition was accompanied by five other junks. Álvares himself was accompanied by two other Portuguese mariners.Porter, Jonathan.

996 Year 996 ( CMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * February - Chotoku Incident: Fujiwara no Korechika and Takaie shoot an arrow at Retired Emperor Kazan. * 2 March: Emperor ...

(1996). Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present. Westview Press. Álvares made first contact on Chinese soil on an island near the historic city of

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

in southern China in May 1513. The location of the island, which the Portuguese called

Tamão Tamão ( zh, 屯門) was a trade settlement set up by the Portuguese on an island in the Pearl River Delta, China. This was the first time Europeans reached China via the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope. The settlement lasted from 1514 ...

, is not exactly known except that it is in the

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents, ...

, and scholarship has suggested islands such as

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao or Lan Tau) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the ...

and Lintin Island as potential candidates. Upon landing on Tamão, Álvares raised a '' padrão'' from the king of

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 ...

. Based on information from their captain, they hoped to find a trade. Soon after this,

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 ...

, the Viceroy of the Estado da Índia dispatched

Rafael Perestrello Rafael Perestrello ( fl. 1514–1517) was a Portuguese explorer and a cousin of Filipa Moniz Perestrello, the wife of explorer Christopher Columbus.Brook, 124. He is best known for landing on the southern shores of mainland China in 1516 and ...

—a cousin of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

—to seek trade relations with the Chinese. In a ship from Malacca, Rafael Perestrello landed on the southern shores of

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

later that year in 1513.Brook, 124. According to a 1955 book by J. M. Braga, Álvares "learned about China's culture, religion, finances, and military, valuable information for King Manuel I".

Death and legacy

Álvares died on 8 July 1521 in Tamão in the arms of his friend

Duarte Coelho Duarte Coelho Pereira ( – ) was a nobleman, military leader, and colonial administrator in the Portuguese colony of Brazil. He was the first Donatario (Lord Proprietor) of the captaincy of Pernambuco and founder of Olinda. Early life The bir ...

. Aside from questions as to the location of the place, historians also have no evidence as to the cause of death. Although the manner of his death was not recorded, Tamão was attacked in 1521 by the Chinese navy; it was abandoned and the Portuguese fled to

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

, in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. Over the subsequent years, the memories of the significance of his explorations and settlement faded. "Álvares’ role was reduced to a footnote." According to

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

, "Macau may never have existed if not for Tamão" where the Portuguese learned "how China, the Pearl River Delta, and the South China Sea worked". The settlement and Jorge Álvares "kickstarted a chain of events that ultimately spawned Macau".

Notes

References

* Brook, Timothy. (1998). '' The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China''. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Paperback).

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20130202134043/http://english.sohu.com/20050203/n224228767.shtml
The Jorge Álvares Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvares, Jorge 15th-century births 1521 deaths Explorers of Asia Portuguese expatriates in China Ming dynasty 16th-century Portuguese explorers Year of birth unknown People from Freixo de Espada à Cinta

Exploration

Death and legacy

See also

Notes

References

External links