João Cabral, SJ (1599 – ?) was a Portuguese

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, who, along with Estêvão Cacella, were the first

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

ans to enter

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

in 1627. The following year he became the first European to visit neighboring

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

and the Sikkim region of India. Cabral was born in Celorico da Beira,

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, in 1599. In 1615 he joined the Society of Jesus, and on September 5, 1626 he left for the Tibetan planes in the hopes of finding the mythic Kingdom of Shambala and spreading the Christian faith. After pushing through with both his plans, he returned to India and continued his missionary career in Malaka, Macau and Japan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabral, Joao 1599 births People from Celorico da Beira Year of death unknown Explorers of the Himalayas Explorers of Central Asia Roman Catholic missionaries in Bhutan 17th-century Portuguese Jesuits 1620s in Bhutan 17th-century Portuguese explorers Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Nepal Roman Catholic missionaries in India Roman Catholic missionaries in China Roman Catholic missionaries in Malaysia Jesuit missionaries in India Explorers of South Asia