Documental Anthology

CHRONICLE OF THE DISCOVERY
AND FIRST CONQUESTS IN INDIA BY
THE PORTUGUESEAND FIRST CONQUESTS IN INDIA BY
THE PORTUGUESE*

Anonymous

[INTRODUCTION]

The anonymously written Crónica do descobrimento a primeiras conquistas da Índia pelos portugueses (Chronicle of of the Discovery and First Conquests in India by the Portuguese), whose manuscript is kept in The British Museum, and which was made known a few year ago by Luís de Albuquerque, comes from the combining of some of the oldest written accounts made by the Portuguese on the Far East. The unknown author had access to material which no longer exists today and from it all he prepared a documented chronicle about the first two decades of Portuguese presence on the Orient around 1521. In reporting on the expedition of Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to Malacca [presently Melaka], which took place from 1508-1509 and opened up the Far East to Portuguese navigators, the author made very interesting observations regarding the Chinese who were found in that Malay market-place. These brief accounts, hardly ever published, were most probably also collected by one of the crew on the same expedition and reflect the very first Portuguese impressions of people in this Asian land.

MALACA(MELAKA).

ANTÓNIO BOCARRO.

1635. Watercolour on paper.

Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Distrital de Évora(Evora Public Library and Regional Archive), Evora.

In: BOCARRO, António, CID, Isabel, ed., Livro das Plantas de todas as Fortalezas, cidades e povoações do Estado da Índia Oriental, Imprensa

Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 1992, ill. XLVI.

* MS., Goa[?], ca1521.

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