[INTRODUCTION]
Fernão Lopes de Castenheda [° early sixteenth century-†1559] set out for India in 1528 and remained in that part of the world for about ten years. Later evidence suggests that he was sent there by the Portuguese King Dom João III [°1502-r.1521-t1557], with the specific purpose of "[...] writing an account on those parts [...]" (Diogo do Couto (°1542-†1616), Década da Asia -- IV (De-cade of Asia -- IV)); but this could have been an assumption in retrospect. On returning to Portugal in 1538, Lopes de Castanheda worked in different minor posts in Coimbra University from then on until his death in that city in 1559. In the meantime he published the eight weighty books of his Historia do Descobrimento e conquista da India pelos portugueses [...] ([...] the historie of the discoverie and conquest of the East Indias, enterprised by the Portingales, in their dangerous navigations, in the time of King Don John, the second of that name, [...]) between 1551 and 1554 which was the first great chronicle on the expansion which was esteemed enough to be published.
Lopes de Castanheda seems to have taken advantage of his stay in Oriental countries by obviously taking note of events which happened to the Portuguese in that part of the world, as apart from having visited several areas of the extensive Asian coast, he interviewed many of the"[...] captains and nobles who also knew a great deal [..., having taken part...] in advising on affairs and in carrying out advice [...]" as he himself stated in passages in his voluminous História do Descobrimento [...] ([...] the historie of the discoverie [...]). At the same time he says that he looked over a great quantity of"[...] letters and summaries [...]", however he does not specify how he obtained access to this documentation. (Book I -- Prologue) As opposed to João de Barros, his contemporary and fellow historian, Lopes de Castaneda did not overconcern himself with the cultural and geographical setting of events he related; but it would be unfair to declare that he gave little importance to geography and ethnography. In fact, before telling of the first Portuguese contacts with the many Asian regions, this Portuguese writer presented brief sketches of the respective topography, as well as summaries of the most relevant social and cultural practices. Apart from generally being quite abridged, Lopes de Castenhada's Oriental references are well informed and rigorous for the most part, contributing in giving a real life experience character to his chronicle.
The Book IV of voluminous História do Descobrimento [...] ([...] the historie of the discoverie [...]), published in Coimbra in 1553, includes the period in which the first great expedition to the Middle Kingdom took place, headed many years earlier by Fernão Peres de Andrade (Book IV -- chaps.27-31). The story of the main events was complemented with short but quite precise descriptions of China in general and of Guangzhou· and Guangdong ·in particular.
For the first time the Portuguese press published a work which contained detailed information on aspects of Chinese civilisation which had been unknown up until then. These accounts, which had earlier only circulated in a limited way among certain sectors of people with links overseas, had now obtained greater diffusion thanks to the efforts of this historian from Santarém. However some sources attribute him with wider travels, as the case with Diogo de Couto, and it is more probable that this description had been obtained also from those Portuguese who had visited the city of Guangzhou·.
* First edition: Coimbra, 1553.
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