João de Castro

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João de Castro
Portrait of D. João de Castro in Livro de Lisuarte de Abreuc. 1560.
Governor and Viceroy of Portuguese India
In office
1545–1548
MonarchJohn III of Portugal
Preceded byMartim Afonso de Sousa
Succeeded byGarcia de Sá
Personal details
Born27 February 1500 (1500-02-27)
Ottoman-Portuguese conflicts

viceroy of Portuguese India. He was called Castro Forte ("Stronghold" or "Strong Castle") by the poet Luís de Camões. De Castro was the second son of Álvaro de Castro, the civil governor of Lisbon. His wife was Leonor de Coutinho.[1][2]

Early life

As the younger son of Álvaro de Castro, João was destined for the church. He studied

Dom Duarte de Menezes, the governor.[3]

Voyages to India and the expedition to Egypt

In 1535 de Castro accompanied Dom Luis to the

Soon after, de Castro left for India with his uncle

galleys
.

De Castro kept a detailed journal of the voyage with maps, calculations, pictures, and detailed notes of the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula and regions that are known as Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt today. He traveled to Suez and other ports on the shores of the Sinai Peninsula, all included in the Roteiro do Mar Roxo.

Unlike other viceroys, Castro was interested in Indian culture and religion. He collaborated with the humanist

Cambay
, retrieved by de Castro and his son.

Later life

Returning to Portugal, de Castro was named commander of a fleet in 1543 to clear

After the victory of his Armada in the relief of Diu, he asked the king to not prolong his term of office beyond the ordinary three years and to allow him to return to the Sintra Mountains in Portugal. After his victory over Mahmud and the Adil Khan, de Castro rebuilt Diu with the money received from the citizens of Goa. He did not live long enough to fulfill this goal, and died in the arms of his friend, Saint Francis Xavier, on 6 June 1548.[3]

He was buried at Goa before his remains were exhumed and transported to Portugal to be reinterred in the convent of

Benfica
.

The terrestrial magnetism in the Roteiro from Lisbon to Goa: the experiences of João de Castro

The ancient Greeks had discovered that a dark metallic stone could

Baçaim, which was confirmed four centuries later. De Castro refuted the theory that the variation of magnetic declination is formed by geographic meridians.[4]

De Castro's recorded values of magnetic declination in the

Bombay (near Baçaim), which he attributed to the disturbing effects of underwater rock masses.[citation needed] In the 1890s, G. Hellman, quoted by Chapman and Bartels (1940), considered de Castro to be the most important representative of scientific maritime investigations of the time, and the method he tested was universally introduced on ships and used until the end of the sixteenth century.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Freire de Andrade, Jacinto (1664). The life of Dom John de Castro, the fourth viceroy of India wherein are seen the Portuguese's voyages to the East-Indies, their discoveries and conquests there, the form of government, commerce, and discipline of warr in the east, and the topography of all India and China : containing also a particular relation of the most famous siege of Dio, with a map to illustrate it / by Jacinto Freire de Andrada, written in Portuguese ; and by Sr Peter Wyche, Kt., translated into English. — Vida de Dom João de Castro, quarto viso-rey da India. English.
  2. ^ Thomas, David; Chesworth, John. "Asia, Africa and South America". Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 7 Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and South America (1500-1600).
  3. ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911.
  4. ^ "The road to the magnetic north pole".
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-26. Retrieved 2011-08-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

References

Preceded by
Martim Afonso de Sousa
(1542 – 1545)
Viceroy of Portuguese India
João de Castro

(1545 - 6 June, 1549
)
Succeeded by
Garcia de Sá
(June, 1548 – 13 June 1549)