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Jorge de Menezes

For The Portuguese governor of Ceylon, see Jorge de Meneses Baroche.

Jorge de Menezes (c. 1498[citation needed] – 1537) was a Portuguese explorer. Due to a monsoon, he was forced to reside in Versya, posited by Pieter Anton Tiele as Waisai, between 1526 and 1527.[1] Menezes called the region Ilhas dos Papuas,[2] though the name of "Papua" was already known at the time. Yet he was still the first European to go ashore[3] and thus credited with the European discovery of New Guinea.[4]

Biography edit

As a nobleman,[5] he was possibly the "D. Jorge de Meneses" present at the His Most Faithful Majesty's Council of Manuel I of Portugal in 1518 and 1519.[6] In 1526, Menezes traveled to Brunei, detailing the city as being fortified by a brick wall and having a moderate number of notable buildings.[7] His visit opened a new route to the Moluccas,[8] becoming the favored course to Ternate.[9] Successor to Antonio de Brito,[10] Menezes was the Portuguese Governor of the Moluccas [pt] from 1527 until 1530, residing in Ternate.[11] On 22 August 1526, he left Portuguese Malacca[12] with 100 men[13] to take his post but was sidetracked by a monsoon, leading to his discovery of New Guinea; he arrived in Ternate on 31 May 1527.[12]

 
Meneses's men insulting qadhi Vaidua, uncle of the sultan, by rubbing pork in his face; from François Valentyn's Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien (1724).

In 1528, he captured and plundered[14] a lightly-defended Spanish fort commanded by Hernando de la Torre,[15] during the competition between the empires over the Moluccas that ended with the Treaty of Zaragoza as well as a personal treaty with the Spanish and Menezes in 1529.[16] He further involved the Portuguese in the affairs of the sultanate and held Boheyat and Dayal prisoner in Fort Kastela. Officials suspected of conspiring against him were executed.[10] Beyond his political interferences, he committed atrocities against the population.[11][14][17] Under orders of Dayal's mother, the fort was besieged.[10][17] Subsequently, Menezes was arrested and sent to Old Goa, Portuguese India[11][14] by his successor, Gonçalo Pereira.[10][18] After his return to Portugal, he was banished to the Colony of Brazil.[14] During a trip to Lisbon, Vasco Fernandes Coutinho left Menezes in charge of the Captaincy of Espírito Santo.[5][19] He captured indigenous people and enslaved them on his sesmaria [pt],[19] provoking an attack that temporarily destroyed the captaincy and eradicated the colonists in 1537.[5][19] Menezes died in combat during the assault.[14]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Riesenfeld (1951), p. 70
  2. ^ Teriierooiterai (2018), p. 23
  3. ^ Pouwer (1999), p. 159
  4. ^ Kratoska, Paul H. (2001). South East Asia, Colonial History: Imperialism before 1800, Volume 1 de South East Asia, Colonial History. Taylor & Francis. p. 56. online
  5. ^ a b c Augeron & Vidal (2007), p. 48
  6. ^ Humble Ferreira (2004), p. 14
  7. ^ Wright (1977), p. 21
  8. ^ Bassett (1963), p. 154
  9. ^ Gerlich (2013), p. 34
  10. ^ a b c d Mostert (2018), p. 31
  11. ^ a b c Abdurachman (1988), pp. 584–585
  12. ^ a b Kelly (1948), p. 435
  13. ^ Nowell (1936), p. 331
  14. ^ a b c d e Russell-Wood (1998), p. 66
  15. ^ Kelsey (2016), p. 55
  16. ^ Bassett (1963), p. 158
  17. ^ a b Widjojo (2009), p. 10
  18. ^ Abdurachman (1988), p. 586
  19. ^ a b c Zanella & Westley (2015), p. 153

Bibliography edit

 

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