Diogo Fernandes Pereira
Encyclopedia
Diogo Fernandes Pereira, sometimes called simply Diogo Fernandes, was a Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 16th C. navigator, originally from Setúbal
Setúbal
Setúbal is the main city in Setúbal Municipality in Portugal with a total area of 172.0 km² and a total population of 118,696 inhabitants in the municipality. The city proper has 89,303 inhabitants....

, Portugal. Diogo Fernandes was the first known European captain to visit the island of Socotra
Socotra
Socotra , also spelt Soqotra, is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some east of the Horn of Africa and south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through...

 in 1503 and the discoverer of the Mascarenes archipelago ( Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...

, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

, and Rodrigues
Rodrigues
Rodrigues is a common surname in the Portuguese language. It was originally a Patronymic, meaning Son of Rodrigo or Son of Rui. The "es" signifies "son of". The name Rodrigo is the Portuguese form of Roderick, meaning "famous power" or "famous ruler", from the Germanic elements "hrod" and "ric" ,...

) in 1507. He may also have been the first European to sail east of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 island ('outer route' to the East Indies).

Background

Diogo Fernandes Pereira's name is usually given simply as 'Diogo Fernandes'. He is sometimes referred to as Diogo Fernandes de Setúbal
Setúbal
Setúbal is the main city in Setúbal Municipality in Portugal with a total area of 172.0 km² and a total population of 118,696 inhabitants in the municipality. The city proper has 89,303 inhabitants....

 (his hometown), to distinguish him from another Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 adventurer of that period with a similar name, known as Diogo Fernandes de Beja
Beja (Portugal)
Beja is a city in the Beja Municipality in the Alentejo region, Portugal. The municipality has a total area of 1,147.1 km² and a total population of 34,970 inhabitants. The city proper has a population of 21,658....

. In older chronicles, (e.g. Damião de Góis
Damião de Góis
Damiao de Góis , born in Alenquer, Portugal, was an important Portuguese humanist philosopher. He was a friend and student of Erasmus. He was appointed secretary to the Portuguese factory in Antwerp in 1523 by King John III of Portugal...

) his name is also written as Diogo Fernandes 'Piteira' or 'Peteira'.

Diogo Fernandes was a Portuguese seaman of obscure background. According to João de Barros
João de Barros
João de Barros , called the Portuguese Livy, is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his Décadas da Ásia , a history of the Portuguese in India and Asia.-Early years:...

, he was "a native of Setúbal, a man much used at sea" (muito usado no mar). He served as master
Master (naval)
The master, or sailing master, was a historic term for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel...

 on several ships - that is, as third officer, below the pilot and captain, a position which required trained navigational expertise, and may have served as pilot on other occasions.

Outer Route and Socotra (1503)

In 1503, Diogo Fernandes Pereira was appointed master
Master (naval)
The master, or sailing master, was a historic term for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel...

 and captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

 (a very unusual combination) of a Setúbal
Setúbal
Setúbal is the main city in Setúbal Municipality in Portugal with a total area of 172.0 km² and a total population of 118,696 inhabitants in the municipality. The city proper has 89,303 inhabitants....

 ship bound for India. How a master was elevated to captain of an India nau (usually a position reserved for nobles or wealthy men who 'paid' for the privilege) is uncertain. One possible conjecture is that the ship was not a crown ship, but a privately outfitted ship.

In some secondary accounts, it is said that Diogo Fernandes's ship was named Setúbal. That is almost certainly incorrect. Known lists for the armada and the chronicles do not actually give his ship a name, but just call it "the ship from/of Setúbal", a strong suggestion that it might have been privately outfitted by the merchant community of the city of Setúbal
Setúbal
Setúbal is the main city in Setúbal Municipality in Portugal with a total area of 172.0 km² and a total population of 118,696 inhabitants in the municipality. The city proper has 89,303 inhabitants....

. If so, that might better explain how Diogo Fernandes got to be captain - the merchants of Setúbal just naturally chose to entrust their capital in their most knowledgeable and experienced native son.

Diogo Fernandes's Setúbal ship was made part of the 5th Portuguese India Armada
5th Portuguese India Armada (Albuquerque, 1503)
The Fifth India Armada was assembled in 1503 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque. It was Albuquerque's first trip to India. It was not a particularly successful armada - navigational mistakes scattered the fleet on the outward journey...

 of Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque[p][n] was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean...

. Fernandes was originally assigned to the third squadron of that fleet, under the vice-admiral António de Saldanha
António de Saldanha
António de Saldanha was a Castilian-Portuguese 16th century captain. He was the first European to set anchor in what is now called Table Bay, South Africa, and made the first recorded ascent of Table Mountain.- Background :...

. But navigational errors (on Saldanha's part) led to the separation of the ships shortly after Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...

. Diogo Fernandes was forced to sail on alone.

The chronicler Gaspar Correia
Gaspar Correia
Gaspar Correia or Gaspar Corrêa was a Portuguese historian, author of "Lendas da Índia , one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia, being referred to as a Portuguese Polybius.- Biography :There is little information about the life of the author...

 (p. 418) claims that after doubling the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

 by himself, Fernandes did not turn into the Mozambique Channel
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...

, but rather pushed east, sailing under the island of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

, and then turned north, sailing up east of Madagascar. This would make him the first known ship to sail the 'outer route' to the East Indies. (Although there remains the possibility that Diogo Dias
Diogo Dias
Diogo Dias, also known as Diogo Gomes, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer. He was the brother of Bartolomeu Dias and discovered some of the Cape Verde islands together with António Noli....

 also did precisely that in 1500.)

Although Correia's account is not corroborated by other chroniclers, Diogo Fernandes Pereira seems to almost certainly have missed Mozambique Island, the usual collection point for Portuguese ships, and where one of his squadron, Rui Lourenço Ravasco, was known to be waiting. Instead, we next hear of Fernandes up near Cape Guardafui
Cape Guardafui
Cape Guardafui , also known as Ras Asir and historically as Aromata promontorium, is a headland in the northeastern Bari province of Somalia. Located in the autonomous Puntland region, it forms the geographical apex of the region commonly referred to as the Horn of Africa.-Location:Cape Guardafui...

, which strongly suggests that he did take the outer route, as, sailing north by that route, he would not have sighted African coast before the horn
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...

.

Around Cape Guardafui
Cape Guardafui
Cape Guardafui , also known as Ras Asir and historically as Aromata promontorium, is a headland in the northeastern Bari province of Somalia. Located in the autonomous Puntland region, it forms the geographical apex of the region commonly referred to as the Horn of Africa.-Location:Cape Guardafui...

, Diogo Fernandes stumbled on the island of Socotra
Socotra
Socotra , also spelt Soqotra, is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some east of the Horn of Africa and south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through...

 sometime in late 1503. Although the island was long known to eastern merchants (Socotra aloe
Aloe
Aloe , also Aloë, is a genus containing about 500 species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe"....

 was a highly valued balm in the markets of Arabia and India), it was unknown to the Portuguese. Diogo Fernandes was also surprised to encounter a strong (Syriac) Christian
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...

 community on the island (after all, this was a predominantly Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 region). Diogo Fernandes spent the winter in Socotra, before crossing the Indian Ocean (again by himself) in early 1504.

Diogo Fernandes arrived in India just as the Zamorin of Calicut was launching an invasion of Portuguese-allied Cochin. During the ferocious Battle of Cochin (1504)
Battle of Cochin (1504)
The Battle of Cochin sometimes referred as the Second Siege of Cochin was a series of confrontations, between March and July 1504, fought on land and sea, principally between the Portuguese garrison at Cochin, allied to the Trimumpara Raja, and the armies of the Zamorin of Calicut and vassal...

, the commander of the Portuguese garrison, Duarte Pacheco Pereira
Duarte Pacheco Pereira
Duarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India...

, is said to have placed a certain 'Diogo Pereira' (possibly Diogo Fernandes?) in charge of the nau
Carrack
A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th century Western Europe for use in the Atlantic Ocean. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese , and later by the Spanish, to explore and...

 Concepção, protecting the city.

Mascarenes (1507)

Diogo Fernandes returned to Portugal in 1505. His report on Socotra generated much excitement in the Portuguese court. The strategic placement of the island at the mouth of the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 made it an optimal location to station a Portuguese patrol. It could prey on Arab shipping and shut down the competing spice trade
Spice trade
Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...

 through that route. The existence of the isolated Christian community only made it even more appealing (the Portuguese had long hoped to find a Christian port of call in the Muslim-dominated Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

). Plans were immediately launched to outfit a squadron, under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque[p][n] was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean...

, to seize the island for Portugal.

The Socotra squadron was adjoined to the 8th Armada of 1506 led by Tristão da Cunha
Tristão da Cunha
Tristão da Cunha was a Portuguese explorer and naval commander. In 1514 he served as ambassador from king Manuel I of Portugal to Pope Leo X leading a luxurious embassy presenting in Rome the new conquests of Portugal...

. Diogo Fernandes himself sailed on it, albeit only as a master
Master (naval)
The master, or sailing master, was a historic term for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel...

 of Albuquerque's ship, the Cisne ('the Swan', usually transcribed as Cirne).

In late 1506, when the 8th Armada made the usual stop in Mozambique Island, the admiral Tristão da Cunha
Tristão da Cunha
Tristão da Cunha was a Portuguese explorer and naval commander. In 1514 he served as ambassador from king Manuel I of Portugal to Pope Leo X leading a luxurious embassy presenting in Rome the new conquests of Portugal...

 ordered a pause in the expedition to explore the island of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 (then known as the ilha de São Lourenço). During this interlude, it is speculated that Albuquerque (uninterested in such exploratory ventures) elected to stay in Mozambique, and temporarily passed his ship, the Cirne, over to the command of the master Diogo Fernandes Pereira.
Diogo Fernandes is said to have struck a wide arc east of Madagascar and stumbled upon the island of Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...

, which he promptly named ilha de Santa Apollonia (in honor of the St. Apollonia
Saint Apollonia
Saint Apollonia was one of a group of virgin martyrs who suffered in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians prior to the persecution of Decius. According to legend, her torture included having all of her teeth violently pulled out or shattered...

 who's day it was, February 9, 1507). He proceeded east to discover the island of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

, which he named ilha do Cirne (the name of his ship). From there Fernandes went further east and discovered the island now known as Rodrigues
Rodrigues
Rodrigues is a common surname in the Portuguese language. It was originally a Patronymic, meaning Son of Rodrigo or Son of Rui. The "es" signifies "son of". The name Rodrigo is the Portuguese form of Roderick, meaning "famous power" or "famous ruler", from the Germanic elements "hrod" and "ric" ,...

, but which at the time was named on maps as the ilha de Diogo Fernandes, Domigo Friz or Domingo Frias (the latter two probably just poor cartographic transcriptions or abbreviations of 'Diogo Fernandes'). He is said to have stopped for water at the first and third islands, before returning to Mozambique.

Diogo Fernandes island ('Domigo Friz') was visited by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira was a Portuguese fidalgo, sent to analyze the trade potential in Madagascar and Malacca, he arrived at Malacca on 11 September, 1509. He left the next year when he discovered that Sultan Mahmud Shah, the local leader, was devising his assassination...

 in 1509 and the name 'Don Galopes' (another transcribed abbreviation) sometimes appears for that island in some maps. It went through its final name change, to Rodrigues
Rodrigues
Rodrigues is a common surname in the Portuguese language. It was originally a Patronymic, meaning Son of Rodrigo or Son of Rui. The "es" signifies "son of". The name Rodrigo is the Portuguese form of Roderick, meaning "famous power" or "famous ruler", from the Germanic elements "hrod" and "ric" ,...

 island much later, after another Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues
Diogo Rodrigues
Diogo Rodrigues was a Portuguese explorer of the Indian Ocean, after whom the island of Rodrigues is named. In 1528 he explored the islands of Réunion, Mauritius, and Rodrigues, naming it the Mascarene or Mascarenhas Islands, after his countryman Pedro Mascarenhas, who had been there...

 visited the area in 1528.

The entire archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

 was named the Mascarenes islands, after D. Pedro de Mascarenhas, who visited the islands in 1512, following up on Sequeira's report.

Afterwards

After returning from his Mascarene jaunt, Diogo Fernandes Pereira went on to participate with Albuquerque in the conquest of Socotra
Socotra
Socotra , also spelt Soqotra, is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some east of the Horn of Africa and south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through...

 that summer. We have no more records of him afterwards. If Diogo Fernandes remained aboard the Cirne after Socotra, he would have participated in the battle of Hormuz
Ormus
The Kingdom of Ormus was a 10th to 17th century kingdom located within the Persian Gulf and extending as far as the Strait of Hormuz...

 in the Fall of 1507, but we have no record of him there. More importantly, we have no record of his participation (or non-participation) in the mutiny against Albuquerque at Hormuz. We do know Albuquerque elevated a certain 'Dinis Fernandes' to replace one of the mutinous captains; and we also know a certain 'Diogo Pereira' was involved in presenting the mutinous captains' petition to the vice-roy in Cochin. But there is no evidence or suggestion that either of these men can be identified with Diogo Fernandes Pereira.

Sources

  • Gaspar Correia
    Gaspar Correia
    Gaspar Correia or Gaspar Corrêa was a Portuguese historian, author of "Lendas da Índia , one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia, being referred to as a Portuguese Polybius.- Biography :There is little information about the life of the author...

     (c.1550s) Lendas da Índia, pub. 1858-64, Lisbon: Academia Real de Sciencias

  • Costa, J.P. (1973) "Socotorá e o Domínio Português No Oriente", Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, Vol.23 offprint

  • Le Guat, François (1891) The voyage of François Le Guat of Bresse, to Rodriguez, Mauritius, Java, and the Cape of Good Hope, Vol. 2, Engl. trans., London: Halykut Society

  • Quintella, Ignaco da Costa (1839) Annaes da Marinha Portugueza, Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias.

See also

  • 5th Portuguese India Armada (Albuquerque, 1503)
    5th Portuguese India Armada (Albuquerque, 1503)
    The Fifth India Armada was assembled in 1503 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque. It was Albuquerque's first trip to India. It was not a particularly successful armada - navigational mistakes scattered the fleet on the outward journey...

  • 8th Portuguese India Armada (Cunha, 1506)
  • Exploration of Asia
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