João de Castro
| João de Castro | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Governor and Viceroy of Portuguese India | |
|
In office 1545–1548 |
|
| Monarch | John III of Portugal |
| Preceded by | Martim Afonso de Sousa |
| Succeeded by | Garcia de Sá |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 February 1500 Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal |
| Died |
6 June 1548 (aged 48) Goa, Portuguese India |
| Nationality | Portuguese |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Portuguese Empire |
| Battles/wars | |
João de Castro (7 February 1500 – 6 June 1548) was a Portuguese nobleman and fourth viceroy of Portuguese India. He was called Castro Forte ("Stronghold" or "Strong Castle") by poet Luís de Camões. Castro was the son of Álvaro de Castro, civil governor of Lisbon. His wife was Leonor de Coutinho.
A younger son, and destined therefore for the church, he became at an early age a brilliant humanist, and studied mathematics under Pedro Nunes, in company with Louis, Duke of Beja, son of king Manuel I of Portugal, with whom he contracted a lifelong friendship. At eighteen he went to Tangier, where he was dubbed knight by Dom Duarte de Menezes the governor, and there he remained several years.
In 1535 he accompanied Dom Louis to the siege of Tunis, where he had the honor of refusing knighthood and reward at the hands of the emperor Charles V. Returning to Lisbon, he received from the king the small commandership of São Paulo de Salvaterra in 1538.
Soon after this he left for India in company with his uncle Garcia de Noronha, and on his arrival at Goa went off for the relief of Diu. In 1540 he served on an expedition to Suez under Estêvão da Gama (the son of Vasco da Gama and them viceroy of Portuguese India), by whom his son, Álvaro de Castro, a child of thirteen, was knighted, out of compliment to him. Died D. Garcia, succeeded him in the government D. Estêvão da Gama, and D. João de Castro was found with him in the expedition to the Red Sea. D. Estêvão da Gama went with 12 large galleons and carracks, and 60 galleys, on 31 December 1540, being D. João de Castro captain of a galleon. This expedition to Suez was truly remarkable, and João de Castro made a detailed roadmap of it, with maps, calculations, pictures and detailed notes from the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula as of those of the countries of today Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, as far to Suez and to several ports in the shores of the Sinai Peninsula, all included in the Roteiro do Mar Roxo, which offered to the Prince Louis. Eight months later he returned to Goa on 21 August, having acquired by the experiences made during the expedition, the name of the philosopher. "I pay great attention to eclipses of the moon," he writes, as also to longitudes and latitudes, fishes, seaweeds, currents, winds,the colour of the Red Sea, and every detail that might concern the art of navigation, to the delight of his friends Pedro Nunes and Prince Louis, who had furnished him with special instruments and other assistance for his voyage.
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