Pero da Covilhã
| Pêro da Covilhã | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Born | c. 1460 Covilhã, Kingdom of Portugal |
| Died | After 1526 Ethiopia |
| Nationality | Portuguese |
| Occupation | Explorer, spy, diplomat |
| Known for | Explorations in the Near East and the adjoining regions of Asia and Africa. |
Pedro, or Pêro da Covilhã or (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpeɾu dɐ kuviˈʎɐ̃]; c. 1460 – after 1526), sometimes written: Pero de Covilhăo, was a Portuguese diplomat and explorer.
He was a native of Covilhã in Beira. In his early life he had gone to Castile and entered the service of Don Juan de Guzmán, brother of Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Duke of Medina Sidonia. Later, when war broke out between Castile and Portugal, he returned to his own country, and attached himself, first as a groom, then as a squire, to Afonso V of Portugal and his successor John II of Portugal.
King John II put him in charge of diverse private missions, and finally, to use his knowledge of different languages, ordered him and Afonso de Paiva to undertake a mission of exploration in the Near East and the adjoining regions of Asia and Africa, with the special assignment to learn where cinnamon and other spices could be found, as well as of discovering the land of legendary Prester John, by overland routes.Bartolomeu Dias, at the same time, went out to by sea find the Prester's country, as well as the termination of the African continent and the ocean route to India.
The expedition started at Santarém, on 7 May 1487. Covilhã and Paiva were provided with a letter of credence for all the countries of the world and with a map for navigating, taken from the map of the world and compiled by Bishop Diogo, and doctors Rodrigo and Moisés. The first two of these were prominent members of the commission which advised the Portuguese government to reject the proposals of Christopher Columbus. The explorers started from Santarém and travelled by Barcelona to Naples, where their bills of exchange were paid by the sons of Cosimo de' Medici; from there they went to Rhodes, where they stayed with two other Portuguese, and so to Alexandria and Cairo, where they posed as merchants.
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