Francisco Barreto

Francisco Barreto
Francisco Barreto
	Portrait in Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu, c. 1560.
Governor of India
	In office; 1555–1558
Monarchs	John III; Sebastian
Preceded by	Pedro Mascarenhas
Succeeded by	Constantino de Bragança
Personal details
Born	1520; Faro, Kingdom of Portugal
Died	9 July 1573 (aged 52–53); Portuguese Mozambique
Spouse	Brites de Ataíde

Francisco Barreto (occasionally Francisco de Barreto, 1520 – 9 July 1573) was a Portuguese soldier and explorer. An officer in Morocco during his early life, Barreto sailed to Portuguese India and was eventually appointed viceroy of the colony. After his return to Lisbon, he was tasked with an expedition to southeast Africa in search of legendary gold mines. Barreto died in what is now Mozambique, having never reached the mines.

Early life

Barreto was born in Faro, Portugal, in 1520, to Rui Barreto and Branca de Vilhena. He received military training in Morocco, and eventually served in Azemmour, near Casablanca.^[1]

Governor in Goa

Coat of arms of the Portuguese colony of Goa

In 1548 Barreto arrived in Portuguese India. He took up the position of viceroy in Goa, headquarters of the colony, in June 1555,^[1] following the death of viceroy Pedro Mascarenhas.^[2] On the occasion of his investiture, a play by Luís de Camões, Auto de Filodemo, was put on.^[3] Barreto later ordered Camões exiled to Macau (also a Portuguese colony) for his satirical Disparates da Índia, which criticized Portuguese life in India.^[1]

During his tenure as governor, the intended Catholic Patriarch for Ethiopia arrived, accompanied by an embassy led by Fernando de Sousa de Castello Branco, on 15 March 1556. Because he had more accurate information on matters in that country, Barreto held back most of this party, although allowing Bishop André de Oviedo to continue with some companions. This small group, carried in four small ships, landed at Arqiqo in March 1557, shortly before the Ottoman Empire occupied that port.^[4]

According to Robert Kerr in A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Mascarenhas, in a bid to gain a Portuguese ally in the region, had supported a usurper against one Adel Khan, King of Visapur.^[2] Mascarenhas died shortly after sending soldiers to aid in the usurper's takeover, and Barreto continued Portuguese support of the usurper until his capture. In 1557, Barreto clashed with Khan's army at Ponda and was victorious.^[2]

Barreto also involved in negotiations for a peaceful acquisition of Daman, but they failed. He was more successful in defeating the Rajah of Calicut and in preparing a huge fleet to be sent against the Aceh sultanate. His departure there was halted with the arrival of a new ruler.

Return to Lisbon

Barreto was succeeded by Constantino de Bragança in 1558, and he left Goa for Lisbon aboard the Águia on 20 January 1559. After a damaging storm, she was repaired in what is now Mozambique and set sail again on 17 November the same year. Soon after she sprang a leak, and returned to the African coast.^[5]

Barreto returned to Goa on a different boat, almost dying of thirst on the trip. Once back he again set sail for Lisbon, this time on the São Gião. He reached the Portuguese capital in June 1561, 29 months after Barreto first left the city.^[5] He was very well received by Queen Catherine of Austria, the regent of Portugal in those days.

In 1564, King Philip II of Spain requested Portuguese naval aid in capturing Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, an island off the coast of Morocco. Portugal supplied and Barreto commanded a fleet consisting of a galleon and eight caravels alongside Spaniard García de Toledo, and the combined navy took over the island's fort in two days.^[1] After this, Philip II sent a personal letter and a medallion with his portrait to Barreto.

Expedition to Monomotapa

After Barreto's return to Portugal, King Sebastian gave him the job of leading an expedition to Monomotapa (Great Zimbabwe) to take over the empire's legendary gold mines. According to historian Diogo de Couto, the reason for the expedition was that Portuguese mercantilists thought that the country needed mines to bring in gold similar to Spain's in the Americas (the country's colonies in Asia were not bringing sufficient wealth back to Portugal).^[6] Barreto was given instructions to "undertake nothing of importance without the advice and concurrence" of Jesuit Francisco Monclaros.^[7]

Barreto set sail from Lisbon on 16 April 1569, with three ships, 2,000 men,^[1] and the title of Conqueror of the Mines, bestowed upon him by the king.^[7] The first boat arrived in Mozambique in August 1569, Barreto's on 14 March the next year, and the third ship months later. Although Barreto opted to take the easier route, via Sofala, to the location of the mines, Monclaros demanded that the expedition take the Sena route, as this would lead them to where another Jesuit, Gonçalo da Silveira, had been thrown into a river and killed in 1561.^[1] So the expedition set out for Manica, the reputed location of the great mines, via the Sena route.^[7]

The expedition sailed up the Cuama river in November 1571, armed with weapons and mining tools, and arrived in the Sena region on 18 December.^[1] Barreto sent an envoy to the Emperor of Monomotapa with a request for permission to attack a people called the Mongas, whose territory lay between the Portuguese and the mines. The emperor granted Barreto permission to attack them and even went so far to offer his own men. Barreto, however, declined assistance and marched onward upriver.^[8]

The Portuguese fought several battles against the Mongas, victorious in all of them despite the overwhelming numbers due to their guns. According to Kerr, when their king sent ambassadors to Barreto in hopes of securing peace, the soldier tricked them into thinking that the camels used by the Portuguese, creatures foreign to southeastern Africa, subsisted on flesh, leading the Mongas to provide the Portuguese with beef for the camels.^[8]

Before the expedition could further progress Barreto was recalled to the Island of Mozambique to deal with one António Pereira Brandão, who was spreading false information about Barreto. The governor removed him from duty as commander of the São Sebastião fort and returned to Sena where his men were waiting.^[8] At this point, however, many of the men were sick with tropical diseases, and Barreto too fell ill. He died at Sena on 9 July 1573,^[9] having never reached the mines, and was buried at the Igreja de São Lourenço in Lisbon alongside his wife, Brites de Ataíde.^[1]

Homem continues the search

Barreto's deputy, Vasco Fernandes Homem, succeeded him as governor and returned with the remaining company to the coast. After Monclaros had left for Lisbon, the expedition to Manica was resumed via the Sofala route. The mines, when finally reached, did not resemble the legends, with the natives only producing very small amounts of gold. After further failure looking for different mines in a neighbouring kingdom, Homem abandoned the search for gold.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Branco, Alberto M. Vara. "Ensaio de Portugalidem Terras Africanas durante a Governação d´El-Rei D.Sebastião: D.Francisco Barreto em Moçambique e na Região do Monomotapa". Millennium (in Portuguese). Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c Robert Kerr, ed. (1812). "Conquest of India". A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels. Edinburgh: William Blackwood. pp. 410–412.
^ "Luis Vaz de Camoëns". Encyclopedia of World Biography. Thomson Gale.
^ Baltazar Téllez, The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia, 1710 (LaVergue: Kessinger, 2010), pp. 138f
^ ^a ^b Theal, George McCall (1902). "Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks". The Beginning of South African History. London: T. Fisher Unwin. p. 287.
^ Diffie, Bailey W.; George D. Winius (November 1977). "The Shape of Empire: The Western Periphery". Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580. Europe and the World in the Age of Expansion. University of Minnesota Press. p. 347. ISBN 978-0-8166-0782-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kerr, p. 447
^ ^a ^b ^c Kerr, pp. 453-455.
^ "Francisco Barreto". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
^ Kerr, pp. 456-458

Government offices
Preceded by Pedro Mascarenhas	Viceroy of Portuguese India June 1555 – 1558	Succeeded by Constantino de Bragança
Preceded by Pedro Barreto Rolim	Captain-general of Moçambique 1569 – June 1573	Succeeded by Vasco Fernandes Homem

[ipv-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Branco, Alberto M. Vara. "Ensaio de Portugalidem Terras Africanas durante a Governação d´El-Rei D.Sebastião: D.Francisco Barreto em Moçambique e na Região do Monomotapa". Millennium (in Portuguese). Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2007.

[kerr-2] Robert Kerr, ed. (1812). "Conquest of India". A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels. Edinburgh: William Blackwood. pp. 410–412.

[ewb-3] "Luis Vaz de Camoëns". Encyclopedia of World Biography. Thomson Gale.

[4] Baltazar Téllez, The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia, 1710 (LaVergue: Kessinger, 2010), pp. 138f

[mccall-5] Theal, George McCall (1902). "Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks". The Beginning of South African History. London: T. Fisher Unwin. p. 287.

[diffie-6] Diffie, Bailey W.; George D. Winius (November 1977). "The Shape of Empire: The Western Periphery". Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580. Europe and the World in the Age of Expansion. University of Minnesota Press. p. 347. ISBN 978-0-8166-0782-2.

[kerr447-7] Kerr, p. 447

[kerr453455-8] Kerr, pp. 453-455.

[eb-9] "Francisco Barreto". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

[10] Kerr, pp. 456-458

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v t e Governors and Viceroys of the Portuguese State of India (1505–1961)
Kingdom	Dom Francisco de Almeida 1505–1509 Afonso de Albuquerque 1510–15 Lopo Soares de Albergaria 1515–18 Diogo Lopes de Sequeira 1518–22 Dom Duarte de Menezes 1522–24 Dom Vasco da Gama 1524 Dom Henrique de Menezes 1525–26 Lopo Vaz de Sampaio 1526–29 Nuno da Cunha 1529–38 Dom Garcia de Noronha 1538–40 Dom Estêvão da Gama 1540–42 Martim Afonso de Sousa 1542–45 Dom João de Castro 1545–48 Garcia de Sá 1548–49 Jorge Cabral 1549–50 Dom Afonso de Noronha 1550–54 Pedro Mascarenhas 1554–55 Francisco Barreto 1555–58 Dom Constantino de Bragança 1558–61 Dom Francisco Coutinho 1561–64 João de Mendonça 1564 Dom António de Noronha 1564–68 Dom Luís de Ataíde 1568–71 Dom António de Noronha "Catarraz" 1571–73 António Moniz Barreto 1573–76 Dom Diogo de Menezes 1576–78 Fernão Teles de Menezes 1581 Francisco de Mascarenhas 1581–84 Dom Duarte de Menezes 1584–88 Dom Manuel de Sousa Coutinho 1588–91 Matias de Albuquerque 1591–97 Dom Francisco da Gama 1597–1600 Aires de Saldanha 1600–05 Martim Afonso de Castro 1605–07 Aleixo de Meneses 1607–09 André Furtado de Mendonça 1609–10 Rui Lourenço de Távora 1610–12 Dom Jerónimo de Azevedo 1612–17 Dom João Coutinho 1617–19 Fernão de Albuquerque 1619–22 D. Francisco da Gama (second time) 1622–28 Luís de Brito e Meneses 1629–29 Miguel de Noronha 1629–35 Pero da Silva 1635–39 António Teles de Meneses 1639–40 João da Silva Telo e Meneses 1640–44 Filipe Mascarenhas 1644–51 João da Silva Telo e Meneses 1651 Vasco Mascarenhas 1652–55 Brás de Castro 1655 Rodrigo Lobo da Silveira 1655–56 Manuel Mascarenhas Homem 1656 António de Melo e Castro 1662–66 João Nunes da Cunha 1666–68 Luís de Mendonça Furtado e Albuquerque 1671–76 Dom Pedro de Almeida 1676–78 António Brandão 1678–81 Francisco de Távora 1681–86 Rodrigo da Costa 1686–90 Dom Miguel de Almeida 1690–91 Pedro António de Meneses Noronha de Albuquerque 1692–97 António Luís Gonçalves da Câmara Coutinho 1697–1701 Caetano de Melo e Castro 1702–1707 Dom Rodrigo da Costa 1707–12 Vasco Fernandes César de Meneses 1712–17 Sebastião de Andrade Pessanha 1717 Luís Carlos Inácio Xavier de Meneses 1717–20 Francisco José de Sampaio e Castro 1720–23 Cristóvão de Melo 1723 João de Saldanha da Gama 1725–32 Pedro de Mascarenhas 1732–40 Luís Carlos Inácio Xavier de Meneses 1740–42 Pedro Miguel de Almeida Portugal e Vasconcelos 1745–50 Francisco de Assis de Távora 1750–54 Luís Mascarenhas 1754–56 Manuel de Saldanha e Albuquerque 1758–65 João José de Melo 1768–74 Filipe de Valadares Sotomaior 1774 Dom José Pedro da Câmara 1774–79 Dom Frederico Guilherme de Sousa Holstein 1779–86 Francisco da Cunha e Meneses 1786–94 Francisco António da Veiga Cabral da Câmara 1794–1806 Dom Bernardo José Maria da Silveira e Lorena 1806–16 Dom Diogo de Sousa 1816–21 Dom Manuel da Câmara 1823–25 Dom Manuel Francisco Zacarias de Portugal e Castro 1826–35 Bernardo Peres da Silva 1835 Dom Manuel Francisco Zacarias de Portugal e Castro 1835 Joaquim Manuel Correia da Silva e Gama 1835 Bernardo Peres da Silva 1836–37 Simão Infante de Lacerda de Sousa Tavares 1837–39 José António Vieira da Fonseca 1839 Manuel José Mendes 1839–40 José Joaquim Lopes Lima 1840–42 Francisco Xavier da Silva Pereira 1842–43 Joaquim Mourão Garcez Palha 1843–44 José Ferreira Pestana 1844–51 José Joaquim Januário Lapa 1851–55 António César de Vasconcelos Correia 1855–64 José Ferreira Pestana 1864–70 Januário Correia de Almeida 1870–71 Joaquim José Macedo e Couto 1871–75 João Tavares de Almeida 1875–77 António Sérgio de Sousa 1877–78 Caetano Alexandre de Almeida e Albuquerque 1878–82 Carlos Eugénio Correia da Silva 1882–86 Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral 1886 Augusto César Cardoso de Carvalho 1886–89 Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque 1889 Vasco Guedes de Carvalho e Meneses 1889–91 Francisco Maria da Cunha 1891 João Manuel Correia Taborda 1891–92 Francisco Teixeira da Silva 1892–93 Rafael Jácome de Andrade 1893–94 João Manuel Correia Taborda 1894 Elesbão José de Bettencourt Lapa 1894–95 Rafael Jácome de Andrade 1895–96 Prince Afonso Henriques de Bragança 1896 João António de Brissac das Neves Ferreira 1896–97 João Manuel Correia Taborda 1897 Joaquim José Machado 1897–1900 Eduardo Augusto Rodrigues Galhardo 1900–05 Arnaldo de Novais Guedes Rebelo 1905–07 José Maria de Sousa Horta e Costa 1907–10
Republic	Francisco Manuel Couceiro da Costa 1910–17 Francisco Maria Peixoto Vieira 1917 José de Freitas Ribeiro 1917–19 Augusto de Paiva Bobela da Mota 1919–20 Jaime Alberto de Castro Morais 1920–25 Francisco Maria Peixoto Vieira 1925 Mariano Martins 1925–26 Tito Augusto de Morais 1926 Acúrcio Mendes da Rocha Dinis 1926–27 Pedro Francisco Massano de Amorim 1927–29 Acúrcio Mendes da Rocha Dinis 1929 Alfredo Pedro de Almeida 1929–30 João Carlos Craveiro Lopes 1930–36 Francisco Craveiro Lopes 1936–38 José Ricardo Pereira Cabral 1938–45 Paulo Bénard Guedes 1945–46 José Ferreira Bossa 1946–47 José Alves Ferreira 1947–48 Fernando de Quintanilha e Mendonça Dias 1948–52 Paulo Bénard Guedes 1952–58 Manuel António Vassalo e Silva 1958–61
Note: The head of Portuguese India could have either the title of "Governor" or the more prestigious "Viceroy" though their responsibilities were the same

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