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Fernão Mendes Pinto c.1509 – 8 July 1583) was a Portuguese explorer and writer. His voyages are recorded in Pilgrimage ( Portuguese : Peregrinação ) (1614), his autobiographical memoir. The historical accuracy of the work is debatable due to the many events which seem far fetched or at least exaggerated. Fernão Mendes Pinto was born in about 1509, in Montemor-o-Velho , Portugal to a poor rural family (or perhaps to a family of minor nobility who had fallen on hard times).Pinto described his childhood as spartan. In 1521, hoping to improve the boy's prospects, an uncle took him to Lisbon . There, Pinto was employed in the household service of a noblewoman. After eighteen months or so, Pinto fled. At the docks, he was hired as a ship's boy on a cargo vessel bound for Setúbal . On the way, French pirates captured the ship and the passengers were set upon the shore at Alentejo .Pinto made his way to Setubal, where he entered the service of Francisco de Faria , a knight of Santiago. He remained there for four years and then joined the service of Jorge de Lencastre , a master of the Order of Santiago . Pinto held that position for a number of years. Although comfortable, it held no promise of advancement. Therefore, at twenty-eight, Pinto left to join the Portuguese India Armadas . Pinto's travels can be divided into three phases: firstly, from Portugal to India; secondly, through the region of the Red Sea , from the coast of Africa to the Persian Gulf ;and thirdly, from east India to Sumatra , Siam , China, and Japan. Finally, Pinto returned to Europe. On 11 March 1537, Pinto left Lisbon for India via Portuguese Mozambique .Pinto joined a Portuguese reconnaissance mission to the Red Sea via Ethiopia. The mission was to deliver a message to Portuguese soldiers guarding Eleni of Ethiopia in a mountain fortress. After leaving Massawa , the mission engaged three Turkish galleys . The Portuguese ships were defeated and their crews taken to Mocha to be sold as slave. Pinto was sold to a Greek Muslim who was a cruel master. Pinto was freed by way of payment of three hundred ducats from the Portuguese crown. He was made captain of the Fortress of Hormuz and the Portuguese king's special magistrate for Indian affairs.. After enduring battles with Ottoman ships , Pinto reached Goa. From 1539, Pinto remained in Malacca under Pero de Faria , the newly appointed captain of Malacca. Pinto was sent to establish diplomatic contacts, particularly small kingdoms allied with the Portuguese against the Muslims of northern Sumatra.
Following Pinto's mission to Sumatra, he was sent to Patani , on the eastern shore of the Malay peninsula . From there, Pinto made an unsuccessful delivery of merchandise to Siam . The goods were stolen by pirates who were then chased by Pinto and António de Faria . Pinto continued trading operations in the South China Sea , especially in the Gulf of Tonkin . Pinto entered China from the Yellow Sea and raided a tomb of the Emperor of China . Pinto was shipwrecked, apprehended by the Chinese and sentenced to one year hard labour on the Great Wall of China . Before completing his sentence, Pinto was taken prisoner by invading Tatars . He became an agent of the Tartars and travelled with them to Cochinchina , the southernmost part of modern-day Cambodia and Vietnam .Pinto and two companions jumped ship to a Chinese pirate junk and were shipwrecked onto the Japanese island of Tanegashima , south of Kyūshū . Pinto later claimed to be the first westerner to enter Japan. In 1542, Pinto introduced the arquebus to Japan. The firearm was reproduced and used in the Japanese civil wars . It was known as the tanegashima . Pinto facilitated trade between the Portuguese and Japan. At one point, he was shipwrecked on the Ryukyu Islands .On Pinto's return to Goa, Faria sent him to Bantam , Java, to buy pepper for sale to China. Once again, Pinto was shipwrecked and again fell into slavery. Pinto was bought by a Celebes merchant and resold to the King of Kalapa who returned him to Sunda . On 22 September 1558, Pinto returned to Portugal. He married Maria Correia Barreto with whom he had at least two daughters. In 1562, he purchased a farm in Pragal . Pinto died on 8 July 1583 at his farm. Pinto began his memoirs in 1569. The book was published posthumously by friar Belchior Faria in 1614. Although Pinto did not have the education of contemporary authors and did not reveal a knowledge of either classical culturenor aesthetics of the Renaissance , his experiential knowledge and intelligence enabled him to create a meaningful work.Pinto was critical of Portuguese colonialism in the Far East The vivid tales of his wanderings were so outrageous as to not be believed. . However, it documents the impact of the Asian civilizations on the Europeans and is a reasonable analysis of Portuguese action in the Orient.
Portugal 1980;6,50;10,0;SG1803,1804. Portugal 2014;1,0e;3,0e;SG?.
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