'Pedro' or 'Pêro da Covilhã' (
pron. IPA []) (c.
1460 – after
1526) 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
Alphonso, Duke of Seville. 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.
Mission to the East
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
May 7 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 Calcadilha, and doctors Rodrigo and Moyses. 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.
In company with Arabs from
Fez and
Tlemcen, they now went by way of
Tor to
Suakin and
Aden, where, as it was now the
monsoon, they parted, Covilhã proceeding to India and Paiva to
Ethiopia the two companions agreeing to meet again in Cairo. Covilhã thus arrived at
Cannanore and
Calicut, from where he retraced his steps to
Goa and
Hormuz, the
Red Sea and Cairo, making an excursion on his way down the East African coast to
Sofala, which he was probably the first European to visit.
At Cairo he heard of Paiva's death, and met with two Portuguese Jews: Rabbi
Abraham of Beja, and Joseph, a shoe-maker of
Lamego who had been sent by King John with letters for Covilham and Paiva. By Joseph of Lamego Covilham replied with an account of his Indian and African journeys, and of his observations on the
cinnamon,
pepper and
clove trade at Calicut, together with advice as to the ocean way to India. This he truly represented as quite practicable: to this they (the Portuguese) could navigate by their coast and the seas of Guinea. The first objective in the eastern ocean, he added, was Sofala or the Island of the Moon (now known as
Madagascar); from each of these lands one can reach the coast of Calicut.
Ethiopia
With this information Joseph returned to Portugal, while Covilhã, with Abraham of Beja, again visited
Aden and
Hormuz. At the latter he left the rabbi; and himself came back to
Jeddah, the port of the Arabian holy land, and penetrated (as he told
Francisco Álvares many years later) even to
Mecca and
Medina. Finally, by
Mount Sinai, Tor and the
Red Sea, he reached
Zeila, whence he struck inland to the court of Prester John (
Ethiopia).
Here he was honorably received by the
Emperor Eskender; lands and lordships were bestowed upon him, but Eskander refused to grant him permission to leave, and his successors evaded granting Covilhã permission. In
1507, he was joined by
João Gomez, a priest sent by
Tristão da Cunha, who had reached Ethiopia by way of
Socotra. When the Portuguese embassy under
Rodrigo de Lima, which included Fr. Alvarez, entered Ethiopia in
1520, Covilhã wept with joy at the sight of his fellow-countrymen. It was then forty years since he had left Portugal, and over thirty since he had been a prisoner of state in Ethiopia. Alvarez, who professed to know him well, and to have heard the story of his life, both in confession and out of it, praises his power of vivid description as if things were present before him, and his extraordinary knowledge of all the spoken languages of Christians, Moslems and Gentiles. His services as an interpreter were valuable to Rodrigo de Lima's embassy.
Covilhã was well treated, but was not allowed to leave the country until his death.
Bibliography
★ Francisco Alvarez, "Chapter CIV: How Pero de Covilham, a Portuguese, is in the country of the Prester, and how came here, and why he was sent", ''The Prester John of the Indies'' (Cambridge,
Hakluyt Society, 1961), pp. 369-376.
External links
★
A biography in the ''Vidas Lusofonas'' series, in English
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