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JOAO DE CASTRO (1500-1548)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 484 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOAO DE See also:

CASTRO (1500-1548)  , called by See also:Camoens See also:Castro Forte, See also:fourth See also:viceroy of the Portuguese Indies, was the son of Alvaro de Castro, See also:civil See also:governor of See also:Lisbon . A younger son, and destined therefore for the See also:church, he became at an See also:early See also:age a brilliant humanist, and studied See also:mathematics under Pedro See also:Nunez, in See also:company with the See also:infante Dom Luis, son of Emanuel the First, with whom he contracted a See also:life-See also:long friendship . At eighteen he went to See also:Tangier, where he was dubbed See also:knight by Duarte de Menezes the governor, and there he remained several years . In 1535 he accompanied Dom Luis to the See also:siege of See also:Tunis, where he had the See also:honour of refusing See also:knighthood and See also:reward at the hands of the See also:great See also:emperor See also:Charles V . Returning to Lisbon, he received from the See also:king the small commandership of Sao Pablo de Salvaterra in 1538 . He was exceedingly poor, but his wife Lenor de Coutinho, a See also:noble Portuguese See also:lady, admired and appreciated her See also:husband sufficiently to make See also:light of their poverty . Soon after this he See also:left for the Indies in company with his See also:uncle See also:Garcia de Noronha, and on his arrival at See also:Goa enlisted among the aventureiros, " the bravest of the brave," told off for the See also:relief of See also:Diu . In 1540 he served on an expedition under Estevao da Gama, by whom his son, Alvaro de Castro, a See also:child of thirteen, was knighted, out of compliment to him . Returning to See also:Portugal, Joao de Castro was named See also:commander of a See also:fleet, in 1543, to clear the See also:European seas of pirates; and in 1545 he was sent, with six See also:sail, to the Indies, in the See also:room of See also:Martin de See also:Sousa, who had been dismissed the viceroyalty . The next three years were the hardest and most brilliant, as they were the last, of his life—years of See also:battle and struggle, of See also:glory and sorrow, of suffering and See also:triumph . Valiantly seconded by his sons (one of whom, Fernao, was killed before Diu) and by Joao Mascarenhas, Joao de Castro achieved such popularity by the over-throw of Mahmud, king of See also:Gujarat, by the relief of Diu, and by the defeat of the great See also:army of the Adil See also:Khan, that he could See also:contract a very large See also:loan with the Goa merchants onthe See also:simple See also:security of his See also:moustache . These great deeds were followed by the See also:capture of See also:Broach, by the See also:complete subjugation of Malacca, and by the passage of See also:Antonio Moniz into See also:Ceylon; and in 1547 the great See also:captain was appointed viceroy by See also:Joan III., who had at last accepted him without mistrust .

He did not live long to fill this See also:

charge, expiring in the arms of his friend, St See also:Francis See also:Xavier, on the 6th of See also:June 1548 . He was buried at Goa, but his remains were afterwards exhumed and conveyed to Portugal, to be reinterred under a splendid See also:monument in the See also:convent of Bemfica . See Jacinto See also:Freire de Andrade, See also:Vida de D . Jodo de Castro (Lisbon, 1651), See also:English See also:translation by See also:Sir See also:Peter Wyche (1664); Diogo de Couto, Decadas da See also:Asia, vi . The Roteiros or logbooks of Castro's voyages in the See also:East (Lisbon, 1833, 1843 and 1872) are of great See also:interest .

End of Article: JOAO DE CASTRO (1500-1548)
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