See also:COVILHAM (COVILHAO, COVIIIIX), PERO
or PEDRO DE, Portuguese explorer and diplomatist (fl
.
1487-1525), was a native of See also:Covilha in See also:Beira
.
In See also:early See also:life he had gone to See also:Castile and entered the service of See also:Alphonso, See also:duke of See also:Seville; later, when See also:war See also:broke out between Castile and See also:Portugal, he returned to his own See also:country, and attached himself, first as a " See also:groom," then as a " See also:squire," to See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
King Alphonso V. and his successor See also:John II
.
On the 7th of May 1487, he was despatched, in See also:company with Alphonso de Payva, on a See also:mission of exploration in the See also:Levant and adjoining regions of See also:Asia and See also:Africa, with the See also:special See also:object of learning where " See also:cinnamon and other spices could be found," as well as of discovering the See also:land of Prester John, by " overland " routes
.
Bartholomeu See also:Diaz, at this very See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time, went out to find the Prester's country, as well as the termination of the See also:African See also:continent and the ocean route to See also:India, by See also:sea
.
See also:Covilham and Payva were provided with a " See also:letter of See also:credence for all the countries of the See also:world" and with a " See also:map for navigating, taken from the map of the world" and compiled by See also:Bishop Calcadilha, and doctors Rodrigo and Moyses
.
The first two of these were prominent members of the See also:commission which advised the Portuguese See also:government to reject the proposals, of See also:Columbus, The explorers started from See also:Santarem and travelled by See also:Barcelona to See also:Naples, where their bills of See also:exchange were paid by the sons of Cosimo de' See also:Medici; thence they passed to See also:Rhodes, where they lodged with two other Portuguese, and so to See also:Alexandria and See also:Cairo, where they posed as merchants
.
In company with certain See also:Moors from See also:Fez and See also:Tlemcen they now went by way of Tor to See also:Suakin and See also:Aden, where (as it was now See also:monsoon time) they parted, Covilham proceeding to India and Payva to See also:Ethiopia—the two companions agreeing to meet again in Cairo
.
Covilham thus arrived at See also:Cannanore and See also:Calicut, whence he retraced his course to See also:Goa and Ormuz, the Red Sea and Cairo, making an excursion on his way down the See also:East African See also:coast to See also:Sofala, which he was probably the first See also:European to visit
.
At Cairo he heard of Payva's See also:death, and met with two Portuguese See also:Jews—See also:Rabbi See also:Abraham of See also:Beja, and See also:Joseph, a See also:shoe-maker of Lamegowho had been sent by King John with letters for Covilham and Payva
.
By Joseph of See also:Lamego Covilham replied with an See also:account of his See also:Indian and African journeys, and of his observations on the cinnamon, See also:pepper and clove See also:trade at Calicut, together with See also:advice as to the ocean way to India
.
This he truly represented as quite practicable: " to this they (of Portugal) could navigate by their coast and the seas of See also:Guinea." The first See also:objective in the easterly ocean, he added, was Sofala or the
See also:Island of the See also:- MOON (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Mond, Du. maan, Dan. maane, &c., and cognate with such Indo-Germanic forms as Gr. µlip, Sans. ma's, Irish mi, &c.; Lat. uses luna, i.e. lucna, the shining one, lucere, to shine, for the moon, but preserves the word i
- MOON, SIR RICHARD, 1ST BARONET (1814-1899)
Moon, our See also:Madagascar—" from each of these lands one can fetch the coast of Calicut." With this See also:information Joseph returned to Portugal, while Covilham, with Abraham of Beja, again visited Aden and Ormuz
.
At the latter he See also:left the rabbi; and himself came back to See also:Jidda, the See also:port of the Arabian See also:holy land, and penetrated (as he told See also:Alvarez many years later) even to See also:Mecca and See also:Medina
.
Finally, by See also:Mount See also:Sinai, Tor and the Red Sea, he reached Zeila, whence he struck inland to the See also:court of Prester John (i.e
.
See also:Abyssinia)
.
Here he was honourably received; lands and lordships were bestowed upon him; but he was not permitted to leave
.
When the Portuguese See also:embassy under Rodrigo de See also:Lima, including See also:Father Francisco Alvarez, entered Abyssinia in 1520, Covilham wept with joy at the sight of his See also:fellow-countrymen
.
It was then See also:forty years since he had left Portugal, and over See also:thirty since he had been a prisoner of See also:state in " Ethiopia." Alvarez, who professed to know him well, and to have heard the See also:story of his life, both " in See also:confession and out of it," praises his See also:power of vivid description " as if things were See also:present before him," and his extraordinary knowledge of " all spoken See also:languages of Christians, Moors and Gentiles." His services as an interpreter were valuable to Rodrigo de Lima's
embassy; but he never succeeded in escaping from Abyssinia
.
See Francisco Alvarez, Verdadera Informacam das terras do Preste Joam, esp. chs
.
73, 89, 98, 102-103, 105 (pp
.
177, 224, 254, 264, 265-270, 275, of the See also:Hakluyt Society's See also:English edition, The Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia
.
.
.
1520-1727, See also:London, 1881); an abstract of this, with some inaccuracies, is given in See also:Major's See also:Prince See also:- HENRY
- HENRY (1129-1195)
- HENRY (c. 1108-1139)
- HENRY (c. 1174–1216)
- HENRY (Fr. Henri; Span. Enrique; Ger. Heinrich; Mid. H. Ger. Heinrich and Heimrich; O.H.G. Haimi- or Heimirih, i.e. " prince, or chief of the house," from O.H.G. heim, the Eng. home, and rih, Goth. reiks; compare Lat. rex " king "—" rich," therefore " mig
- HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON (1841– )
- HENRY, JAMES (1798-1876)
- HENRY, JOSEPH (1797-1878)
- HENRY, MATTHEW (1662-1714)
- HENRY, PATRICK (1736–1799)
- HENRY, PRINCE OF BATTENBERG (1858-1896)
- HENRY, ROBERT (1718-1790)
- HENRY, VICTOR (1850– )
- HENRY, WILLIAM (1795-1836)
Henry the Navigator (London, 1868), pp
.
339-340
.
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