Barbosa, Duarte was a Portuguese

Barbosa, Duarte was a Portuguese factor at Cannanore and Cochin in between 1503 and (about) 1517 and had left behind an interesting account on trade and political events of the southeast including Bengal. His father Diogo Barbosa, a man of good family, was in the service of Duke of Braganca and sailed to India in 1501. Duarte Barbosa's uncle, Goncalo Gil Barbosa, had gone to India in 1503 with the fleet of Pedro Alvarez Cabral; and was left at Cochin as a factor. It is probable that Duarte had joined Cabral's fleet and remained with his uncle at Cochin. By 1503, he had learnt Malayalam to act as interpreter to Francisco D' Albuquerque on his visit to the King of Cannanore. From the published letter of Duarte, then writer at Cannanore, written on 12 January 1513 to the King of Portugal, it is clear that he did not get the coveted post of head writer and that the people of the country were up in arms against the Governor Diogo Correa. Duarte Barbosa returned to Portugal sometime after 1515 and finished his book by 1518. He had then joined his brother-in-law, Fernao de Magelhas and sailed with him in 1519 for the Philippines. Magelhas died on 21 April 1521 near the Isle of Sebu, whose King massacred the Spaniards, including Duarte Barbosa, on 1 May 1521. (To be continue.....1/2)