In May 1513 Álvares sailed under the Portuguese Malacca captain, Rui de Brito Patalim in a junk from Pegu. The expedition was accompanied by 5 other junks. Álvares himself was accompanied by 2 other Poruguese mariners[1].
Álvares made first contact on Asian soil in Guangdong, Southern China in May 1513.[2] Upon landing, he raised a Padrão from the king of Portugal, where they landed on Lintin Island in the Pearl Riverestuary.[3] Based on information from their captain, they were to expect to find trade. Soon after this, the Viceroy of the Estado da India dispatched Rafael Perestrello—a cousin of Christopher Columbus—[4] to seek trade relations with the Chinese. In a ship from Malacca, Rafael landed on the southern shores of Guangdong later that year in 1513, being the first to actually land on the coast of mainland China.[4]
Álvares later joined the venture of establishing the settlements in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong around 1513 to 1514[5]. This visit was followed by the establishment of a number of Portuguese trading centres in the area, which were eventually consolidated in Macau. In 1517 the Portuguese settlers were in a battle with Imperial Chinese army troops in the region[6]. There is a possibility that Álvares took part in the combat.
Notes
^ Porter, Jonathan. [1996] (1996). Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present. Westview Press. ISBN 0813337496
^ Edmonds. [2002] (2002) China and Europe Since 1978: A European Perspective. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521524032
^ Porter, Jonathan. [1996] (1996). Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present. Westview Press. ISBN 0813337496
^ Ride, Lindsay. Ride, May. Fairbank, John K. The Voices of Macao Stones: Abridged with Additional Material by Jason Wordie. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 962-2094872
^ China Briefing Media. [2004] (2004) Business Guide to the Greater Pearl River Delta. China Briefing Media publishing. ISBN 988-9867311
References
Brook, Timothy. (1998). The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22154-0 (Paperback).