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Manuel de Almeida(sometimesManoel de Almeida,1580–1646) was a native ofViseuwho entered at an early age into theSociety of Jesusand went out as amissionarytoIndia.He is noted to have travelled toEthiopiaandEritreaandLake Tanaand built a number of churches andmonasteries,particularly on the small islands of the lake.[1]
Manuel de Almeida | |
|---|---|
| Born | Manuel de Almeida 1580 |
| Died | 1646 (aged 65–66) |
| Nationality | Portuguese |
| Occupation(s) | Missionary,traveller |
| Known for | Traveller and builder of churches and monasteries inEthiopiaandEritrea. |
In 1622, Almeida was selected by the general of his order asambassadorto theEmperor of Ethiopia,Susenyos.Accompanied by three companions, Almeida leftBassein28 November of that year forSuakin,and reachedDiutwo months later; he was delayed at the port ofDhofarfrom 18 May 1623 to 16 October due to unfavorable winds. At last Almeida departed for Suakin, reaching it 4 December, where he received a pass from the localPashato pass through the territories of theOttoman Empire.He then found passage toMassawa,whence he made his way toFremonaby way ofDebarwa(where he met the governor ofTigray,RasKeba Krestos), reaching the Catholic base in January 1624.[2]
He was well received by Emperor Susenyos, but his successorFasilidesfirst exiled him and his fellow Jesuits toFremonain 1633. Almeida was selected, along with Manoel Barradas and two other priests, to return toGoaand seek help from the Portuguese authorities for the missionaries; however, he made slow progress and by the time he reached Diu, most of his fellow Jesuits, who had been subsequently expelled from the country, had caught up with him.[3]Upon returning to India, after thirteen years' absence, Almeida was made provincial of his order, and inquisitor. There he died.
Almeida wrote ahistory of Ethiopia,Historia de Etiopía a Alta ou Abassia,which drew on his own experiences as well as thewritings of previous missionarieslikePedro Páez.TheHistoriawas never published during Almeida's lifetime; but an abridgment and partial revision of Almeida's work byBaltazar Téllezwas printed at Coimbra in 1660; an anonymous translation of Tellez's work into English appeared in 1710. Selections fromHistoriawork were translated into English by C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford and published inSome Records of Ethiopia, 1593-1646(London: Hakluyt Society, 1954).
See also
editReferences
edit- ^
Altic, Mirela."Notes From the book Encounters in the New World: Jesuit Cartography of the Americas".degruyter.University of Chicago Press 2022.Retrieved2022-07-18.
Ethiopia by the Portuguese Jesuit Manoel de. Almeida, which is included in his account Historia de Etiopía a Alta ou Abassia, later published, pp. 331-394
- ^Baltazar Téllez,The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia,1710 (LaVergue: Kessinger, 2010), pp. 213-221
- ^Jerónimo Lobo,The Itinerário of Jerónimo Lobo,translated by Donald M. Lockhart (London: Hakluyt Society, 1984), pp. 259 n. 2, 292 n. 1
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:Rose, Hugh James(1857)."Almeida, Manuel de".A New General Biographical Dictionary.Vol. 1 AA–ANS. London: B. Fellowes et al. p. 356.
Further reading
edit- E. Denison Ross,"Almeida's 'History of Ethiopia': Recovery of the Preliminary Matter",Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies,2(1923), pp. 783–804