António Real, «o mexedor de Cochim»: percurso asiático de um fidalgo de diferentes saberes e ofícios (1505-1514)

Abstract

Our paper will study the route and activity developed by António Real, a Portuguese nobleman who belonged to the first generation of army men responsible for the creation of the “Portuguese State of India”, and who took the office of “Chief Master of the Dockyards of Kochi”, along with the service of Captain of the fortress of Kochi (at that time the most important one in the whole State), therefore being not only the responsible for the artillery foundry, but also for the building of a large number of ships, vessels, and chiefly galleys, of which he said to have a deep expertise. António Real was also one of the most important leading opponents of the political project of Afonso de Albuquerque, and integrated, together with Diogo Pereira, Gaspar Pereira and Lorenzo Moreno, the so called “group of Kochi”, who did everything possible to overthrow the Governor of the “Estado da Índia”.