a Portuguese diplomat and explorer. King John II put him in charge of diverse private missions, and finally, to use his knowledge of different languages, ordered him and Afonso de Paiva to undertake a mission of exploration in the Near East and the adjoining regions of Asia and Africa, with the special assignment to learn where cinnamon and other spices could be found, as well as of discovering the land of legendary Prester John, by overland routes. Explored India and Ethiopia.
