Bento de Góis

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Bento de Góis , also Bento de Goes and Benedikt Goës , (* July 1562 in Vila Franca do Campo , Azores ; † April 11, 1607 in Su-tschou ) was a Portuguese Jesuit and missionary and explorer in Asia .

Bento de Góis, portrait in Loyola (Spain).

Góis crossed from Agra between 1602 and 1607 under the name Abdallah of India through High Asia. He visited while Kabul and Kashgar , increased with the outgoing year to China caravan on the steppes of the Pamir and after Yarkant . End of 1605 it reached about Aksu place Karashahr where he learned that Matteo Ricci in Cathay lived. He had discovered to his amazement that Cathay and China referred to one and the same country. Like Ricci, Goës was very interested in astronomy and, in correspondence with Ricci, was one of the first to describe the change of light from Algol in the constellation Perseus (Beta Persei). Goes went on to Su-chou.

Here he was harassed and physically attacked by the Muslims for more than a year before Ricci could bring him support. He succumbed to privations here in March or April 1607. All of his goods, including even his diaries , were looted by the Mohammedans.

His companion, the Armenian Isaac, reached China happily and gave a detailed report of the trip to the missionaries in Beijing . The travelogue can be found in Nic. Trigautii de expeditione Christiana apud Sinas, suscepta a soc. Jesus ( suffering 1616).

literature

  • Father Fernao Guerreiro , SJ: Jahangir and the Jesuits: trans. CH Payne with an account of the Travels of Benedict Goes and the Mission of Pegu. New Delhi, India Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 1997
  • Nicolas Trigault : Histoire de l'expedition Chrestienne au royaume de la Chine, entreprinse par les PP. de la compagnie de Iesus, comprinse en cinq livres, esquels est traicte fort exactement et fidelement des moeurs, loix, & coustumes du pays, & des commencemens tres-difficiles de l'eglise naissante en ce royaume. Tiree des commentaires du Matthieu Riccius, et nouvellement traduicte en francois par DF ​​de Riquebourg-Trigault. Lyons, for Horace Cardon, 1616
  • Henry Yule : "The Journey of Benedict Goes from Agra to Cathay (1602-1607)", in: Henry Yule & Henri Cordier: Cathay and the Way Thither; Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China. New Edition, Revised Throughout in the Light of Recent Discoveries. Second edition. Hakluyt Society. Second series. Vols. XLI. London: The Hakluyt Society, 1916. (In short: Volume 4 of Cathay and the Way Thither. )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Góis, Bento de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goes, Bento; Goës, Benedict
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese missionary and explorer in Asia
DATE OF BIRTH July 1562
PLACE OF BIRTH Vila Franca do Campo
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1607
Place of death Su-choo