Garcia da Orta

Garcia da Orta (* around 1500 in Castelo de Vide , † 1568 in Goa ) was a pioneer in botany and pharmacy . The doctor, who came from a Jewish family who converted to Christianity in Portugal , is considered the first European author of a treatise on tropical medicine . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Garcia de Orta ".

Life

Garcia da Orta was born as the son of the Jews Fernando (Isaac) da Orta and his wife Leonor Gomes, who were expelled from Spain in 1492, who were both also converted " New Christians ".

Garcia da Orta studied medicine at the University of Salamanca in Castile and at the University of Alcalá de Henares. In 1523 he returned to Portugal and received permission to practice as a doctor. Some sources also name him as a doctor at the court of the Portuguese King John III.

In 1530 he received through the intercession of his uncle, Francisco da Orta, doctor of the later Cardinal Dom Henrique, a professorship in logic at the University of Coimbra . In 1533 he was accepted into the senate of this university.

It is believed that in 1531, following the announcement of the establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal, he was forced to leave the country to prevent persecution. On March 12, 1534, he left Portugal forever and traveled to India with his family. He had accepted the post of personal physician to Martim Afonso de Sousa , who, appointed capitão-mor do Mar das Índias in 1533, carried out military operations in India. From 1534-1538 Garcia da Orta accompanied him as a military doctor. From 1538 he settled in Goa and built up an existence as a doctor and trader for spices and herbs, but also for precious stones. He became a respected doctor and wealthy merchant who owned several ships and houses. In Goa, a long-standing friendship developed with the Portuguese national poet Luís Vaz de Camões and with Martim Afonso de Souza, who was governor of India between 1542 and 1545.

Around 1543 he married Brianda de Solis, who had come to Goa with her parents a year earlier.

In Goa Garcia da Orta got to know and apply the practical knowledge of Arab doctors, Persians and Hindu doctors. In 1543, doctors, including Garcia da Orta, performed the first autopsy in India on victims of cholera. Above all, Garcia da Orta became acquainted with the great variety of indigenous medicinal plants and medicines. For his botanical and pharmaceutical studies he laid out a large botanical garden on the island of Bombay, which he owned. Here he experimented with plants from Europe and India, but also from Persia and China.

Colóquios dos Simples

He published his great theoretical and practical knowledge in 1563 in his work Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas e Cousas Medicinais da Índia . The book quickly caught on in Europe and became the standard work of early European tropical medicine.

Already in 1567 there was an edition shortened and changed in many passages by the Dutch botanist Clusius ( Charles de l'Écluse ) and in 1572 by Juan Fragoso the first translation into Spanish. On the edition expanded and revised by Clusius in 1574, not on the original Garcia da Ortas, further translations into Italian (1576) and French (1601) were based. The Portuguese doctor and botanist Cristóbal Acosta (Port .: Cristovão da Costa) also built extensive passages on Garcia da Orta's texts in his Tractado de las Drogas y Medicinas de las Indias Orientales: Con Sus Plantas Debuxadas al Biuo , published in Burgos in 1578 . Both doctors had met in India and carried out joint scientific studies. It was not until 1872 that a new edition of the work, which was almost forgotten in Portugal, appeared in Portuguese.

In the last years of his life, Garcia da Orta struggled with major financial and family problems.

He escaped access by the Inquisition, which was also established in Goa in 1560, only through his death in 1568.

Despite this, a case was opened against him and other family members for secretly practicing the Jewish religion. In 1569 his sister Catarina was burned in Goa because of this.

According to forced statements under the torture of family members (sister, brother-in-law, etc.), Garcia da Orta was found guilty in December 1580, his bones were publicly burned and the ashes were scattered in the sea.

Works

• Histoire des drogues, espiceries, et de certains medicamens simples, qui naissent és Indes et en l'Amerique: divisé en deux parties: La première comprise en 4 livres: Les deux premiers de Garcie Du Jardin, le troisième de Christophle de La Coste, et le quatrième de l'histoire du baulme, adjousteée de nouveau en ceste 2. éd .: où il est prouvé, que nous avons le vray baulme d'Arabie, contre l'opinion des anciens et modern; la seconde composée de deux livres de maistre Nicolas Monard traictant de ce qui nous est l'Amerique apports de ... . Pillehotte, Lyon 1619 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
• Coloquios dos Simples e Drogas da India . Lisboa: Imprensa nacional, 1891. (Volume 1–2) Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• Colloquies on the simple & drugs of India . Sotheran, London New ed. (Lisbon, 1895) / ed. And ann. by the Conde de Ficalho 1913 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• Aromatum et simplicium aliquot medicamentorum apud Indos nascentium historia . - s. l .: sn, 1985 approx. (repr. of the edition Antwerp 1567)

literature

• Augusto da S. Carvalho: Garcia de Orta . - Lisboa: sn, 1934
• Francisco M. de Ficalho: Garcia de Orta eo seu tempo . - Lisboa: Casa de Moeda, 1983 (repr. Of the edition Lisboa 1886)

Web links

Commons : Garcia da Orta  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Author entry and list of the described plant names for Garcia da Orta at the IPNI