Fernão Pires de Andrade
[4] The small fleet of Albuquerque engaged an enemy "junk" ship of the Javanese "Moors" near Polvoreira (likely Pulau Berhala, 160 miles from Malacca, between Belawan, Medan and Lumut, Perak).
[9] Barros also noted that while Fernão Pires was loading Southeast Asian spices onto his ship in Pacem (a kingdom in Sumatra) in order to sell or present them as gifts in China, two different kings were killed and their position usurped.
[10] Apparently the usurpation of kings caused little tumult or crisis in this state, as Barros noted any leader there was believed by the locals not to have divine right to rule if he was able to be killed by a royal kinsman.
[10] Historian Mark Dion notes that Fernão related the same story in his writing, only adding that a Muslim in their society was the only acceptable replacement as ruler.
Andrade had been chosen for this mission in Lisbon back in 1515, so that—as a pharmacist—he could investigate the types of pharmaceutical drugs used in East Asia for the benefit of the Portuguese and Europe.
[12] Florentine merchant Giovanni da Empoli, who had written a report about trade with China while stationed in India, was also chosen for the mission as the chief commercial agent between the Portuguese and Chinese.
[14] Tomé Pires, a royal apothecary who had also traveled to India and written a landmark work in 1515 on Asian trade, was chosen as the chief ambassador for the mission.
[15] After Andrade threatened to sail upriver without permission, the naval commander finally decided to let him pass, granting him pilots to assist his travel.
[15] The Chinese became suspicious once again of Andrade, this time for being a spy, when he sent a ship along the Fujian coast to look for further trade prospects, but he left a good impression when he gave the order that any locals who might be harmed by a Portuguese should seek him for redress.
[17] Simão immediately made a bad impression upon the Chinese when he built a fort at the center of Tuen Mun, an island designated for all foreigners to trade.
[23] Earlier, in April and May 1521, five Portuguese ships docked at Tuen Mun to begin trading, but were ordered to leave once officials came to the region to announce the emperor's death.
[23] The Portuguese refused this demand, so the Chinese sent a naval squadron to drive them out, sinking one ship, killing many, and taking the rest as prisoners (First Battle of Tamao).
[23] In August 1522, Martim Afonso de Melo Coutinho arrived at Tuen Mun with three ships, unaware of the conflict and expecting to meet with Chinese officials on establishing consent for a Portuguese trade base in China.
[3][24] These encounters and others with the Portuguese brought the first breech-loading culverins into China, mentioned even by the philosopher and scholar-official Wang Yangming in 1519 when he suppressed Zhu Chenhao's rebellion in Jiangxi.
[25] The prisoners of these sea battles were eventually executed in 1523 for crimes of "robbery in the high seas" and cannibalism,[24] while Tomé Pires was kept prisoner so that he could write letters to the King of Portugal, the Viceroy of Portuguese India, and the Governor of Malacca conveying the new Ming emperor's message that the Portuguese should leave Malacca and restore it to the rightful rule of its deposed king.
[29][30] In 1554, Leonel de Sousa—a later Governor of Macau— established positive relations through an agreement with Cantonese authorities[31] and in 1557 the Ming court finally gave consent for a permanent and official Portuguese trade base at Macau.
[32] Although Fernão Pires de Andrade and his Portuguese comrades were the first to open up China to the West, another significant diplomatic mission reaching all the way to Beijing would not be carried out until an Italian, the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) ventured there in 1598.
