Gaspar Correia

He authored Lendas da Índia (Legends of India), one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia.

[1] He lived mostly in Portuguese India, reportedly arriving around 1512-14 to serve as a soldier and then chosen as scrivener to Afonso de Albuquerque, for which he was very proud.

His work Lendas da Índia, though written in a rude style,[4][5] is considered an indispensable contemporary reference, having profited from his thirty-five years' work in India, and from privileged sources unknown to Fernão Lopes de Castanheda or João de Barros.

The 3,500-page Lendas da Índia manuscript was brought from India to Portugal by Miguel da Gama shortly after Correia's death and copies circulated only among authorised persons.

One author claims, without citing any source, that the manuscript was published in 12 volumes in 1556 but, if it existed, no trace remains.