Camões and Couto

the historical encounter on the return trip to the Kingdom (1569)

Authors

  • Eduardo Alberto Correia Ribeiro Jurista | Investigador independente

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34624/xb0rrk33

Keywords:

Camões in Macau, Diogo do Couto, Macau, Mozambique.

Abstract

Camões and Diogo do Couto’s sociable friendship lasted between 1559 in Goa (the arrival of the future chronicler in Portuguese India) and 1562 (our Poet’s departure for the China South Seas on the Voyage to China and Japan.

Couto served in the militia for 10 years under the India Government (1559-1569) and Camões served as provider for the dead between 1562 and 1564. He survived a shipwreck at/the latitude of the MeKong (Camões, 1963, Lus., X, p. 128), along whose shores he was cared for by Buddhist monks (Camões, 1963, Lus., VII, pp. 79-80 and X, pp. 127-128) and finally sailed back to Portuguese India.

Towards the end of 1567 he sails with Captain Pero Barreto to the Captaincy of Sofala and Mozambique, where he awaits the continuation of his return trip to the Kingdom. It is here, in May of 1569, that he learns about Couto’s trip and sends him the sonnet “Beloved Couto” (Cruz, 1993, Déc. VIII, extended version, p. 471). The two men get together on the Island between February and November 1569 and sail on the Santa Clara all the way to the Kingdom, where they finally disembark in April 1570. Theirs was truly a providential encounter, as Camões conversed extensively about his voyage to China (Macau) with his friend and future chronicler of Asia. Couto mentions these conversations in his (First) Diálogo do Soldado Prático (1569), chapter 25. This historical encounter sheds irrefutable evidence about which Portuguese Settlement in China Camões was in, the year he left for Macau (1562) and that Pero Barreto was indeed the Captain Major on the Voyage to China and Japão. Couto’s testimony in his 1569 Dialogue and, years later, in Década VIII (extended version) is simply undeniable.

Author Biography

  • Eduardo Alberto Correia Ribeiro, Jurista | Investigador independente

    Camões and Diogo do Couto’s sociable friendship lasted between 1559 in Goa (the arrival of the future chronicler in Portuguese India) and 1562 (our Poet’s departure for the China South Seas on the Voyage to China and Japan.

    Couto served in the militia for 10 years under the India Government (1559-1569) and Camões served as provider for the dead between 1562 and 1564. He survived a shipwreck at/the latitude of the MeKong (Camões, 1963, Lus., X, p. 128), along whose shores he was cared for by Buddhist monks (Camões, 1963, Lus., VII, pp. 79-80 and X, pp. 127-128) and finally sailed back to Portuguese India.

    Towards the end of 1567 he sails with Captain Pero Barreto to the Captaincy of Sofala and Mozambique, where he awaits the continuation of his return trip to the Kingdom. It is here, in May of 1569, that he learns about Couto’s trip and sends him the sonnet “Beloved Couto” (Cruz, 1993, Déc. VIII, extended version, p. 471). The two men get together on the Island between February and November 1569 and sail on the Santa Clara all the way to the Kingdom, where they finally disembark in April 1570. Theirs was truly a providential encounter, as Camões conversed extensively about his voyage to China (Macau) with his friend and future chronicler of Asia. Couto mentions these conversations in his (First) Diálogo do Soldado Prático (1569), chapter 25. This historical encounter sheds irrefutable evidence about which Portuguese Settlement in China Camões was in, the year he left for Macau (1562) and that Pero Barreto was indeed the Captain Major on the Voyage to China and Japão. Couto’s testimony in his 1569 Dialogue and, years later, in Década VIII (extended version) is simply undeniable.

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Published

2026-02-20

Issue

No. 5 (2025)

Section

Articles

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