Tristão de Sousa

Illigetimate son of Martim Afonso de Sousa (governor of the State of India). He was quite young when, in June of 1552, he fell victim off the coast of Natal to the shipwreck of the galleon St. John, which was sailing from Portugal to India under the command of his cousin Manuel de Sousa de Sepúlveda. He and another cousin, Pantaleão de Sá, were among the few survivors who were rescued and taken to Mozambique (1553). Later he would return to the sub-continent and then to the kingdom, but he would return to the Orient in 1555. While the State of India was governed by Dom Constantino de Bragança, he would become Captain of the Armada that conquered Damão (1558), of the aid squad sent to Bah rein (1559) and of the expedition that took Jafanapatão (1560). In 1568, King Sebastian rewarded Tristão de Sousa for his services overseas by naming him commander of the fortress in Maluco, a post he would assume only during the time of the Dual Union, during 1583 and between 1592-1595.

Bibliography:
PELÚCIA, Alexandra, Martim Afonso de Sousa e a sua Linhagem - A Elite Dirigente do Império Português nos Reinados de D. João III e D. Sebastião, Lisboa, UNL-FCSH, 2007, dissertação de doutoramento policopiada.


Translation: Rosa Simas