Gaspar Correia

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Gaspar Correia (1492–c. 1563) was a Portuguese historian best known for Lendas da Índia (Legends of India), one of the earliest and most important accounts of Portuguese rule in Asia. Little is known about his early life or birthplace, but he is generally believed to have been born in Portugal in 1492.

Correia spent most of his life in Portuguese India. He arrived there around 1512–14 to serve as a soldier and was later chosen as scrivener (secretary) to Afonso de Albuquerque, a role he valued highly. He returned to Portugal in 1529 for a time, then went back to India.

His major work, Lendas da Índia, is a long, detailed narrative of about 3,500 pages. It drew on his 35 years in India and on valuable sources not available to other writers of his era. The work is considered an essential contemporary source, and Correia is credited with writing the first European account of Asiatic cholera.

There are unresolved questions about his life. One theory suggests he was murdered in Portuguese Malacca, possibly on the orders of Estêvão da Gama, Vasco da Gama’s son.

After his death, the manuscript was brought to Portugal by Miguel da Gama. Copies circulated only among authorized people. Some sources claim the work was published in 12 volumes in 1556, but no copies are known. His family kept the original manuscript, which was printed in two parts in 1858 and 1864 by the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. Correia died around 1563 in Goa, Portuguese India.