Jorge de Menezes (c. 1498 – 1537) was a Portuguese explorer, who in 1526–27 landed on the islands of

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and corals. The ...

( Cenderawasih Bay), whilst he awaited the passing of the monsoon season, and on the northern coasts of the Bird's Head Peninsula, calling the region ''Ilhas dos Papuas''. He is thus credited with the European discovery of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

. Jorge de Menezes was the Portuguese Governor of the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...

(modern

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

) from 1527 until 1530, residing on

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...

. While in office, he plundered a Spanish fort on

Tidore Tidore ( id, Kota Tidore Kepulauan, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island ...

, poisoned the sultan of Ternate and committed atrocities against the local population. Subsequently he was arrested and sent to

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a s ...

. After his return to Portugal he was banished to the

colony of Brazil Colonial Brazil ( pt, Brasil Colonial) comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Duri ...

, where he died in combat against Indians in 1537.

References

Portuguese explorers 16th-century explorers M Portuguese explorers of the Pacific Year of birth unknown 1537 deaths 16th-century Portuguese people Maritime history of Portugal Year of birth uncertain {{Portugal-explorer-stub