Manuel de Almeida (sometimes Manoel de Almeida, 1580–1646) was a native of

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the Viseu District, district of the same name, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões Interm ...

who entered at an early age into the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

and went out as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He is noted to have travelled to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

and

Lake Tana Lake Tana (; previously transcribed Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and a source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wide, with a maximum depth of , and ...

and built a number of churches and

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

, particularly on the small islands of the lake. In 1622, Almeida was selected by the general of his order as

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to the

Emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia (, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse (, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The emperor w ...

, Susenyos. Accompanied by three companions, Almeida left Bassein 28 November of that year for

Suakin Suakin or Sawakin (, Beja: ''Oosook'') is a port city in northeastern Sudan, on the west coast of the Red Sea. It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan, about north. Suakin used to be considered the height ...

, and reached Diu two months later; he was delayed at the port of

Dhofar The Dhofar Governorate () is the largest of the 11 governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Governorate and the southern border with Saudi Arabia's Easter ...

from 18 May 1623 to 16 October due to unfavorable winds. At last Almeida departed for Suakin, reaching it 4 December, where he received a pass from the local

Pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...

to pass through the territories of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. He then found passage to

Massawa Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea Region, Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for ...

, whence he made his way to

Fremona Fremona (, ''fəremona'') was a town in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It was about a mile in circumference and was flanked with towers. The town served as the base of the Roman Catholic missionaries to Ethiopia during the 16th and 17th centuries. Bernh ...

by way of

Debarwa Debarwa ( ) is a market town in central Eritrea. It is situated about 25 kilometers south of the capital Asmara, and has a population of about 25,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Debarwa district (''Tsilima'') in the Debub ("Southern") ...

(where he met the governor of

Tigray The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob people, Irob and Kunama people. I ...

, ''Ras'' Keba Krestos), reaching the Catholic base in January 1624. He was well received by Emperor Susenyos, but his successor

Fasilides Fasilides ( Ge'ez: ፋሲለደስ; ''Fāsīladas''; 20 November 1603 – 18 October 1667), also known as Fasil, Basilide, or Basilides (as in the works of Edward Gibbon), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a me ...

first exiled him and his fellow Jesuits to

in 1633. Almeida was selected, along with Manoel Barradas and two other priests, to return to

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

and seek help from the Portuguese authorities for the missionaries; however, he made slow progress and by the time he reached Diu, most of his fellow Jesuits, who had been subsequently expelled from the country, had caught up with him.Jerónimo Lobo, ''The Itinerário of Jerónimo Lobo'', translated by Donald M. Lockhart (London: Hakluyt Society, 1984), pp. 259 n. 2, 292 n. 1 Upon returning to India, after thirteen years' absence, Almeida was made provincial of his order, and inquisitor. There he died. Almeida wrote a

history of Ethiopia Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa; the emergence of Ethiopian civilization dates back thousands of years. Abyssinia or rather "Ze Etiyopia" was ruled by the Semitic Abyssinians (Habesha) composed mainly of the Amhara, Tigrayans and ...

, ''Historia de Etiopía a Alta ou Abassia'', which drew on his own experiences as well as the writings of previous missionaries like Pedro Páez. The ''Historia'' was never published during Almeida's lifetime; but an abridgment and partial revision of Almeida's work by Baltazar Téllez was printed at Coimbra in 1660; an anonymous translation of Tellez's work into English appeared in 1710. Selections from ''Historia'' work were translated into English by C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford and published in ''Some Records of Ethiopia, 1593-1646'' (London: Hakluyt Society, 1954).

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida, Manuel 1580 births 1646 deaths Ambassadors of Portugal to Ethiopia Jesuit missionaries in India 17th-century Portuguese Jesuits Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries People from Viseu Portuguese expatriates in India Jesuit missionaries in Ethiopia Jesuit missionaries in Eritrea

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