Besides The Present Discourse, Galvano
Composed A History Of The Molucca Islands, Of Which He Had Been Governor,
Which Work Has Unfortunately Been Lost, Or At Least Is Unknown In This
Country.
He is likewise said to have published at Lisbon in 1555, an
account of the different routes by which the merchandize of India had
been conveyed into Europe at different periods.
Antonio Galvano, the author of the following Summary of the Discoveries
of the World, was a Portuguese gentleman, who was several years governor
of the Molucca Islands, and performed signal service to his country in
that honourable station, by dissipating a formidable league, which had
been entered into by the native princes of these islands, for the
expulsion of the Portuguese; and, though possessing very inadequate
resources for the protection of so important a commercial establishment,
he confirmed and extended the dominion and influence of Portugal in these
islands. When first appointed to the command in the Moluccas, Galvano
carried with him a private fortune of 10,000 crusadoes, all of which he
expended in the public service. Though he added a clear revenue to the
crown of 500,000 crusadoes, in consequence of his successful, vigilant,
and pure administration, he was so zealous in patronizing the propagation
of the Christian religion among the islands belonging to his government,
that, on his return to Lisbon in 1540, he was reduced to such extreme
poverty, as to be under the necessity of taking refuge in the _hospital_,
where he died in 1557.
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