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{{about|the Jesuit and missionary|other people with this name|Manuel de Almeida (disambiguation)}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2014}}
{{short description|Portuguese Jesuit priest and missionary}}
{{Infobox person
|name                         = Manuel de Almeida
|image                        = 
|caption                      = 
|birth_name                   = Manuel de Almeida
|birth_date                   = 1580
|birth_place                  = [[Viseu]], [[Kingdom of Portugal]]
|death_date                   = {{BirthDeathAge|df=yes| |1580| | |1646}}
|death_place                  = [[Goa]], [[Portuguese India]]
|nationality                  = [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]]
|occupation                   = [[Missionary]], [[travel]]ler
|known_for                    = Traveller and builder of churches and monasteries in [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]].
|parents                      = 
|signature                    = 
|battles                      = 
}}
[[File:Africa 1707 Lobo.jpg|thumb|Map from the Dutch edition of ''Historia de Etiopía a Alta ou Abassia'']]
'''Manuel de Almeida''' (sometimes '''Manoel de Almeida''', 1580–1646) was a native of [[Viseu]] who entered at an early age into the [[Society of Jesus]] and went out as a [[missionary]] to [[India]]. He is noted to have travelled to [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]] and [[Lake Tana]] and built a number of churches and [[monasteries]], particularly on the small islands of the lake.

In 1622, Almeida was selected by the general of his order as [[ambassador]] to the [[Emperor of Ethiopia]], [[Susenyos of Ethiopia|Susenyos]]. Accompanied by three companions, Almeida left [[Bassein Fort|Bassein]] 28 November of that year for [[Suakin]], and reached [[Diu, India|Diu]] two months later; he was delayed at the port of [[Dhofar]] 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]] to pass through the territories of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. He then found passage to [[Massawa]], whence he made his way to [[Fremona]] by way of [[Debarwa]] (where he met the governor of [[Tigray Province|Tigray]], ''Ras'' [[Keba Krestos]]), reaching the Catholic base in January 1624.<ref>Baltazar Téllez, ''The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia'', 1710 (LaVergue: Kessinger, 2010), pp. 213-221</ref>

He was well received by Emperor Susenyos, but his successor [[Fasilides of Ethiopia|Fasilides]] first exiled him and his fellow Jesuits to [[Fremona]] in 1633. Almeida was selected, along with Manoel Barradas and two other priests, to return to [[Goa]] 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.<ref>Jerónimo Lobo, ''The Itinerário of Jerónimo Lobo'', translated by Donald M. Lockhart (London: Hakluyt Society, 1984), pp. 259 n. 2, 292 n. 1</ref> 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]], ''Historia de Etiopía a Alta ou Abassia'', which drew on his own experiences as well as the [[Ethiopian historiography|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).

==See also==
* [[Ethiopian Studies]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Source-attribution|{{Cite Newgenbio |title=Almeida, Manuel de|volume=1|page=356}}}}

== Further reading ==
*  E. Denison Ross, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/607487 "Almeida's 'History of Ethiopia': Recovery of the Preliminary Matter", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies''], '''2''' (1923), pp.&nbsp;783–804

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=Almeida,+Manuel+de | name=Manuel de Almeida}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Manuel de Almeida |sopt=t}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida, Manuel}}
[[Category:1580 births]]
[[Category:1646 deaths]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Portugal to Ethiopia]]
[[Category:Jesuit missionaries in India]]
[[Category:Portuguese Jesuits]]
[[Category:Portuguese Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:People from Viseu]]
[[Category:16th-century Portuguese people]]
[[Category:17th-century Portuguese people]]
[[Category:17th-century Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Portuguese expatriates in India]]
[[Category:Jesuit missionaries in Ethiopia]]
[[Category:Jesuit missionaries in Eritrea]]