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[[Fasciculus:Garcia-orta-coloquios.png|thumb|Titulus editionis Lusitanicae operis Garciae ab Horto ''[[Aromatum apud Indos nascentium historia|Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas da India]]'' (Goae, 1563)]]
'''Garcias ab Horto''', vulgo ''Garcia de Orta'' (natus anno 1501 vel 1502; mortuus anno [[1568]]), [[Iudaei|Iudaicus]] [[Portugallia|Portugallensis]] [[Goa]]e incola, fuit medicus et scriptor de aromatibus. Natus est in oppido [[Castelo de Vide]], filius mercatoris Ferdinandi vel Isaacii da Orta. Medicinae et artibus apud universitates [[Universitas Complutensis|Complutensem]] et [[Universitas Salmanticensis|Salmanticensem]] studuit. Ab anno [[1526]] [[Olisipo]]ne operam dans, professor meruit medicinae in [[Universitas Olisiponensis|Universitatem Olisiponensem]] ab [[1530]]. [[India]]m petivit, medicum iuxta proregem [[Martinus Alphonsus de Sousa|Martinum Alphonsum de Sousa]], anno [[1534]]. [[Goa]]m habitavit ibique mortuus est; [[Inquisitio]]ne ad hanc urbem anno [[1565]] introducta, Garcias ipse ut videtur quaestioni nunquam subivit (soror autem Catharina, Iudaismo inculpata, anno 1569 combusta est).
'''Garcias ab Horto''', vulgo ''Garcia de Orta'' (natus anno 1501 or 1502–1568) was a [[Portugal|Portuguese]] [[Renaissance]] [[Sephardi Jew]]ish physician and naturalist. He was a pioneer of [[tropical medicine]].
Opus eius, titulo [[Lusitanice|Lusitano]] ''[[Aromatum apud Indos nascentium historia|Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia]]'' [[scil.]] "Colloquia de simplicibus et pharmacis atque materie medica Indiae" anno [[1563]] Goae editum est et rapidissime a [[Carolus Clusius|Carolo Clusio]] [[Latine]] versum.
{{History of Mumbai}}
Garcia de Orta was born in [[Castelo de Vide]], probably in 1501, the son of Fernão (Isaac) da Orta, a merchant, and Leonor Gomes. He had three sisters, Violante, Catarina and Isabel. Their parents were Spanish Jews from [[Valencia de Alcántara]] who had taken refuge, as many others did, in [[Portugal]] at the time of the great expulsion of the Spanish Jews by the ''[[Catholic Monarchs|Reyes Catolicos]]'' [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand]] and [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella]] of Spain in 1492. Forcibly converted to Christianity in 1497, they were henceforth classed under the despised names of ''Cristãos Novos'' ([[New Christians]]) and [[marranos]]. [[Anusim|Some of these]] refugees maintained their Jewish faith secretly.
He studied medicine, arts and philosophy at the Universities of [[University of Alcalá|Alcalá de Henares]] and [[University of Salamanca|Salamanca]] in [[Spain]]. He graduated and returned to Portugal in 1523, two years after his father's death. He practiced medicine first in his home town and from 1526 onwards in [[Lisbon]], where he gained a professorship at the [[University of Lisbon|university]] in 1530.
* 1563 : ''[[Aromatum apud Indos nascentium historia|Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia]]''
{{ botanist|Garcia de Ortabotanistae|Garcia de Orta}} ▼Perhaps fearing the increasing power of the [[Portuguese Inquisition]], and fortunately evading the ban on emigration of New Christians, he sailed for [[Portuguese India]] in 1534 as Chief Physician aboard the fleet of the [[Viceroy]] [[Martim Afonso de Sousa]]. He travelled with the Viceroy on various campaigns, then, in 1538, settled at [[Goa]], where he soon had a prominent medical practice. He was physician to [[Burhan Shah I]] of the [[Nizam Shahi dynasty]] of [[Ahmadnagar]], and concurrently to several successive Portuguese Viceroys and governors of Goa: one of these granted him a lease of the island of [[Bombay]], though he never lived there.
== Bibliographia ==
Garcia de Orta married a rich New Christian relative, Brianda de Solis, in 1543; the marriage was unhappy, but the couple had two daughters. In 1549 his mother and two of his sisters, who had been imprisoned as Jews in Lisbon, managed to join him in Goa. According to a confession by his brother-in-law after his death, Garcia de Orta privately continued to assert that "the Law of Moses was the true law";<ref>See fuller quotation (Boxer, 1963, p. 10) citing Inquisition records initially quoted by Silva, 1934, pp. 74 and 159.</ref> in other words, he, probably in common with others in his family, remained a Jewish believer. In 1565 the Inquisition was introduced to the Indian Viceroyalty and an inquisitorial court was opened in Goa. Active persecution against Jews, secret Jews, [[Hindu]]s and [[New Christians]] began. Garcia himself died in 1568, apparently without having suffered seriously from this persecution, but his sister Catarina was arrested as a Jew in the same year and was burned at the stake for [[Judaism]] in Goa in 1569. Garcia himself was posthumously convicted of Judaism. His remains were exhumed and burned in an [[auto da fé]] in 1580.<ref>Silva, 1934, pp. 72-84; Révah, 1960.</ref> The fate of his daughters is not known. During his lifetime, Orta had been protected from the [[Goa Inquisition]] by his friend and patron, [[Martim Afonso de Sousa]], Governor-General of Portuguese India from 1542 to 1545.<ref>S.K. Pandya, ''Medicine in Goa – a former Portuguese territory'', J. Postgrad Med. [serial online] 1982 [cited 18 September 2009];28:123. Online [http://www.jpgmonline.com/text.asp?1982/28/3/123/5573 here]</ref>
* {{Citation | surname=Boxer | given=C. R. | title=Two pioneers of tropical medicine: Garcia d'Orta and [[Nicolás Monardes ]] | publisher=Wellcome Historical Medical Library | place=London | year=1963 }} ▼
* Carvalho, Augusto da S., ''Garcia de Orta''. Lisboa, 1934 .▼== His Work ==
* Ficalho, Francisco M. de, ''Garcia de Orta e o seu tempo''. Lisboa, 1886 . (Reprinted, Lisboa: Casa de Moeda, 1983.)▼{{Vide-etiam|Aromatum apud Indos nascentium historia}}
[[File:Libri Dell Historio, Garcia de orta.jpg|left|thumb|Orta's ''libri dell' Historia dei Semplici aromati'']]
Garcia de Orta's busy practice evidently prevented him travelling beyond the west coast of India, but in the busy market and trading hub of Goa he met spice merchants, traders and physicians from many parts of southern Asia and the Indian Ocean coasts. He was confident in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Hebrew]], [[Latin]], [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Arabic]]; his work shows that he also had some knowledge of [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Sanskrit]] and [[Kannada]]. Correspondents and agents sent him seeds and plants; he also traded in spices, drugs and precious stones. He evidently kept a laboratory and botanical garden.
His remarkable knowledge of Eastern spices and drugs is revealed in his only known work, ''[[Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India|Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia]]'' ("Conversations on the simples, drugs and medicinal substances of India"), published at Goa in 1563. This deals with a series of substances, many of them unknown or the subject of confusion and misinformation in Europe at this period. He was the first European to describe Asiatic tropical diseases, notably [[cholera]]; he performed an [[autopsy]] on a cholera victim, the first recorded autopsy in India. Garcia de Orta reveals in his writings an unusual independence in face of the usually revered texts of ancient authorities, Greek, Latin and Arabic.
The book happens to include the first published verses by his friend the poet [[Luís de Camões]], now counted as Portugal's national poet.
Garcia de Orta's work was soon recognized across Europe when translations appeared in [[Latin]] (then the scientific lingua franca) and other languages. Large parts of it were included in a similar work published in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] in 1578 by [[Cristóbal Acosta]], ''Tractado de las drogas y medicinas de las Indias orientales'' ("Treatise of the drugs and medicines of the East Indies").
▲{{botanist|Garcia de Orta|Garcia de Orta}}
== Notes ==
<references />
== References ==
▲* {{Citation | surname=Boxer | given=C. R. | title=Two pioneers of tropical medicine: Garcia d'Orta and [[Nicolás Monardes]] | publisher=Wellcome Historical Medical Library | place=London | year=1963 }}
▲* Carvalho, Augusto da S., ''Garcia de Orta''. Lisboa, 1934.
▲* Ficalho, Francisco M. de, ''Garcia de Orta e o seu tempo''. Lisboa, 1886. (Reprinted, Lisboa: Casa de Moeda, 1983.)
* {{Citation | surname=Roddis | given=Louis | title=Garcia da Orta, the first European writer on tropical medicine and a pioneer in [[pharmacognosy]] | journal=Annals of medical history |volume=1 (n. s.) |issue=2 | year=1931 | pages=198–207 }}
* Révah, I. S. (1960), "A família de Garcia de Orta", ''Revista da Universidade de Coimbra'', Vol. '''19.'''
==External links==
* [http://archive.org/details/colloquiesonsimp00orta Colloquies on the simples and drugs of India (Translation by Clements Markham 1913)]
{{DEFAULTSORT: OrtaHorto, GarciaGarcias deab}} ▼{{Authority control|VIAF=95298900}}
[[Categoria:Nati 1502]]
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
[[Categoria:Mortui 1568]]
| NAME = Orta, Garcia de
[[Categoria:Medici Portugalliae]]
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[[Categoria:Medici Indiae]]
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
[[Categoria:Botanistae Indiae]]
| DATE OF BIRTH =
[[Categoria:Incolae Goae]]
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
[[Categoria:Iudaei]]
| DATE OF DEATH = 1568
[[Categoria:Alumni Universitatis Complutensis]]
| PLACE OF DEATH =
[[Categoria:Alumni Universitatis Salmanticensis]]
}}
[[Categoria:Professores Universitatis Olisiponensis]]
▲{{DEFAULTSORT:Orta, Garcia de}}
[[Category:1500s births]]
[[Category:1568 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Castelo de Vide Municipality]]
[[Category:Botanists active in India]]
[[Category:Portuguese botanists]]
[[Category:16th-century Jewish physicians]]
[[Category:16th-century Portuguese physicians]]
[[Category:Portuguese Renaissance writers]]
[[Category:Victims of the Inquisition]]
[[Category:Portuguese expatriates in India]]
[[Category:Conversos]]
[[Category:16th-century Portuguese people]]
[[Category:Portuguese Jews]]
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