In the 16th century and the beginning of the following century, there are many references to an engineer, military mapmaker (cartographer) and writer of Buginese-Portuguese descent named Manuel Godinho de Erédia (1563-1623). Licensed of the Order of the Jesuits as a fantastic mathematician and scholar of the history of the Malay lands (Insulindia or today's Southeast Asia).
According to his confession, his father's side was of Aragonese descent, while his mother was the daughter of King Suppa, La Pute Bulu. (The Kingdom of Suppa or Kedatuan Suppa is a Bugis kingdom located in the Ajatappareng region, now included in the administrative area of Pinrang district, South Sulawesi Province).
His mother was named Dona Elena Vessiva. This is a baptismal name. This is in accordance with the confession of Manuel Godinho de Erédia, that his mother, as well as his grandfather, King Suppa, had been baptized.
His father, João de Erédia Aquaviva, was a Portuguese Captain, part of a Portuguese missionary expedition to Sulawesi. When her father met Ibu Eredia, then a 15-year-old girl, they fell in love and then eloped. They married in 1545. Manuel Godinho de Erédia was born on 16 July 1563 in Malacca where he also spent his childhood.
He was educated at a Jesuit school in Malacca and also at a Jesuit seminary in Goa. And soon after leaving his education, in 1580 (age 17 years), he decided to find the Golden Island which stands out in the Malay legend. His interest was based principally on the writings of Ptolemy, Marco Polo, Ludovico di Varthema, and on contemporary Malay voyage reports.
Manuel Godinho de Erédia left some 211 cartographic drawings. Due to his skill in drawing maps, his name is usually mentioned by historians in narratives of the early discovery of the continent of Australia. For example, the saying that from Pedro de Carvalhaes, Erédia got a story about the journey of a king from Demak, Chiay masiouro (Kyai Masuro?) , to a land called Luca Antara in southeastern Java. Today Luca Antara is identified as Continental Australia.
He is also prominent as a writer, with works such as Information on South India , the Ophiric Treatise and the Declaration of Malacca.
In 1955, the Portuguese State awarded Manuel Godinho de Erédia the national hero award. He is also a figure in the national philatelic collection.
Eredia in the Portuguese national philatelic collection
In 1580, he left the seminary and joined the architectural and cartographic workshop of João Baptista Cairati, at that time India's chief cosmographer.
In 1586, he married Violante Sampaio, in Cochin, by whom he had a daughter, in 1587, and a son, in 1588.
In 1597, he published his first book entitled “ Informacao da Áurea Chersoneso ou Peninsula e Ilhas Auríferas Carbúnculas e Aromáticas ”. In the same year (1597), Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) who was also a cartographer and geographer from Flanders (now part of Belgium) described Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula as the Áurea Chersonesus or "Golden Peninsula" (see image below).
Aurea Chersonesus, by Ortélius. 
Áurea Chersonesus by Ptolemy
In 1600, he published a second book entitled " Lyvro das Plantaformas das Fortalezas da Índia ". The word plantaforma used by Manuel Godinho de Erédia, means the topographical plan of each fort he designed.
In 1610, he published his third book: Information on South India . Here, Manuel Godinho de Erédia gathered all his geographical knowledge of his region “South India, Japan and the Philippines”.
His fourth book "Atlas das Fortalezas do Oriente ", was made by order of Viceroy Rui Lourenço de Távora (a Viceroy who ruled in India from 1609 to 24 December 1612).
In 1611, he published his fifth book: Discourse on the province of Hindustan: called Mogul, with a declaration of the Kingdom of Gujarat and more kingdoms in its districts.
He published his sixth book: Declaration of Malacca and Southern India and Catay , in 1613, and divided it into three parts:
a) the Malay Peninsula;
b) Southern Indonesia Region;
c) South India and Catay.
The Declaration of Malacca was translated into English by JV Mills in 1929 and to this day is his most widely studied work internationally.
In “Description of Malacca”, Manuel Godinho de Erédia provides important information about the surrounding area and about the genealogy of the kings of Malacca, up to 1511, when the city was conquered by the Portuguese.
In this book he also shows the burial place of Parameswara (1344–1414) or Iskandar Syah, the last king of Singapore who reigned from 1389 to 1398.
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| The first cover of the “Malacca Declaration”, handwritten. |
In 1620, Manuel Godinho de Erédia wrote his seventh book: the Ophiric Treatise. This book is about a hypothetical island in Indonesia, from which Phelipe III (King of Spain and Portugal, lived c. 1578 – 1621) – like King Solomon – had dominion over the Biblical Ophir, where he obtained the resources to “build return to the temple and reoccupy Jerusalem.”
In this Ophiric Treatise, Manuel Godinho de Erédia tells where Ophir's gold is. It is this old longing to find King Solomon's gold mine that haunts the minds of Portuguese, Spanish and other European explorers. During colonial America and Asia, King Solomon's mines were also sought in Spanish-controlled areas. A quest that has both religious and apocalyptic resonance.
In his eighth book: Sum of trees and plants of India intra Ganges , Manuel Godinho de Erédia records a lot of information about plants, about the origin of plants and their herbal functions.
In 1615, he published his ninth book "History of the Ministry and Martyrdom of Luis Monteiro Coutinho" , which contains many illustrations with watercolors by Erédia.
He dedicated this work to “D. Aleixo de Menezes, Archbishop of Braga”. Presented at Goa, on 11 November 1615.
The first page, handwritten, deals with the presentation of the martyrs to the reader. Among the several handwritten pages are several colored drawings by Manuel Godinho de Erédia. In short, the story is a badly fought battle that ended in the defeat of the Portuguese troops including commander D. Luis Monteiro Coutinho.
Monteiro Coutinho (1527-1588) left for India to serve in various military campaigns and expeditions, visited Akbar's court and, in 1576, traveled to Malacca, where he was appointed Captain-General of the Malacca Sea.
After several times participating in the battle against Aceh, he was killed by a cannon shot for refusing to renounce the Christian faith. All of his companions were killed on March 24, 1588.
Cover of the book " History of Service and Martyrdom of Luis Monteiro Coutinho ". 
Naval battle between the fleets of Matias de Albuquerque and the Armada Aceh near the Johor River. 
Naval battle between Monteiro Coutinho in his galley and the Aceh fleet 
The bloody scene of the Portuguese martyrs in Aceh 
The martyrdom of Luis Monteiro Coutinho, showing him kneeling in front of the cannon that crushed him
Manuel Godinho de Erédia As a mathematician and engineer
Between 1583 and 1596, Manuel Godinho de Erédia worked with Giovani Battista Cairati from Milan who served as Chief Engineer of the Indies.
There are many sketches and hand-drawn plans by Eredia, the anonymous book “ Cities and Forts in India ” is thought to have come from Eredia.
While Manuel Godinho de Erédia was at Malacca Fortress, he directed the work necessary for the strengthening of the fort and its defences, such as work on the moat, walls and palisades, improving the fort's observation and guard systems.
As a cartographer and cosmographer
In 1601 he drew a map of the Banda Islands. in the following year (1602) he drew two maps of Insulindia and Malacca.
In 1610 he made an atlas of 20 drawings of the fort built by the Estado da Índia (Portuguese network of colonies and trading posts along the sea route – from Africa's Cape of Good Hope to the Japanese archipelago).
In 1620 he made a map of Goa, and an atlas with 137 charts. In this year he is also known to have designed the design of the city of Goa on the orders of the Viceroy.
The city of Goa was designed by Erédia, in 1620 
Map of Malacca and its environs made by Eredia 
Timor island map created by Erédia 
The islands north of East Timor, Ende, Solor and others, were drawn by Erédia 
Universal Atlas , by Erédia
Manuel Godinho de Erédia As a mestizo (Mixed Race)
Despite Manuel Godinho de Erédia's great service to the Portuguese and Spanish empires, his status as a "Mestizo" (mixed race, Bugis-Portuguese) made him often disappointed. In many cases he does not get what is due to him as a result of what he does.
It is undeniable that racist views in Europe were thick at that time. This is also the reason why his name is not too prominent in world history literature.
Western historians usually hide the profile of genius explorers and inventors, if known to be mixed race, especially from colonial countries.
Like Manuel Godinho de Erédia, there is also the figure of Fernão Vaz Dourado, a sixteenth-century Portuguese cartographer, who also has the label “Mestizo Luso-India” (Portuguese-Indian mix).
Compared to Manuel Godinho de Erédia, Fernão Vaz Dourado's fate is even worse because, western historians seem reluctant to raise a clearer profile of his origins. However, Fernão Vaz Dourado is considered a pioneer of the third period of ancient Portuguese maritime cartography, which is characterized by the abandonment of Ptolemaic influence in representations of the East and the introduction of greater accuracy in the depiction of islands and continents.
Fernão Vaz Dourado was the author of five very important Atlases made in Goa. He died in 1580, while Erédia was still studying in the Jesuit Society.
Brother Agostinho de Azevedo told King Phelipe III of Spain, and II of Portugal, that “the maritime charts made in India are the best in the world” and that all these charts were made by “mixed race”, this is most likely a reference to Fernão Vaz Dourado and Erédia (allegedly there were more mestizos making cartography at this time). They are classified as the most brilliant artists of the “golden age of Portuguese cartography”.
Manuel Godinho de Erédia depicted himself in the uniform of the Order of Christ, his family coat of arms (Erédia), and a globe showing the "South India" he wanted to annex to the Iberian Empire. He fought all his life to have his services recognized as a cosmographer and to found the southern region of Insulindia, which he called "South India". This is an image that Erédia wants to pass on to posterity. He wanted to be remembered through this self-made portrait. Therefore he gave the title: Retrato de Emanuel Godinho de Eredia (Portrait of de Manuel Godinho de Eredia).
Read related article: Malacca in Portuguese Records