GARCIA DE ORTA
Garcia de Orta (1501 or 1502–1568) was a Portuguese Renaissance
Sephardi Jewish physician and naturalist. He was a pioneer of tropical
medicine. 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 conversant in Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, Latin,
Greek and Arabic; his work shows that he also had some knowledge of Persian,
Marathi, 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.
Incidentally, 'Orta' is a
Portuguese word for garden or orchard.
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