Bento de Góis

Bento de Gois, and Bento de Goes and Benedict Goes, (* July 1562 in Vila Franca do Campo, Azores, † April 11, 1607 in Su-chou ) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and explorer in Asia.

Gois ran through 1602-1607 of Agra under the name Abdallah of India through high Asia. He visited here Kabul and Kashgar, increased with the outgoing annually to China caravan across the steppes of the Pamir and after Yarkant. End of 1605, he reached over the place Karashahr Aksu, where he learned that Matteo Ricci lived in Cathay. So he had discovered to his amazement that Cathay and China designated one and the same country. Goes was just as Ricci strongly astronomical interested and described in correspondence with this as one of the first light change of Algol in the constellation Perseus ( Beta Persei ). Goes went on to Su-chou.

Here he was more than a year beset by the Moslems and probably attacked and physically before Ricci could bring him support. He died here in March or April 1607 his privations. All his goods, including even his diaries, were sacked by the Moslems.

His companion, the Armenians reached Isaac, happy China and gave a detailed account of the journey to the missionaries in Beijing. The travelogue is found in Nic. Trigautii de expeditione Christiana apud Sina, suscepta a soc. Jesus (Leiden 1616).