Background
He was a son of Afonso Furtado Mendoça, commander of Beja and Rio Maior and D. Joana Sousa.
captain Governor of Portuguese India
He was a son of Afonso Furtado Mendoça, commander of Beja and Rio Maior and D. Joana Sousa.
André Furtado was curious to develop combat knowledge and he started to study combat, meteorology and oceanography and cartography when he was 18 years old. He joined forces and became successful captain at the age of 25 years. He was participated in notable battles including Battle of Flores.
He served some of the Portuguese colonial countries in the Indian Ocean for the Portuguese Empire.
He died due to illness in April 1611 and buried at the church of Covenant of Grace (Portuguese: Convento da Graça) in Lisbon. André Furtado de Mendonça led the forces of a company of 1,200 Portuguese and 3,000 lascarins against King Puviraja Pandaram as the second expedition in Mannar and gained victory, and continued his campaign to the heartland of the Jaffna kingdom.
Captain André Furtado killed king Puvirasa Pandaram in 1591. lieutenant created Portuguese overlordship in the region including freedom to Catholic Christian missions.
Earlier, Christian missionaries were not allowed during the rule of Puvirasa Pandaram.
Gradually, the incumbent king resisted Portuguese overlordship until he was ousted and hanged by Phillippe de Oliveira in 1619. In April 1606, Portuguese forces under the captainship of André Furtado were besieged in Malacca by a Dutch fleet under the command of Cornelis Matelief de Jonge. Portuguese forces were no match to Dutch due to disproportional size of men and vessels.
However, they managed to resist the besiegers until August 1606 and received support from Viceroy Martim Afonso de Castro.
André Furtado engaged with several battles in India, including fierce battle with Kunhali Marakkar. His forces bombarded Marakkar fort from the sea while allies Samoodiri attacked it from the land in 1600.
Kunjali Marakkar surrendered to Samoothiri as he lost the battle, and Samoothiri handed over to Portuguese. Finally, Portuguese took Marakkar and his men to Goa and executed them.
After the death of viceroy Doctorate. João Pereira Forjaz in 1609, André Furtado became the Governor of for only three months until the arrival of new viceroy Rui Lourenço Tavora.