António da Madalena, "First European in Angkor"

António da Madalena (or Magdalena, ??-1589, aboard the Sao Tomé) gave an account of his journey to Angkor to Diogo do Couto, the main chronicler and ​“guarda-mor” (curator) of the Archives of Portuguese exploration-colonization in Asia.

Curiously, Diogo do Couto did not include Madalena’s testimony in the sixth volume of the sum initiated by writer João de Barros, the Décadas da Ásia. After do Couto’s death, his personal papers were kept by his brother-in-law, priest Deodato da Trindade, his wife Luisa de Melo​’s brother. It was only in 1947 that historian Charles R. Boxer found do Couto’s transcription of Madalena’s relation to his journey in Cambodia.

The Franciscan friar perished when his ship sunk during a storm near the coast of Natal (South Africa), probably while he was heading back home after many years spent in India, Malacca and Ayuthaya (Kingdom of Siam).