| Description : The Portuguese explorer and writer Fernão Mendes Pinto
(∼1511‐1583) travelled the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Far East from 1537 to 1558. His travelogue (with
criticism of Portuguese colonialism) was published posthumously under the title Peregrinação
(Pilgrimage). The starting point and destinations of the journey are mentioned in the coin design by Isabel
Carriço and Fernando Branco on the occasion of his 500th birthday under the image of a caravel in
the form of wavy bands of writing: "PORTUGAL LISBOA MOÇAMBIQUE ORMUZ DIU GOA INDIA BIRMÂNIA MALACA SONDA
PATANE SIÂO CAMBOJA LÉQUIO TANEGASHIMA JAPÂO CHINA NAKAU TARTÁRIA". The word
"PEREGRINAÇÃO" (pilgrimage) appears twice in the written bands. At the top is the name "FERNÃO
MENDES PINTO", on the left his year of birth "1511", on the right the year of issue "2011" and at the bottom "PORTUGAL".
Next to the writing bands on the left is "INCM" the mint mark of the Portuguese mint Imprensa Nacional‐ Casa da
Moeda S.A. in Lisbon, on the right the initials "IC‐FB" of the two designers are shown. |
