Garcia de Orta

Garcia de Orta was a Portuguese physician, herbalist, and naturalist, who worked primarily in Goa and Bombay in Portuguese India. A pioneer of tropical medicine, pharmacognosy, and ethnobotany, Garcia used an experimental approach to the identification and the use of herbal medicines, rather than relying completely on received knowledge. His most famous work is Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India, a book on simples and drugs. Published in 1563, it is the earliest treatise on the medicinal and economic plants of India. Carolus Clusius translated it into Latin, which was widely used as a standard reference text on medicinal plants. Garcia de Orta was of Jewish ancestry and died before the Goa Inquisition, his sister Catarina was however burnt at the stake in 1569 for being a secret Jew and, based on her confession, his remains too were exhumed and burnt along with an effigy at an auto-da-fé. Memorials recognizing his contributions have been built in both Portugal and India.