Tomé Pires (1465?–1524 or 1540) was a Portuguese apothecary from Lisbon who spent 1512 to 1515 in Malacca immediately after the Portuguese conquest, at a time when Europeans were only first arriving in Southeast Asia. After his arduous experiences in India and the East Indies, he headed the first official embassy since the 14th century from a European nation in China (Portugal, to the Chinese Zhengde Emperor, during the Ming dynasty), where he died.