Francisco Barreto Francisco Barreto ( occasionally Francisco de Barreto , 1520 - July 9 , 1573 ) was a Portuguese soldier and explorer . An officer in Morocco during his early life , Barreto sailed to Portuguese India and was eventually appointed viceroy of the colony . After his return to Lisbon , he was tasked with an expedition to southeast Africa in search of legendary gold mines . Barreto died in what is now Mozambique , having never reached the mines . Early life . Barreto was born in Faro , Portugal , in 1520 , to Rui Barreto and Branca de Vilhena . He received military training in Morocco , and eventually became captain and governor of Azemmour , near Casablanca . Viceroy in Goa . In 1547 Barreto arrived in Portuguese India . He took up the position of viceroy in Goa , headquarters of the colony , on June 1555 , following the death of Pedro Mascarenhas . On the occasion of his investiture , a play by Luís de Camões , " Auto de Filodemo " , was put on . Barreto later ordered Camões exiled to Macau ( also a Portuguese colony ) for his satirical " Disparates da Índia " , which criticized Portuguese life in India . During his tenure as viceroy , the intended Catholic Patriarch for Ethiopia arrived , accompanied by an embassy led by Fernando de Sousa de Castello Branco , on 15 March 1556 . Because he had more accurate information on matters in that country , Barreto held back most of this party , although allowing Bishop André de Oviedo to continue with some companions . This small group , carried in four small ships , landed at Arqiqo in March 1557 , shortly before the Ottoman Empire occupied that port . According to Robert Kerr in " A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels " , Mascarenhas , in a bid to gain a Portuguese ally in the region , had supported a usurper against one Adel Khan , King of Visapur . Mascarenhas died shortly after sending soldiers to aid in the usurper ' s takeover , and Barreto continued Portuguese support of the usurper until his capture . In 1557 , Barreto clashed with Khan ' s army at Ponda and was victorious . Return to Lisbon . Barreto was succeeded by Constantino de Bragança in 1558 , and he left Goa for Lisbon aboard the " Águia " on January 20 , 1559 . After a damaging storm she was repaired in what is now Mozambique , and set sail again on November 17 of the same year . Soon after she sprang a leak , and returned to the African coast . Barreto returned to Goa on a different boat , almost dying of thirst on the trip . Once back he again set sail for Lisbon , this time on the " São Gião " . She reached the Portuguese capital in June 1561 , 29 months after Barreto first left the city . In 1564 , King Philip II of Spain requested Portuguese naval aid in capturing Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera , an island off the coast of Morocco . Portugal supplied and Barreto commanded a fleet consisting of a galleon and eight caravels alongside Spaniard García de Toledo , and the combined navy took over the island ' s fort in two days . Expedition to Monomotapa . After Barreto ' s return to Portugal , King Sebastian gave him the job of leading an expedition to Monomotapa ( Great Zimbabwe ) to take over the empire ' s legendary gold mines . According to historian Diogo de Couto , the reason for the expedition was that Portuguese mercantilists thought that the country needed mines to bring in gold similar to Spain ' s in the Americas ( the country ' s colonies in Asia were not bringing sufficient wealth back to Portugal ) . Barreto was given instructions to " undertake nothing of importance without the advice and concurrence " of Jesuit Francisco Monclaros . Barreto set sail from Lisbon on April 16 , 1569 , with three ships , 1 , 000 men , and the title of " Conqueror of the Mines " , bestowed upon him by the king . The first boat arrived in Mozambique in August 1569 , Barreto ' s on March 14 of the next year , and the third ship months later . Although Barreto opted to take the easier route , via Sofala , to the location of the mines , Monclaros demanded that the expedition take the Sena route , as this would lead them to where another Jesuit , Gonçalo da Silveira , had been thrown into a river and killed in 1561 . So the expedition set out for Manica , the reputed location of the great mines , via the Sena route . The expedition sailed up the Cuama river in November of 1571 , armed with weapons and mining tools , and arrived in the Sena region on December 18 . Barreto sent an envoy to the Emperor of Monomotapa with a request for permission to attack a people called the Mongas , whose territory lay between the Portuguese and the mines . The emperor granted Barreto permission to attack them and even went so far to offer his own men . Barreto , however , declined assistance , and marched onward upriver . The Portuguese fought several battles against the Mongas , victorious in all of them despite the overwhelming numbers due to their guns . According to Kerr , when their king sent ambassadors to Barreto in hopes of securing a peace , the soldier tricked them into thinking that the camels used by the Portuguese , creatures foreign to southeastern Africa , subsisted on flesh , leading the Mongas to provide the Portuguese with beef for the camels . Before the expedition could further progress Barreto was recalled to the Island of Mozambique to deal with one António Pereira Brandão , who was spreading false information about Barreto . The governor removed him from duty as commander of the São Sebastião fort , and returned to Sena where his men were waiting . At this point , however , many of the men were sick with tropical diseases , and Barreto too fell ill . He died at Sena on July 9 , 1573 , having never reached the mines , and was buried at the Igreja de São Lourenço in Lisbon alongside his wife , Brites de Ataíde . Homem continues the search . Barreto ' s deputy , Vasco Fernandes Homem , succeeded him as governor and returned with the remaining company to the coast . After Monclaros had left for Lisbon , the expedition to Manica was resumed via the Sofala route . The mines , when finally reached , did not resemble the legends , with the natives only producing very small amounts of gold . After further failure looking for different mines in a neighboring kingdom , Homem abandoned the search for gold .