Garcia de Orta in the Context of the Sephardic Diaspora

Abstract

This article focuses on Garcia de Orta in the context of the Sephardic diaspora. After an overview of the implications that his “christáo-novo” condition had for his life and career, and the changing fortunes of his family as a result of inquisitorial repression, the article analyses how Orta's crypto-Jewish identity was gradually disclosed. Particular attention is paid to the resistance of the Portuguese “establishment” historians, led by a nationalistic and orthodox-Catholic agenda, to accepting that such an outstanding figure in the history of medicine, science and Portuguese language could be stained by this “stigma”.