On the margins of this text, Duarte Pacheco Pereira took notes for the writing of Esmeraldo . Once again, JBC ’ s work was one of erudition, to which he added two important documents: Duarte Pacheco ’ s autograph letter to D. Manuel and Master João ’ s letter, written from where he was on the first of May 1500. And in 1974, the Portuguese state published this text through the Centre for the Study of Ancient Cartography of the Overseas Scientific Research Board , mediated by Commander Teixeira da Mota and his fraternal friend Luís de Albuquerque.

Still in the same vein and endeavouring to show how much research and writing is needed, he published (in some way republished) O renascimento português . In search of its specificity and As fontes de Duarte Pacheco Pereira no Esmeraldo de situ orbis [Duarte Pacheco Pereira’s sources in Esmeraldo de situ orbis] (of which a first version had already appeared in São Paulo in the Revista de História [History Magazine] ) , thus making available to scholars and students subjects that he had developed in his State thesis. But only later, and with more limited access, would it become known. What stands out is the enormous work of exegesis, of meticulous and attentive criticism so as not to leave any detail unexplained, confronting the complexity of the Esmeraldo with the sources that its author may have used. Sources that he subjects to a ‘micro-analytical’ study, although he warns that this is not ‘a mere game of erudition for erudition ’ s sake.’ Because what he wants is a comprehensive understanding of the author and his work, for which a thorough – ‘ultra thorough even ’ – study of the sources is indispensable. In order to achieve what ‘true scientific research is: progress, however slight, in the knowledge of reality’ ( As fontes … [T he sources] , pp. 15-16). In the list and analysis he presents, he tries, albeit briefly, to place the author and his work within the Portuguese Renaissance, which is, after all, the period he seeks to explain. A complex work, it is simultaneously a history book, or rather a chronicle, a navigation and land reconnaissance itinerary, navigation guidelines , a geography and cosmography book. However, the use of these sources does not erase what is original and observed – if not experienced – in Duarte Pacheco Pereira ’ s Esmeraldo . Because no source follows literally. Therefore, it does not erase what is original and observed – when not tried and tested – in Duarte Pacheco Pereira ’ s Esmeraldo .

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