Editing Fernão Pires de Andrade (section)

====Choosing the ambassadors====
[[Image:ManuelI-P.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Manuel I of Portugal]], who commissioned Andrade's mission to China.]]

King [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel I]] authorized a trade mission in 1517 when Andrade set sail with seven cannon-armed merchant vessels with a Muslim interpreter on June 17, 1517. Andrade had been chosen for this mission in [[Lisbon]] back in 1515, so that—as a pharmacist—he could investigate the types of [[Traditional Chinese medicine|pharmaceutical drugs used in East Asia]] for the benefit of the Portuguese and Europe.<ref name="cambridge 336"/> [[Florence|Florentine]] merchant Giovanni da Empoli, who had written a report about trade with China while stationed in India, was also chosen for the mission as the chief commercial agent between the Portuguese and Chinese.<ref name="cambridge 336"/> However, Giovanni would die in China during the early mission on October 15, 1517, when the ship he was on accidentally caught on fire.<ref>Dames, 211&ndash;212.</ref> [[Tomé Pires]], a royal [[apothecary]] who had also traveled to India and written a landmark work in 1515 on Asian trade, was chosen as the chief ambassador for the mission.<ref name="cambridge 336"/>