?-c. 1520

Portuguese sea captain who led the first European expedition to Melaka (modern-day Malaysia). He set sail from Lisbon on April 5, 1508, with four ships, and arrived in Cochin, India, more than a year later. After four months in Cochin, he departed for Melaka in August 1509, with Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) among the men under his command. Landing on the island of Sumatra in what is now Indonesia, he erected two stone pillars claiming those lands for Portugal, then sailed for Melaka, arriving on September 11, 1509. There the Portuguese were met by hostile Muslim forces, and Lopes de Sequeira lost some 60 of his men in battle before sailing back to Cochin. This encounter led to the Portuguese conquest of Melaka under Afonso de Albuquerque (1453-1515) in 1511.