Dom Diogo de Azevedo Rodrigues (diminutive: Roiz; – 21 April 1577) was a Portuguese explorer of the Indian Ocean who sailed as an ordinary helmsman under the command of Dom Pedro Mascarenhas around Goa. They sailed from the Cape of Good Hope eastward into little-known waters of the newly discovered route to Goa. Diogo Fernandes island ('Domigo Friz') was visited by Dom Diogo Lopes de Sequeira in 1509 and the name 'Dom Galopes' (another transcribed abbreviation) sometimes appears for that island in some maps. It went through its final permanent name change to Rodrigues island a few years later, after another Portuguese explorer in 1528 when making their way back across the Indian Ocean from Goa navigated via the islands of Réunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues, naming this entire archipelago the Mascarenes Island, Mascarene or Mascarenhas Islands, after his countryman and commander Pedro Mascarenhas, who had been around before in 1512. It was around February 1528 itself that Diogo Rodrigues saw Rodrigues with such a drive along the group of Mascarene islands that bears his family name Rodrigues. and governor of the island of Salsette (later part of Bombay, present Mumbai) (called as ilha de Salcete do Norte at that time) as it was leased to him from 25 October 1535 to 1548 after the Treaty of Bassein between the Portuguese viceroy Dom Nuno da Cunha and Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate that placed the islands into Portuguese possession from 1534. He was also known as Mestre Diego and the church was considered as the first in dignity of Salcette (called as ilha de Salcete do Sul at that time); as this first church at Rachol and hence Salcette was built to completion in the year 1565, on the site of Hindu temples and was built in mud with a thatched roof. It can thus be called the mother church (Matriz) of the whole of South Goa and was named Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves. It was the first Archbishop of Goa, Dom Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira who personally visited Margão and its surrounding areas to choose the location. After visiting several places, he guarded an arrow into the ground at Rachol and ordered to build the church there; Rodrigues, the Captain of Rachol, was appointed to do the needful.
thumb|right|Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves and the Rachol Fort
José Nicolau da Fonseca has recorded that Diogo Rodrigues died in Colvá, Goa and was buried inside this mother church (Matriz) of Salcette of which he was the Captain of the fort at that time called Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves at Rachol with his grave's inscription reading: Aqui jaz Diogo Rodrigues o do Forte, Capitão desta Fortaleza, O qual derrubou os pagodes destas terras. Falleceu a 21 de Abril de 1577 annos. In English translation this reads: "Here lies Diogo Rodrigues (called) 'O do Forte/ Captain of this Fortress, who destroyed the pagodas of these territories. He died on the 21st April of the year 1577." The grave inscription stone and his relics are still inside the church, near the altar of Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves from 1577. thumb|left|Inscription readings of Diogo Rodrigues burial place, photo clicked on 6 August 2012 (Intact\Untouched from 1577) Following the christianization of the majority of Hindu villagers, Hindu temples of Salcette in Goa were destroyed by Diego who personally oversaw this destruction in 1567. the viceroy also issued a decree in December 1565 forbidding the erection of new temples and the repairs of the existing ones, this was as stated: "I hereby order that in any area owned by my master, the King, nobody should construct a Hindu temple and such temples already constructed should not be repaired without my permission. If this order is transgressed, such temples shall be, destroyed and the goods in them shall be used to meet expenses of holy deeds, as punishment of such transgression." Diogo Rodrigues was also known as "O do Forte", In English: "Of the Strong", the Captain of Salcette who ordered the destruction of the temples of Assolna, Ambelim, Velim, Veroda, Cuncolim and Talvorda, when the villagers failed to obey some of his orders. Diego Rodrigues destroyed 280 temples in Salcette alone. The idols from the demolished temples were shifted mainly to the New Conquest areas where, the Desais and the Sardesais, the Hindu feudal lords of Sultan Adil Shah of Bijapur, built new temples for the idols.
Rodrigues Island
Alfred North-Coombes records that maps of the island dated to 1540 of Plate 49 of the monumenta shows charts from both atlases and indicates as "do d0 ROIZ" also the Wolfenbuttel chart of c. 1540 carried the following inscriptions "i que achou Diogo Roiz". Dom Diogo's surname Rodrigues was replaced by Roiz later after receiving his knighthood (or Royes as it was written in some Dutch maps) as it was a royal diminutive of Rodrigues, who was knighted and received the royal confirmation from King João III, an honor granted only to those Rodrigues aristocratic families for service to the monarch or empire. It is also concluded Portugal did not claim any ownership, but used the island as a mark for sailing and had officially marked it on all maps, cartographic materials of that time either as Rodrigues, Diogo Roiz, Roiz or Diogo Rodrigues.
Family and lineal descendants
thumb|right|Roiz-Rodrigues Family Monument at Colva, Goa
Rodrigues married a woman belonging to the Prabhu (Prabhu Dessai - As today) family of Hindu feudal lords called Vitola Porob Dessay before 29 November 1512 and they had two sons, Dom Nicolau Roiz and Dom Inácio Roiz, as recorded in the letters available at the archives with document number ANTT: CC II, 35-162. The family used the diminutive of Roiz instead of its simple form Rodrigues until the late 19th century as the family name. The standing monument in Colva, Goa is the existing burial structural evidence with inscriptions of the Roiz (Rodrigues) family in Goa. This monument was rebuilt to a bigger structure in 1857 and still stands intact from 2 May 1857, as one of the great grandsons of D. Diogo died suddenly due to illness at a young age of 38 years, namely Dom Sebastião Francisco Roiz. The monument inscription reads: "Eis os restos de Seb F Roiz fala 18-8-1855 de 38 annos colla 2-5-57 ese pede aos viand pater no p'sua alma". In English translation: "This is the resting place of Sebastião Francisco Roiz who died on 18-08-1855 at 38 years of age and this monument was built in memory of him on the 02-05-1857 and for the resting of his family members". This is the only family in Colva of Goa with Roiz (Rodrigues) ancestry and one part of the descendants from his son Nicolau still live in the ancestral house that was built by Rodrigues in Colva, Goa and still owned parts of Colva beach property until the 21st century under Indian governance. The family monument is maintained by various family descendant members until date.
Achievements
- Overseer of the Cannor Fortress :1515
- Discovered Rodrigues Island :1528
- Made a Fidalgo of the King of Portugal :1529
- Governor of Salsette on lease :1535-48
- Captain of Rachol Fortress :1554-77
- Lord of Colva :1550-77