The Portuguese adventurer Pedro de Covilhão (ca. 1455-ca. 1530) was an explorer and diplomat, notably in eastern Africa.

In 1487 King John II commissioned Pedro de Covilhão to undertake an exploratory-diplomatic venture as part of Portugal's effort to break the Venetian hold on commerce with the East. Covilhão specific assignment was to gather information about trade routes and friendly ports throughout the Arabic world. He was also instructed to find out more about the mysterious kingdom of Prester John, the legendary priest-king, which was reputed to be somewhere in Africa, India, or China. Contact with a Christian king in the Moslem world would have been extremely valuable to Portugal.

Covilhão's background made him a likely candidate for the dual mission. Not only had he served John II as a spy, but he was one of the few Portuguese diplomats fluent in Arabic...