he most notorious of those adventurers was Diogo Veloso who became governor of Baphnom province,

lord of Choro Island (in the middle of the Mekong) and husband of one of the cousins of the Khmer
sovereign Prah Alamika (or Satha). His memory lingers today in a monument erected in 1934 by the
Governor General in the village of Neak Luong, with the following inscription, in French: Diogo Veloso.
Born in Amarante, Portugal. Served the King of Cambodia Prah Alamkara. Married his cousin and help
him to conquer back his kingdom from a usurper. Received as reward the Province of Ba Phnom. He died
in combat in the year of 1599.
Diogo Veloso became the favorite foreigner in the court of the Khmer monarch, who, from there on, never
would forego the military services provided by the Portuguese (and Spanish too), essential for his
success in pacifying the country and avoid invasions by neighboring kingdoms. And it was to the point
that the tradition has remained to the present day, as among the public figures of the recent Cambodia,

http://www.oclarim.com.mo/en/2016/06/10/gaspar-da-cruz-the-dominican-traveller2/
http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/12/history-of-cambodian-portuguese.html
Phnom Penh: A Cultural and Literary History

https://books.google.com.ph/books?
id=ndSG3Gd6bkEC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=Diego+Belloso&source=bl&ots=igiRd
joAML&sig=4zXCHdPSoGDOZYUvwrZDS_5MWMQ&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=on
epage&q=Diego%20Belloso&f=false
https://repository.asu.edu/items/11719
Hernando de los Ros Coronel and the Spanish Philippines in the Golden Age

Sir Diogo Veloso (Diego Belloso) of Amarante was born on September 30, 1558 and
Died as a Hero in Cambodia in 1599
who became governor of Baphnom province, lord of Choro Island (in the middle of the Mekong) and
husband of one of the cousins of the Khmer (king) sovereign Prah Alamika (or Satha). His memory lingers
today in a monument erected in 1934 by the Governor General in the village of Neak Luong, with the
following inscription, in French: Diogo Veloso. Born in Amarante, Portugal. Served the King of Cambodia
Prah Alamkara. Married his cousin and help him to conquer back his kingdom from a usurper. Received
as reward the Province of Ba Phnom. He died in combat in the year of 1599.
Diogo Was a warrior knight he can defeat 10-15 armed men in hand to hand combat. He help King Satha
to protect his throne against his Rival King. In 1594 King satha was fallen and exiled in Laos as refugee
with his children. And Sir Diogo was imprisoned by Siamese soldier. And his fellow Knight ruiz escaped to
manila Philippines to gather forces, and Sir Diogo with his golden tongue convince the king of siam to let

him go, to convince the Spaniards and king Satha. But the loyalty of Sir Diogo is for King satha. His
mercenary mission is to establish the stronghold and convert the people to christianism. They gather
forces here in Philippines. They gather three ships with 150 spanish soldiers and Filipino to fight against
Siamese and dethrone the new king. Sir diogo and Ruiz plan to have a decoy route in Vietnam to rescue
king satha from exile but they are too late. King satha and his eldest son are already been killed. Sir
Diogo rescue the youngest son of king satha so that he can sit his throne as a righteous and noble king of
his kingdom in Cambodia. Sir Diogo and Ruiz plan to avenged the king. In a silent night of May !596 they
massacre the kingdom and killed king Reama and fought their way back to their ships in phnom phen.

In May 1597, Veloso and Ruiz, fled Cambodia after killing a Khmer King Reama Chong Prei the previous
year. They reappeared in Cambodia with the son of King Settha, Chau Ponhea Ton (Barom Reachea II),
who took the throne at Srei Santhor.
In 1599, the Spaniards and the Malays (the Chams, the Cambodian Muslims) in Phnom Penh clashed, in
which Veloso and Ruiz were killed. At the time, the two Portuguese and the Spaniard adventurers were at
Srei Santhor for discussion with the King as violent incident occurred in Phnom Penh between Spaniards
and Malays (the Chams). Against the Kings advice for them to hide and wait for the violence to calm
down, the two adventurers rushed to Phnom Penh to help their compatriots and were both killed by the
Chams. The two died as hero in a rescue mission of their comrades.