In 1329 Pope John XXII named the Dominican friar Jordanus of Séverac the first Latin Catholic bishop in India, seated at Quilon (Kollam) on the Kerala coast. His letters back to Europe are some of the earliest first-hand European descriptions of the land, its peoples and its long-established Christians.
Jordanus, Mirabilia Descripta (Yule translation) — public domain.
Sources & further reading