Duarte Coelho
Duarte Coelho Pereira | |
---|---|
Proprietor of the Captaincy of Pernambuco | |
In office 1534–1553 | |
Monarch | Dom João III |
Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Duarte Coelho de Albuquerque |
First Governor of Pernambuco | |
In office 1535–1553 | |
Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Brites de Albuquerque |
Personal details | |
Born | Duarte Coelho Pereira c. 1485 Porto, Kingdom of Portugal |
Died | c. 1553 Kingdom of Portugal |
Citizenship | Portuguese |
Spouse | Dona Brites de Albuquerque |
Children | Duarte Coelho de Albuquerque, Jorge de Albuquerque Coelho, Inês |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Portuguese Empire |
Rank | Capitão-mor |
Duarte Coelho Pereira (c. 1485 – c. 1553) was a nobleman, military leader, and colonial administrator in the Portuguese
Biography
The birth and childhood of Duarte Coelho Pereira are obscured from history. His father's name was Gonçalo Coelho, but it is not clear which of six men named Gonçalo Coelho may have sired Duarte. Often biographers have assigned his parentage to either the escrivão da fazenda real or the fourth senhor of Felgueiras, however archival and heraldric evidence supports neither of these men nor points conclusively to any of the four other prominent men named Gonçalo Coelho in this period. That he was not noble at birth is suggested in the fact that coeval writers, some of whom would have known his parentage, are silent as to Duarte Coelho's ancestry. It was common in this era for genealogies to be “adjusted” for famous men, thus existing genealogies are not conclusive. Likewise it is also unlikely that there any substance to the story that the First Donatario (Lord Proprietor) of Pernambuco sailed as a boy with his father to Brazil in 1503.[1]
In 1509, he went to India in the fleet of D. Fernando Coutinho where he served the crown for about 20 years. During that time he played an important role in the taking of
While in Asia, Duarte Coelho had succeeded in accumulating a substantial fortune, moreover, he had served under Jorge de Albuquerque, twice captain of Malacca, and a member of the Albuquerque family, the same extended family that included Afonso de Albuquerque Duke of Goa. Duarte married Dona Brites de Albuquerque niece of Jorge de Albuquerque.[1]
For his service he received, on 10 March 1534, the grant of 60 leagues of coastline in Brazil, in the current states of
In 1553, Duarte died in Portugal, having returned there to petition the King, and having left the governance of Pernambuco with his wife, Dona Brites, assisted by her brother, Jerónimo de Albuquerque. During his twenty years as the Lord Proprietor he had fought many battles with the indigenous tribes, established the colony as the premier source of sugar for most of Europe, began the import of Africans as slaves for the sugar plantations, explored much of the Rio São Francisco, and established Pernambuco as the most successful captaincy in Brazil the early colonial period.[1] Three of his descendants were Lord-Proprietors after Duarte Coelho, however, all three were mostly absent from Pernambuco. His oldest son, Duarte Coelho de Albuquerque, Second Lord Proprietor, did govern in Pernambuco in the 1560s and he and his brother, Jorge Albuquerque Coelho, (the future Third Lord Proprietor) fought with their uncle Jerónimo de Albuquerque in the conquest of Cabo. However, both returned to Portugal and in 1578, both accompanied Dom
References
- ^ a b c d e Francis A. Dutra. “Duarte Coelho Pereira, First Lord-Proprietor of Pernambuco: The Beginnings of a Dynasty,” The Americas 29:4 (April 1973) pp 416-441
- ^ Yule, Sir Henry; Burnell, Arthur Coke (1886). Hobson-Jobson: Being a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words and Phrases and of Kindred Terms Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive. John Murray.
- ^ Heuken, Adolf (2007). Historical Sites of Jakarta. Cipta Loka Caraka.
- ^ Francis A Dutra, “Centralization vs. Donatorial Privilege” in Colonial Roots of Modern Brazil, Dauril Alden, Ed., University of California Press, 1973, P. 24