BRAZIL

 I The Captaincies

 

 

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History

 

The Colony

 

It is generally accepted that Brazil was first discovered by Europeans on April 22, 1500, by Pedro Álvares Cabral, though this is contested by some. Until 1530 Portugal had little interest in Brazil, mainly due to the high profits gained through commerce with Indochina. This lack of interest led to several “invasions” by different countries, and the Portuguese Crown devised a system to effectively occupy Brazil, without paying the costs. Through the Hereditary Captaincies system, Brazil was divided into strips of land that were donated to Portuguese noblemen, who were in turn responsible for the occupation of the land and answered to the king. Later, when the Portuguese realized that the system was a failure - only two lots were successfully occupied - the king took control of the remaining lots.

 

Other Colonizers

 

During the first two centuries of the colonial period, attracted by the vast natural resources and untapped land, other European powers tried to establish colonies in several parts of Brazilian territory, in defiance of the papal bull and the Treaty of Tordesillas, which had divided the New World into two parts between Portugal and Spain. French colonists tried to settle in present-day Rio de Janeiro, from 1555 to 1567 (the so-called France Antarctique episode), and in present-day São Luís, from 1612 to 1614 (the socalled France Équinoxiale).

The unsuccessful Dutch intrusion into Brazil was longer lasting and more troublesome to Portugal. Dutch privateers began by plundering the coast: they sacked Bahia in 1604, and even temporarily captured the capital Salvador. From 1630 to 1654, the Dutch, at war with the spanish king and lord of Brasil, set up more permanently in the Nordeste and controlled a long stretch of the coast most accessible to Europe, without, however, penetrating the interior. But the colonists of the Dutch West India Company in Brazil were in a constant state of siege, in spite of the presence in Recife of the great John Maurice of Nassau as governor. After several years of open warfare, the Dutch formally withdrew in 1661.

 

Heraldry

 

As Brazil was, in colonial times, ruled directly by the Portuguese king, consequently his heraldic devices were also used in the colony. These consisted of his personal arms and flag and the symbol of the Empire of Portugal, being a golden armillary-sphere, introduced by king Manuel I (1495-1521) at the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century.

At the same time the arms of the Empire were parted per pale Argent and Gules, an armillary-sphere Or.

ð See illustration in the head of this essay.

 

The first proof of the use of the royal Portuguese arms in Brazil can be seen on the map of Diogo Homem of the, then still superficially explored, South-American continent. On this map, dated 1558, we see the crowned Portuguese royal arms together with the legend Brasilis, painted in the right upper corner on the spot of about the state of Bahia. Somewhat lower there is a yellow banner with the quinas, that is to say a cross of five blue escutcheons each charged with five silver discs. Still lower, below the name of Terrargetea (= Argentina), is a picture of the Portuguese gonfanon. These devices were also depicted in Angola and Moçambique, two other 16th c. Portuguese settlements, on the map of Diogo Homem of Africa.

 

 

 

Also, there is a flag more specific for Portuguese America. This flag is of a yellow-orange colour with the quinas at the mast-side. Like this:

 

 

This flag differs from the flag which is displayed in Angola, and also from the flag displayed at the same time in Moçambique. It is not known if these flags had any official status or were merely the product of the fantasy of the cartographer. It must be pointed out that the Spanish and Portuguese carthographers of the 14th and 15th centuries traditionally depicted flags with great accuracy on their so-called portulan’s or sea-charts. It must be admitted however that the accuracy of the flags Diogo Homem depicts on the other pages of his work, cannot be considered free from doubt.

 

The Captaincies

 

Arms of King John III of Portugal

As in the Armorial of Antonio Godinho, 1541.

 

 

After the discovery of Brasil in the beginning of the 16th century King John III (1521-1557) divided the acquired new territory between 1534 and 1536 in fifteen parcels along degrees latitude. These parcels, the socalled captaincies, were given as a hereditary fief to members of some important Portuguese noble families.

 

The original fifteen hereditary captaincies were:

Baía de Todos os Santos; Ceará; Espírito Santo; Ilhéus; Itamaracá; Maranhão (two parts); Pernambuco; Porto Seguro; Rio Grande; Santana; Santo Amaro; São Tomé; São Vicente (two parts).

 

The beneficiaries were the families of:

 

 

Andrade (do Arco)

 

 

A member of which received the second section of Maranhão, parts of which are today in the states of Maranhão, Paraíba and Piauy.

 

Its arms were:

 

Arms: Or, a sagittary proper, its lower body Sable.

Crest: On a helmet to the dexter, lambrequined Or and Sable, the sagittary of the arms.[1]

 

Barros

 

 

Members of which received the first part of Maranhão, Ceará and Rio Grande, today in the states of Ceará, Maranhão, Paraná and Piauy.

 

Its arms were:

 

Arms: Or, three trunks per bend proper

Crest: On a helmet to the dexter, lambrequined Or and murray, the trunks from the arms tied in saltire.[2]

 

 

Campo Tourinho

 

 

A member of which received the captaincy of Porto Seguro today in the state of Bahia.

 

Its arms were:

 

Arms: Argent, a bull statont on a base Vert.

Crest: On a helmet to the dexter, lambrequined Argent and Vert, the bull from the arms. [3]

 

 

 

 

Coelho Pereira

 

 

A bastard branch of the Coelho family, a member of which received the captaincy of Pernambuco, parts of which are  today in the states of Alagoas, Pernambuco and Sergipe.

 

Its arms were derived from the arms of Coelho: Or, a lion rampant Azure, langued Gules, and a bordure Azure, five rabbits crouching Argent, and were:

 

Arms: Or, a lion passant Gules on abase Vert, a cross Sable and below a chief Argent, five five-pointed stars Gules; within a bordure Azure, five castles Argent.

Crest: On a helmet to the dexter, lambrequined Or and Gules, the lion passant from the arms.[4]

 

Correia

 

 

A member of which received the captaincy of Ilhéus today  in the state of Bahia.

 

Its arms were:

 

Arms: Or, fretty Gules.

Crest: On a helmet to the dexter, lambrequined Or and Gules two arms in armoury, its hands fettered with a ribbon Gules. [5]

 

Coutinho

 

 

Members of which received the captaincies of Baía de Todos os Santos and Espírito Santo, parts of which are today in the states of Alagoas, Bahia, Sergipe and Espirito Santo.

 

Its arms were:

 

Arms: Or, five seven-pointed stars Gules.

Crest: On a helmet to the dexter, lambrequined Or and Gules, a lion passant Gules.[6]

 

Cunha

 

 

Members of which received the captaincies of Maranhão and Rio Grande parts of which are today in the states of Ceará, Maranhão and Paraibá.

 

Its arms were:

 

Arms: Or, nine billets Azure, 3 Í 3.

[Crest: On a helmet to the dexter Or, lambrequined Or and Azure, a griffin issuant Or, winged Azure] [7]

 

Góis da Silveira

 

 

A member of which received the captaincy of São Tomé parts of which are  today in the states of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.

 

Its arms were:

 

Arms: Argent, three ermine tails Sable, and a chief parted per pale of Castile (Gules, a three-towered castle Or) and Aragon (Or, four pales Gules).

Crest: On a helmet to the dexter, lambrequined Gules and Or, the Castle from the arms, ensigned with a banner Ermine. [8]

 

 

 

Sousa

 

 

Members of which received the captaincies of  São Vicente (1st part), Santo Amaro, São Vicente (2nd part) and Santana, parts of which are today in the states of Paraibá, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catharina and São Paulo.

 

Its arms were:

 

Arms: ¼: 1&4: Portugal (Argent, five escutcheons Azure, five balls Argent per saltire, per cross, and a bordure Gules, eight castles Or); 2 & 3: Gules, four crescents respecting Argent.

Crest:  On a helmet Or to the dexter, lambrequined Gules and Argent, a three-towered castle Or.[9]

 

In 1759 the heredity of the captaincies was abolished without, however abolishing the captaincies themselves. These developed into the provinces of the Empire and later into the states of the United States of Brazil. In the course of time their borders changed considerably for political reasons. Today the former captaincies are dispersed over the states of:

Alagoas, Goiás, Estado do Grão-Pará, Mato Grosso, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande de São Pedro, São José do Rio Negro, São Paulo e Minas de Ouro, São Paulo, São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Sergipe.

 

The Principality

 

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© Hubert de Vries 2011-12-08

 

 



[1] Godinho, Antonio: Livro da Nobreza e Perfeição das Armas (1541). fol 40. (ð Instituto dos Archivos Nacionais)

[2] Ibid. fol. 16.

[3] Internet

[4] Internet

[5] Godinho op cit. fol. 30.

[6] Ibid. fol. 9.

[7] Livro do Armeiro Mor (1509). fol 51. (ð Instituto dos Archivos Nacionais)

[8] Godinho, op. cit. fol. 14.

[9] Ibid. fol. 10.