Bezerra is a Portuguese surname of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

ancestry, popular among the

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Jewish settlers in Northern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The name translates to 'heifer'. The first members of this family have origins in Ponte de Lima, the oldest Portuguese village, and can be traced back to the century XII. By the early 1500s,

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in Portugal were told that they had either to convert to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

or leave the country, and while many converted by choice and embraced their new faith, others were faced with forced conversions, which led to false adherence to

in public with continued observance of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

in private (also known as

Crypto-Jews Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Sp ...

, or "Jews without a past"). These converted

were commonly called ' New Christians', ' Marranos' or ' Conversos'. The Bezerra family name has been historically recognized as a '

converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian po ...

' lineage of

ethnic Jews "Who is a Jew?" ( he, מיהו יהודי ) is a basic question about Jewish identity and considerations of Jewish self-identification. The question pertains to ideas about Jewish personhood, which have cultural, ethnic, religious, political, ...

converted to the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Church. The ' conversos', although remaining as Portuguese subjects, but eager to escape to as far as possible from the Portuguese Inquisition, started leaving

for other countries. While some preferred the Portuguese colonies in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, most chose

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

as their new home, and were responsible for penetrating deep into the Brazilian backcountry and developing the land through successfully establishing sugarcane plantations, cattle farms, mills and trading businesses. The ' conversos' Antonio Martins Bezerra and his wife Maria Martins Bezerra were amongst the first Portuguese settlers in

, having arrived to the then newly acquired

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

in 1535. Nowadays, people with the Bezerra surname are found mostly in the

Northeast of Brazil The Northeast Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Nordeste do Brasil; ) is one of the five official and political regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises n ...

Famous People

Famous people bearing this surname include: * Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (1736–1788), Novo-Spanish explorer * Edir Macedo Bezerra (born 1945), Brazilian Billionaire entrepreneur *

Eliana Michaelichen Bezerra Eliana Michaelichen Bezerra (born November 22, 1972), known mononymously as Eliana, is a Brazilian TV host, businesswoman, and former singer. Since 2009, she has been the host of the TV show ''Eliana'' which is broadcast on the Brazilian TV net ...

(born 1973), Brazilian TV host *Toninho — Antonio Bezerra Brandão (born 1977), Brazilian footballer * Rosembrick José Bezerra de Lira (born 1979), Brazilian footballer * Selmir dos Santos Bezerra (born 1979), Brazilian footballer *

Ed Benes José Edilbenes Bezerra (born November 20, 1972), better known by his professional name Ed Benes, is a Brazilian comic book artist, known for his work for DC Comics, on such titles as ''Birds of Prey'', ''Supergirl'', ''Superman'', and ''Justice L ...

— José Edilbenes Bezerra (born 1972), Brazilian comics book artist *Kaká — Claudiano Bezerra da Silva (born 1981), Brazilian footballer *Paulinho — José Paulo Bezerra Maciel Júnior (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * José Bezerra da Silva (1927–2005), Brazilian samba singer *

José Bezerra Coutinho José Bezerra Coutinho (February 7, 1910 – November 7, 2008) was a Brazilian bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. When he died at the age of 98, he was the sixth-oldest bishop in the Catholic Church and oldest Brazilian bishop. Biography Coutin ...

(1910–2008), Brazilian Catholic Bishop *

Oscar Schmidt Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (born February 16, 1958) is a retired Brazilian professional basketball player. He is also commonly known as Oscar Schmidt in Spain, where he played for Fórum Valladolid for the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, ...

(born 1958), retired Brazilian basketball player * Teodorico Bezerra (1903–1994), Brazilian, landowner, entrepreneur and politician ''(page in Portuguese)'' * Fernando Bezerra (born 1941), Brazilian entrepreneur and politician ''(page in Portuguese)'' *

Bezerra de Menezes Bezerra may refer to: * ''Bezerra'' (fungus), genus * Bezerra (surname) * Bezerra da Silva (1927–2005), Brazilian samba musician See also * Bezerra River (disambiguation) * Bezerrão, a sports stadium in Brazil * Bezerros Bezerros () is a muni ...

(1831–1900), Brazilian physician, journalist, politician and book writer ''(page in Portuguese)''
Christal Bezerra
(born 2004), Brazilian Gymnast *

Zila Bezerra Maria Zila Frota Bezerra de Oliveira (born 7 May 1945) is a Brazilian teacher and politician of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, later the Liberal Front Party who was a Federal Deputy for Acre in the Chamber of Deputies from 1991 to 2003. Sh ...

(born 1945), Brazilian teacher and politician * Fátima Bezerra (born 1955), Brazilian politician, former Senator and currently Governor of the state of

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", ref ...

Victor Bezerra Victor Bezerra (born February 5, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire. Club career Youth and college Bezerra attended Jones College Prep High School, also playing club ...

(born 2005), American footballer

References

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