The Captaincy of São Vicente (1534–1709) was a land grant and colonial administration in the far southern part of the colonial Portuguese Empire in
Colonial Brazil
Colonial Brazil ( pt, Brasil Colonial) comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Dur ...
.
History
In 1534
King John III of Portugal
John III ( pt, João III ; 7 June 1502 – 11 June 1557), nicknamed The Pious ( Portuguese: ''o Piedoso''), was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1521 until his death in 1557. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the t ...
granted the Captaincy to
Martim Afonso de Sousa
Martim Afonso de Sousa ( – 21 July 1564) was a Portuguese '' fidalgo'', explorer and colonial administrator.
Life
Born in Vila Viçosa, he was commander of the first official Portuguese expedition into mainland of the colony of Brazil. Threate ...
, a Portuguese admiral. Sousa had founded the first two permanent Portuguese settlements in Brazil in 1532: São Vicente (near the present port of Santos) and Piratininga (later to become
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
).
Martim Afonso received two tracts of land:
* one centered on the settlement of São Vicente, extending along the coastline from Cananeia to Bertioga (within present-day
São Paulo state)
* the other extended from Parati to Cabo Frio (within present-day
Rio de Janeiro state).
Although divided into two lots - separated by the Captaincy of Santo Amaro - together these territories formed the Captaincy of São Vicente.
In 1681 the São Paulo settlement succeeded São Vicente as the capital of the captaincy, and the original name of the latter gradually fell into disuse.
São Vicente became the only
captaincy
A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule a ...
to flourish in southern Portuguese
colony of Brazil
Colonial Brazil ( pt, Brasil Colonial) comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Duri ...
. It ultimately gave rise to São Paulo state and provided the base for the
Bandeirantes
The ''Bandeirantes'' (), literally "flag-carriers", were slavers, explorers, adventurers, and fortune hunters in early Colonial Brazil. They are largely responsible for Brazil's great expansion westward, far beyond the Tordesillas Line of 149 ...
to expand
Portuguese America
Portuguese America ( pt, América Portuguesa), sometimes called or Lusophone America in the English language, in contrast to Anglo-America, French America or Hispanic America, is the Portuguese-speaking community of people and their diaspora, no ...
to the west of the
Tordesilhas Line
The Treaty of Tordesillas, ; pt, Tratado de Tordesilhas . signed in Tordesillas, Spain on 7 June 1494, and authenticated in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Emp ...
.
Territorial evolution of the Captaincy of São Vicente (1534–1709)
The Captaincy of São Vicente in Southern Brazil:
Image:Brazil in 1534.svg, 1534
''Capitanias hereditárias
A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule a ...
'' - the two bottommost yellow stripes denote the Captaincy of São Vicente
Image:Brazil (1709).svg, 1709
São Paulo at its greatest extent, in pale yellow
See also
*
*
References
Cited texts
* Lockhart, J.(1983), ''Early Latin America: A History of Colonial Spanish America and Brazil''. Cambridge University Press
* Baptista, S.(2008) Chaptory 4: Historical Context ''Forest Recovery and Just Sustainability in the Florianopolis City-region'' UMI 3349866
Colonial History of Sao Paulo
External links
Pedro Taques de Almeida Paes Leme ''História da Capitania de São Paulo'' "History of the Captaincy of São Paulo"
Sao Vicente
History of São Paulo (state)
States and territories established in 1534
States and territories disestablished in 1709
Portuguese colonization of the Americas
17th century in Brazil
18th century in Brazil
1630s in Brazil
1640s in Brazil
1650s in Brazil
1690s in Brazil
1534 establishments in Brazil
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