Estácio de Sá (1520 – February 20, 1567) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

and officer. Sá travelled to the colony of Brazil on the orders of the Portuguese crown to wage war on the French colonists commanded by

Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon Nicolas Durand, sieur de Villegaignon, also Villegagnon (1510 – 9 January 1571) was a Commander of the Knights of Malta, and later a French naval officer (vice-admiral of Brittany) who attempted to help the Huguenots in France escape persecutio ...

. These French colonists had established themselves in 1555 at

Guanabara Bay Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói a ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, in a settlement known as ''

France Antarctique France Antarctique (formerly also spelled ''France antartique'') was a French colony in Rio de Janeiro, in modern-day Brazil, which existed between 1555 and 1567, and had control over the coast from Rio de Janeiro to Cabo Frio. The colony quickly ...

''. He was the founder of

, now the second largest city in Brazil.

Biography

Born in Santarém,

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 ...

in 1520, Estácio de Sá was the nephew of the

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

of the colony of Brazil,

Mem de Sá Mem de Sá (c. 1500 – 2 March 1572) was a Governor-General of the Portuguese colony of Brazil from 1557 to 1572. He was born in Coimbra, Kingdom of Portugal, around 1500, the year of discovery of Brazil by a naval fleet commanded by Pedro Á ...

. He arrived with two

galleons Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch Wa ...

at Salvador,

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

, in 1564. In 1565, after extensive preparations and the help of Jesuits, such as

Manuel da Nóbrega Manuel da Nóbrega (old spelling ''Manoel da Nóbrega'') (18 October 1517 – 18 October 1570) was a Portuguese Jesuit priest and first Provincial of the Society of Jesus in colonial Brazil. Together with José de Anchieta, he was very influe ...

and

José de Anchieta José de Anchieta y Díaz de Clavijo (Joseph of Anchieta) (19 March 1534 – 9 June 1597) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary to the Portuguese colony of Brazil in the second half of the 16th century. A highly influential figure in Brazil's h ...

, he departed by sea from

São Vicente, São Paulo São Vicente (after Saint Vincent of Saragossa, the patron Saint of Lisbon, Portugal) is a coastal municipality in southern São Paulo, Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista. The population is 368,355 (2020 est.) in an ...

, the first Portuguese settlement in Brazil, with an attack force. On March 1, he founded the city of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro near the

Sugarloaf Mountain Sugarloaf Mountain ( pt, Pão de Açúcar, ) is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to ...

and established the basis of his military operations against the French and their Aboriginal allies. After receiving reinforcements sent by sea by his uncle from Salvador, Sá commanded a definitive and successful attack on the fortification of Uruçú-mirim on 20 January 1567. He died on 20 February 1567 of wounds inflicted by an arrow which had perforated his eye. Sá was interred in the church of Saint Sebastian in the encampment he had founded. As the city of Rio de Janeiro grew, his remains were relocated to a new church of Saint Sebastian in the Castelo. His remains were rediscovered in 1839 by several scholars working for Emperor Pedro II, and, in 1862, when the church was being rebuilt, some of his bones were exhumed in the presence of the emperor and placed in a "worthy urn".

Legacy

As the founder of Rio de Janeiro, Estácio de Sá is honored by the names of many locations and institutions in Brazil. A brief list follows: * the Estácio neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro; * the Rio

samba school A samba school ( pt, Escola de samba) is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square- compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an Afro-Brazilian ...

, '' Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Estácio de Sá'', usually referred to as simply ''Estácio de Sá''. Rio is one of the cradles of samba, the popular music of Brazil; * the Universidade Estácio de Sá, one of the three largest private universities of Brazil; * the Universidade Estácio de Sá Futebol Clube, a football club owned by the above university.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sa, Estacio 1520 births 1567 deaths People from Santarém, Portugal Portuguese military personnel killed in action Portuguese soldiers Colonial Brazil Deaths by arrow wounds Brazilian city founders Portuguese colonization of the Americas Portuguese colonial governors and administrators 16th-century Portuguese people France Antarctique Portuguese city founders