João Gonçalves Zarco ( 1390 – 21 November 1471) was a Portuguese explorer who established settlements and recognition of the

Madeira Islands ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, and was appointed first captain of Funchal by

Henry the Navigator ''Dom'' Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator ( pt, Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15t ...

Life

Zarco was born in

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 th ...

, and became a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

at the service of Prince

's household. In his service at an early age, Zarco commanded the

caravel The caravel (Portuguese: , ) is a small maneuverable sailing ship used in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave it speed and the capacity for sailing w ...

s guarding the coast of the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

from Muslim incursions, was at the

conquest of Ceuta The conquest of Ceuta by the Portuguese on 21 August 1415 marks an important step in the beginning of the Portuguese Empire in Africa. History In 711, shortly after the Arab conquest of North Africa, the city of Ceuta was used as a stagi ...

, and later led the caravels that recognized the island of

Porto Santo Porto Santo Island () is a Portuguese island northeast of Madeira Island in the North Atlantic Ocean; it is the northernmost and easternmost island of the archipelago of Madeira, located in the Atlantic Ocean west of Europe and Africa. The mun ...

in 1418 to 1419 and afterward, the island of

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

1419 to 1420. He founded the city of Câmara de Lobos. He was granted, as hereditary leader (

Capitania 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 ...

), half the island of Madeira (the Capitania of

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its hig ...

, being its first Captain-major). Together with his fellow fleet commanders, Tristão Vaz Teixeira and

Bartolomeu Perestrelo Bartolomeu Perestrello (, in Italian ''Bartolomeo Perestrello''), 1st Capitão Donatário, Lord and Governor of the Island of Porto Santo ( 1395 – 1457) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer that is claimed to have discovered and populated Po ...

, he initiated the colonization of the islands in 1425. As a knight of the House of Avis, he participated in the siege of Tangier, in 1437, which ended in failure. He died at Funchal, Madeira.

Ancestry and descendency

He married Constança Rodrigues, daughter of Rodrigo Lopes de Sequeiros (?) and wife, and had the following issue: * João Gonçalves da Câmara (d.

, 26 March 1501), married to Dona Mécia de Noronha, daughter of Dom João Henriques de Noronha (bastard son of Alfonso, Count of Gijón and Noroña) and wife Beatriz, Lady de Mirabel and sister of Dom Garcia Henriques, and had issue, and also one bastard son by an unknown mother * Rui Gonçalves da Câmara, 3rd Donatary Captain of

São Miguel Island São Miguel Island (; Portuguese for "Saint Michael"), nicknamed "The Green Island" (''Ilha Verde''), is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, wi ...

, married to Maria de Bettencourt, natural daughter of Maciot de Bettencourt by Teguise, without issue, he had a bastard son by one Maria Rodrigues and three more children by an unknown mother * Garcia Rodrigues da Câmara, married to Violante de Freitas, and had issue * Beatriz Gonçalves da Câmara, married to Diogo Cabral, and had issue * Isabel Gonçalves da Câmara, married to Diogo Afonso de Aguiar, o Velho (the Old), and had issue * Helena Gonçalves da Câmara, married to Martim Mendes de Vasconcelos, and had issue * Catarina Gonçalves da Câmara, married to Garcia Homem de Sousa

Possible Jewish ancestry

There are discussions as to whether João Gonçalves Zarco could have been of

Jewish 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 ...

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 p ...

origin. Zarco was a prominent Jewish family from Santarém and

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

. Mossé Zarco was King

João II John II ( pt, João II; ; 3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince ( pt, o Príncipe Perfeito, link=no), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for re-establishi ...

's tailor. There was also a Portuguese doctor named Joseph Zarco, whom some authors claim to be Joseph Ibn Sharga, the great kabbalist, and a sixteenth-century poet named Yehuda Zarco. Augusto Mascarenhas Barreto suggested that Christopher Columbus could have been of Jewish descent from Portugal and his real name was Salvador Fernandes Zarco. Isabel Violante Pereira also attributes Jewish ancestry to João Gonçalves Zarco."De Mendo da Guarda a D. Manuel I,", Isabel Violante Pereira, Lisbon: Livros Horizonte, 2001, p. 83.

In culture

The novel of

Arkan Simaan Arkan Simaan (born 1945) is a Lebanese-French novelist. He was born in Lebanon in 1945. When he was two years old, his family immigrated to Brazil and settled in the city of Anápolis near Brasilia. The 1964 Brazilian coup d'état overthrew the ...

, ''L'Écuyer d'Henri le Navigateur'' (Harmattan, Paris, 2007), deals with Zarco's life.

Footnotes

References

*António da Costa de Albuquerque de Sousa Lara, 2nd Count de Guedes, Vasco de Bettencourt de Faria Machado e Sampaio and Marcelo Olavo Correia de Azevedo, ''Ascendências Reais de Sua Alteza Real a Senhora Dona Isabel de Herédia Duquesa de Bragança'', I, ''pelos Costados Herédia, Bettencourt e Meneses da Ilha da Madeira''" (Universitária Editora, 1999)

External links

Zarco's statue on Madeira
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarco, Joao Goncalves Portuguese explorers History of Madeira Maritime history of Portugal 15th-century explorers Portuguese city founders 1390s births 1471 deaths 15th-century Portuguese people 14th-century Portuguese people Donatary-Captains of Madeira Gonçalves da Câmara family