José da Silva Pais (25 October 1679 – 14 November 1760) was a Portuguese soldier,

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...

and colonial administrator in the Portuguese colony of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. He was involved in diverse situations in the disputed territories between the Portuguese and Spanish in the territory that today is the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

region in

. He organized the support for the Sacramento Colony during the

Spanish–Portuguese War (1735–1737) The Spanish-Portuguese War between 1735 and 1737 was fought over the Banda Oriental, roughly present-day Uruguay. At the time, this part of South-America was sparsely populated and was on the border between Portuguese Brazil and the Spanish G ...

, and went head-to-head with his Spanish rival, Don Pedro de Ceballos Cortez y Calderón. For the purpose of maintaining the southern territory in the hands of Portugal, Pais founded the city of

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

in 1737 and projected and built the Fort ''Jesus Maria e José''. That area was the object of the Spanish incursions commanded by Pedro de Ceballos, who invaded it twice. On Santa Catarina Island, when it was in Spanish hands under the authority of Pedro de Ceballos, the Brigadier General Pais invaded and took the island for Portugal, placing himself as governor. He remained governor of the captaincy of Santa Catarina from 1739 until 1745. He planned the construction of forts which would constitute the defense of Santa Catarina Island: in the north, ''Fortaleza de São José da Ponta Grossa'', ''Fortaleza de Santa Cruz de Anhatomirim'', and ''Fortaleza de Santo António de Ratones''; and in the south: ''Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Araçatuba''.

External links

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Uruguaiana website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pais, Jose da Silva 1679 births 1760 deaths People from Lisbon Portuguese colonization of the Americas Portuguese colonial governors and administrators 17th-century Portuguese military personnel Portuguese city founders 18th-century Portuguese military personnel Brazilian city founders

Further reading

External links