Cristóvão Jacques

Cristóvão Jaques (Christopher Jaques), also known as Cristóvão Valjaques, born in Algarve, Kingdom of Portugal, c. 1480 - after 1530, was a Portuguese noble of Aragonese descent.

He was the illegitimate son of Pero Jaques, and was legitimized by D. João II (1481–1495) and was later made a nobleman by the Royal House of D. Manuel I (1495–1521).

He married a daughter of Francisco Portocarreiro, with whom he had three children.

In 1503 he first came to the coast of Brazil in the fleet commanded by Gonçalo Coelho.

In 1516, in command of two caravels, he was in charge of patrolling the coast of Brazil in order to discourage incursions by French pirates. In November of that year he landed in a large bay, which he named Baía de Todos os Santos (Bay of all Saints). In Río de la Plata he fought and imprisoned many French. He traveled up and down the coast until 1519.

On July 21, 1521, he sailed from the mouth of Rio Tejo (Tagus) to Brazil, founded an outpost in Itamaracá, Pernambuco, one of the most popular anchorages on the Brazilian coast, where there was plenty of Brazil wood (Caesalpinia echinata) and had frequent contacts between Indians and Europeans, before going south to Río de la Plata and entering the Parana River for about 23 leagues (around 140 km) to near the present city of Rosario for the first time.

Finally, in 1526, he was appointed, by King João III, as Governor of all Parts of Brazil, replacing Pero Capico in Pernambuco, and returned again in command of a ship and five caravels, having countless battles with French pirates. In 1527 he imprisoned three French galleons in Recôncavo, Bahia. But having acted with barbarity towards the prisoners, this gesture eventually caused him major problems with D. João III (1521–1557).

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