Duarte Coelho
| Duarte Coelho Pereira | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Governor of Pernambuco | |
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In office 1534–1554 |
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| Monarch | John III of Portugal |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Brites de Albuquerque |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1485 Porto, Kingdom of Portugal |
| Died | August 7, 1554 Kingdom of Portugal |
| Nationality | Portuguese |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Portuguese Empire |
Duarte Coelho Pereira (c. 1485 – August 7, 1554) was a nobleman, military leader, and colonial administrator in the Portuguese colony of Brazil. He was the first grantee of the captaincy of Pernambuco and founder of Olinda.
He was the bastard son of old family Coelho, the landed nobility of Entre-Douro e Minho. Without having an organized home, he would have been raised by a maternal aunt who was prioress of the Monastery of Vila Nova de Gaia. His father was Gonçalo Coelho, Register of the Royal Treasury and commander of the Portuguese expedition that went to Brazil in 1503, which accompanied Duarte. His mother was Catarina Anes Duarte, a commoner. In 1506, he went to India in the fleet of D. Fernando Coutinho. Between 1516 and 1517 he was ambassador to Siam, visited China, in 1521 built the church of Our Lady of Oiteiro in Portuguese Malacca, he returned to Portugal in 1527. In 1531 he was again sent to India. In 1532, he received command of the fleet to push the French off the Brazilian coast. For his service he received on March 10, 1534, the donation of 60 miles of coastline in Brazil, in the current states of Pernambuco and Alagoas, the captaincy of Pernambuco, or New Lusitania.
Arriving at the factory of Pernambuco on March 9, 1535, was accompanied by his wife, Dona Brites de Albuquerque, her brother Jerónimo de Albuquerque and relatives, aside from families of northern Portugal. They arrived to try his luck in the development of the sugarcane industry.
The story says that they landed on the shores of Santa Cruz canal, where there was a nucleus of settlement in the Porto dos Marcos. He advanced to the mouth of the Igaraçu River, Pernambuco, where he founded the village of the same name and fought battles with the Indians. He built the Church of Santos Cosme e Damião, the first in Brazil, giving the administration of the village to Afonso Gonçalves, and headed south.
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