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.^[1] He was born in Coimbra, Kingdom of Portugal, around 1500, the year of discovery of Brazil by a naval fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral.

In the early sixteenth century, Brazil was not a major settled area of the Portuguese empire. The Jesuits had established aldeias in order to evangelize the Brazilian Indians. Portuguese settlers actively enslaved the indigenous populations. Mem de Sá was nominated the third Governor-General of Brazil in 1556, succeeding Duarte da Costa, who was Governor-General from 1553 to 1557. The seat of the government at the time was Salvador, in the present-day state of Bahia.

He was fortunate in securing the support of two important Jesuit priests, Fathers Manuel da Nóbrega (1517-1570) and José de Anchieta (1533-1597), who founded São Paulo, on 25 January 1554, which is today one of the largest metropolises in the world. The Jesuits were stern and persistent missionaries of the Catholic faith with the indigenous people, and their pacification of these warrior societies was one of the most important conquests of Mem de Sá's government. The Jesuits had conflicts with Duarte da Costa, because he supported the plantation owners, who tried to force slavery upon the Indians. Mem de Sá opposed the usury of the Portuguese plantation owners in their trade in Indian slaves and helped the Jesuits expand the number of their aldeias.^[2]

Mem de Sá also had an important military and political mission when, in 1560, leading a naval expedition of 26 ships and 2,000 soldiers and sailors, he was sent by the Portuguese crown to attack France Antarctique, a colony founded by Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, a Catholic French vice-admiral on the site of present-day Rio de Janeiro. Fort Coligny, built by the French colonists on a small island of the Guanabara Bay was destroyed, but Mem de Sá was able to expel definitely the French invaders in 1567 only, with the help of his nephew, Estácio de Sá, who was also the founder of Rio de Janeiro on 1 March 1565. With the help of the Jesuits, Mem de Sá was able to convince the Tamoyo Confederation to withdraw their support to the Frenchmen.

Mem de Sá died on 2 March 1572, in Salvador.

See also

• History of Brazil
• Portuguese colonization of the Americas
• De gestis Mendi de Saa
• José de Anchieta#Works

References

Further reading

• Norton, Luis. A dinastia dos Sás no Brasil, 1558-1662. 2nd. ed. 1965.
• Nowell, Charles E. "The French in sixteenth-century Brazil." The Americas 5.04 (1949): 381-393.
• Varnhagen, Francisco Adolfo de, História geral do Brasil, 9th ed. 1975.
• Vianna Júnior, Wilmar da Silva. Espelho dos governadores do Brasil, a administração de Mem de Sá. 2007
• Wetzel, Herbert Ewaldo, Mem de Sá: Terceiro governador geral, 1557-1572. 1972.
• Padre José de Anchieta. Feitos de Mem de Sá, ASIN: B00A6FRKE8. Maison Editora. 2013.

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Governors-general and Viceroys of Portuguese America

State of Brazil
(1549-1815)

Tomé de Sousa • Duarte da Costa • Mem de Sá • Luís de Brito e Almeida • Lourenço da Veiga • Manuel Teles Barreto • Francisco de Sousa • Diogo Botelho • Diogo de Meneses e Sequeira • Gaspar de Sousa • Luís de Sousa • Diogo de Mendonça Furtado • Matias de Albuquerque • Francisco de Moura Rolim • Diogo Luís de Oliveira • Pedro da Silva • Fernando de Mascarenhas • António Teles da Silva • António Teles de Meneses • João Rodrigues de Vasconcelos e Sousa • Jerónimo de Ataíde • Francisco Barreto de Meneses • Vasco de Mascarenhas • Alexandre de Sousa Freire • Afonso Furtado de Castro de Mendonça • Roque da Costa Barreto • António Luís de Sousa Telo de Meneses • Matias da Cunha •António Luís Coutinho da Câmara • João de Lencastre • Rodrigo da Costa • Luís César de Meneses • Lourenço de Almada • Pedro de Vasconcelos e Sousa • Pedro António de Noronha • Sancho de Faro e Sousa • Vasco Fernandes César de Meneses • André de Melo e Castro • Luís Pedro Peregrino de Carvalho e Ataíde • António de Almeida Soares Portugal • António Álvares da Cunha • António Rolim de Moura Tavares • Luís de Almeida Silva Mascarenhas • Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa • José Luís de Castro • Fernando José de Portugal e Castro • Marcos de Noronha e Brito

State of Maranhão
(1621-1751)

Domingos da Costa Machado • António Moniz Barreiros Filho • António Coelho de Carvalho • Jácome Raimundo de Noronha • Bento Maciel Parente • Pedro de Albuquerque Melo • Francisco Coelho de Carvalho • Luís de Magalhães • André Vidal de Negreiros • Pedro de Mello • Rui Vaz de Siqueira • António de Albuquerque Velho • Pedro César de Meneses • Inácio Coelho da Silva • Francisco de Sá de Meneses • Gomes Freire de Andrade • Artur de Sá de Meneses • António de Albuquerque Coelho de Carvalho • Manuel Rolim de Moura Tavares • João Velasco de Molina • Cristóvão da Costa Freire • Bernardo Pereira de Berredo • Alexandre de Sousa Freire • José da Serra • João de Abreu Castelo Branco • José da Serra • Francisco Pedro de Mendonça Gorjão •

State of Grão-Pará and
Maranhão (1751-1772)

Luís de Vasconcelos Lobo • Severino de Faria • Gonçalo Lobato e Sousa • Joaquim de Mello e Póvoas • Joaquim de Mello e Póvoas • António de Sales e Noronha • José Teles da Silva • Fernando Pereira Leite de Foios • Fernando António Soares de Noronha • Diogo de Sousa • António de Saldanha da Gama • Francisco de Mello Câmara • José Tomás de Meneses • Paulo José da Silva Gama •

State of Maranhão
and Piauí (1772-1775)

Joaquim de Mello e Póvoas

State of Grão-Pará
and Rio Negro
(1772-1775)

João Pereira Caldas

• Portuguese Empire
• Portuguese colonization of the Americas
• States of the Portuguese Empire