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2009
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5th governor-general of Brazil.
He served some time in Asilah and Tangier, where he was wounded.
He was a soldier and a commodore in some fleets, namely in the one which went after the privateer who killed Dom Luís Fernandes de Vasconcelos, the successor of Mem de Sá in the rule of Brazil. It is also known that he was captain of an armada sailing to Elmina and of another attending to the carracks on their return from India.
King Sebastian rewarded his advisor appointing him for the position of sole governor of a unified Brazil, and Veiga ruled in this capacity from 1578 to 1581.
He carried instructions to merge some offices and to suppress others. He should bring together the posts of Treasury Clerk and escrivão dos feitos [1], as well as of those of Treasurer and Royal Treasurer, and to suppress the posts of physician and master builder.
His instructions granted also a personal guard of twenty men to the governor and increased the Jesuits' provisions.
Some time after Lourenço da Veiga took office, the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro was again entrusted to Salvador Correia de Sá. Although Brazil was unified under the rule of a single governor, the governor-general had been ordered to give him complementary powers.
In 1579, some French ships carrying smuggled goods were taken by surprise and set on fire in the Brazilian ports. The French threat continued to be felt, especially on the region north of the Paraíba River up to Maranhão. The definite conquest of Paraíba was of vital importance to Lourenço da Veiga. Frutuoso Barbosa, who had taken it upon himself to colonize the new captaincy, was charged with organising a defence force and settlers for the purpose of completing the colonization process. This was the time when the monastic orders of São Bento and Carmo were established in Brazil.
Lourenço da Veiga died in Bahia, at the age of 51, on 4 June, 1581. For some time succession difficulties led the colony's destiny to be entrusted to the City Council, to the Bishop of Bahia and to the general Judge.
[1] The official who helped the Treasury Clerk on matters related to the justice acts opposing the Crown's interests to private ones.
Bibliografia:
CAMPO BELO, Conde de, Governadores Gerais e Vice-Reis do Brasil, Lisboa, Agência Geral das Colónias, 1935. Nova história da expansão portuguesa, dir. Joel Serrão e A. H. Oliveira Marques, vol.VI, O império luso-brasileiro:1520-1620, coord. Harold Jonhson e Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva, Lisboa, Estampa, 1992. VARNHAGEN, Francisco Adolfo de, História Geral do Brasil: antes da sua separação e independência de Portugal, São Paulo, Ed. Melhoramentos, 4ªed., 1948.
Translated by: Leonor Sampaio da Silva
He served some time in Asilah and Tangier, where he was wounded.
He was a soldier and a commodore in some fleets, namely in the one which went after the privateer who killed Dom Luís Fernandes de Vasconcelos, the successor of Mem de Sá in the rule of Brazil. It is also known that he was captain of an armada sailing to Elmina and of another attending to the carracks on their return from India.
King Sebastian rewarded his advisor appointing him for the position of sole governor of a unified Brazil, and Veiga ruled in this capacity from 1578 to 1581.
He carried instructions to merge some offices and to suppress others. He should bring together the posts of Treasury Clerk and escrivão dos feitos [1], as well as of those of Treasurer and Royal Treasurer, and to suppress the posts of physician and master builder.
His instructions granted also a personal guard of twenty men to the governor and increased the Jesuits' provisions.
Some time after Lourenço da Veiga took office, the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro was again entrusted to Salvador Correia de Sá. Although Brazil was unified under the rule of a single governor, the governor-general had been ordered to give him complementary powers.
In 1579, some French ships carrying smuggled goods were taken by surprise and set on fire in the Brazilian ports. The French threat continued to be felt, especially on the region north of the Paraíba River up to Maranhão. The definite conquest of Paraíba was of vital importance to Lourenço da Veiga. Frutuoso Barbosa, who had taken it upon himself to colonize the new captaincy, was charged with organising a defence force and settlers for the purpose of completing the colonization process. This was the time when the monastic orders of São Bento and Carmo were established in Brazil.
Lourenço da Veiga died in Bahia, at the age of 51, on 4 June, 1581. For some time succession difficulties led the colony's destiny to be entrusted to the City Council, to the Bishop of Bahia and to the general Judge.
[1] The official who helped the Treasury Clerk on matters related to the justice acts opposing the Crown's interests to private ones.
Bibliografia:
CAMPO BELO, Conde de, Governadores Gerais e Vice-Reis do Brasil, Lisboa, Agência Geral das Colónias, 1935. Nova história da expansão portuguesa, dir. Joel Serrão e A. H. Oliveira Marques, vol.VI, O império luso-brasileiro:1520-1620, coord. Harold Jonhson e Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva, Lisboa, Estampa, 1992. VARNHAGEN, Francisco Adolfo de, História Geral do Brasil: antes da sua separação e independência de Portugal, São Paulo, Ed. Melhoramentos, 4ªed., 1948.
Translated by: Leonor Sampaio da Silva