Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco

Francisco Caldeira e Castelo Branco (1566–1619) was a Portuguese Captain-major, founder of the city of Belém, capital of Pará (Brazil), on January 12, 1616.

Biography[]

He was born in the Portuguese town of Castelo Branco, in 1566. Was Captain-major of the Captaincy the Rio Grande (now the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte), from 1612 to 1614, and the captaincy of Bahia, from 1615 to 1618. While serving in the garrison of Pernambuco, was sent as commander of an expedition to rescue the Portuguese troops who, under the command of , fought against the French in Maranhão.

In 1615, he commanded a military expedition sent by the governor general of Brazil to expel foreigners (French, Dutch, English) who were in the Grão Pará.

On January 12, Francisco Caldeira arrived in , called by the Tupinambás, "Guaçu Paraná", where he built a wooden fort, covered with straw, which he called "Presépio" (now "Forte do Castelo"). In the colony that was formed by the fort, he gave the name "Happy Lusitania" – the embryo of the future city of Belém.

His government of the new colony was considered authoritarian and divisive. He was deposed in 1618 arrested and sent to Lisbon, where he died in a prison 1619.

References[]

• Abreu, J. Capistrano de (1963). Capítulos de história colonial (1500–1800). Brasília: UNB.
• Cruz, Ernesto (1973). História de Belém. Belém: Universidade Federal do Pará.