(Duba/Strange World)
It was a wealthy Portuguese nobleman who financed explorations into Brazil from the year 1503 onwards. The Lusitanians had just arrived in the country, but they had not yet shown much interest. For this reason, King Manuel 1st leased the land to a group of New Christians (converted Jews), such as Noronha. From 1503, he financed expeditions to extract brazilwood, a wood whose dye was in demand in northern Europe. Thanks to the success of his ventures, in 1504 the king gave him the island of Pernambuco as a gift, in the form of hereditary captaincy, so that it earned his name. The island already appeared on a 1502 map as Ilha da Quaresma and was described for the first time in 1503 by the Italian navigator Américo Vespucci, to whom its discovery is generally attributed. A curiosity: the real name of the Portuguese was Fernão de Loronha – the Brazilianized version is a corruption that ended up catching on.
Reader Question – Amora Sarmento, Pinheiros, ES
SOURCES Books João Ramalho – The Pioneer Settlerby Marco Antônio Veras, and Fernão de Loronha and the Rental of Brazil in 1502: A New Chronology, by John L. Vogt; Government of Pernambuco