Estácio de Sá
gigatos | May 26, 2022
Summary
Estácio de Sá (Santarém, 1520 – Rio de Janeiro, February 20, 1567) was a Portuguese soldier, founder of the city São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, and first governor-general of the Capitania of Rio de Janeiro, during the colonial period.
Son of Gonçalo Correia (1510-1515) and Filipa de Sá (1515-1529), his first wife. From his second wife, Maria Rodrigues (1529 -1535), Gonçalo Correia would have other children. They were his brother Francisco de Sá and his cousin Salvador Correia de Sá born in 1540. Some historians say that from his second wife, Gonçalo Correia had a son, Manuel Correia Vasques; others say he was the son of Martim Silva de Sá and D. Maria de Mendoza.
In any case, Estácio was Mem de Sá”s nephew and arrived in Salvador, Bahia, in 1564 with the mission to definitively expel the remaining French in Guanabara Bay and to found a city there. Due to the difficulties at the beginning of colonization, it was only in 1565, with reinforcements obtained in the then Captaincy of São Vicente and with the help of the Jesuits, that he was able to gather an attack force to fulfill his mission. Leaving Espírito Santo on January 20, 1565, on March 1, he founded the city of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, on flat land between Morro Cara de Cão and Morro do Pão de Açúcar, his base of operations. The purpose of the foundation was to begin the expulsion of the French who had already been in the area for ten years.
He fought the French and their indigenous allies for two more years. On January 20, 1567, with the arrival of the squadron commanded by Cristóvão de Barros with reinforcements personally commanded by his uncle Mem de Sá (natives mobilized by the Jesuit priests José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega), he launched an attack, engaging in the Uruçu-mirim (today Flamengo beach) and Paranapuã (today Ilha do Governador) combats.
Seriously wounded by an Indian poisoned arrow, possibly a Puri technique, which leaked into his eye during the Battle of Uruçu-mirim (January 20), he died a month later (February 20), probably from septicemia resulting from the wound.
There is a chapel in the Church of São Sebastião of the Capuchin Friars of Rio de Janeiro, with his tombstone where the following inscription can be found:
“Here lies Estácio de Saa, 1st Capitam and Conqueror of this land city, and the grave he ordered made Salvador Correa de Saa, his cousin, 2nd Capitam and Governor, with his arms and this Chapel ended the year 1583.”
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