Estacio de Sá

Estacio de Sá (c. 1520, Portugal - 1567, Rio de Janeiro) was a soldier who participated in the Portuguese colonization of Brazil. In 1565, he founded Rio de Janeiro on the shores of Guanabara Bay.

Life

De Sá arrived in Salvador de Bahía in 1563, with the mission of definitively expelling the French who were established in Guanabara Bay, and founding a city in place of the French enclave called Antarctic France. Due to the difficulties at the beginning of colonization, until 1565 Sá was not able to gather an attack force large enough to fulfill his mission, thanks to the support of the Captaincy of São Vicente and the help of the Jesuits.

On March 1, 1565, he founded São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, on a flat piece of land between the Cara de Cão (dog face) hill and the Sugar Loaf hill, his base of operations.

He fought against the French and their native allies for more than two years. With additional reinforcements received from the squad commanded by Cristóvão de Barros and that of his uncle Mem de Sá (mainly indigenous people mobilized by the Jesuits Anchieta and Nóbrega); De Sá launched the attack on January 20, 1567, fighting in Uruçu-mirim (present-day Flamengo) and Paranapuã (present-day Governor's Island). A month later (February 20), De Sá died in combat, mortally wounded by an arrow.