Companions of Zarco

It would be of interest to give an account, however brief, of those who, sharing the risks and dangers of settling distant lands in unknown circumstances, left their homeland, crossed the ocean and came to begin the arduous colonisation of the Madeiran archipelago. From information gathered in old books of noble lineage and other manuscript sources, Dr João Pedro de Freitas Drumond compiled in the first quarter of the 19th century a list of some of the individuals who accompanied João Gonçalves Zarco, or were at least his contemporaries in the work of that first settlement. Among them may be named Gonçalo Aires Ferreira, Francisco Carvalhal, João Lourenço, Rui Pais, João Afonso, António Gago, Lourenço Gomes, Francisco Alcoforado, Vasco Delgado, Álvaro Afonso, Aires Lordelo, Vasco Esteves, Manuel Afonso de Sanha and João do Prado. Many of these men obtained lands by sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation), which were later entailed and formed the patrimony of a large part of the many entailed estates established on this island. They were the founders of old families which in the course of time grew rich and acquired noble status.