Madeirans in Brazil

In the article Emigration (1-391) we have already referred to the large number of emigrants who left this island for Brazil in the 16th and 17th centuries. This is an opportunity to recall what is read in many places about the planting of sugar cane in that country: it is asserted that Madeirans took the first plants there and were also the first to begin growing this rich crop, which later spread so widely and became one of the great sources of prosperity of the young colony.

It is also asserted that it was the Governor of Brazil, Martim Afonso de Sousa, who requested that these Madeirans go there and, through them, set in motion the first planting of sugar cane. The crises that afflicted Madeira at various times led large waves of emigrants to leave, and the following information, given in one of the annotations to ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra), is of interest: ‘By 1676 decline in this archipelago had reached such a point that emigration to Brazil, until then a mere expedient or private speculation, came to be promoted as a measure of government: in that year a royal letter (carta régia) was issued, and another in 1747, both recorded in the archive of the Council of Funchal. The first ordered that three hundred to four hundred couples be transported to Brazil at the expense of the state, and the second recommended that the captain-general (capitão-general, military governor of Madeira) give help and favour to this emigration.’

It is well known that, particularly during the period of the Restoration wars, in which the Madeiran João Fernandes Vieira (see p. 18 of vol. II) distinguished himself so brilliantly and heroically in that country, there was a large emigration of Madeirans to Brazil, encouraged by the illustrious restorer of Pernambuco. A great number of the sons of our island also won high distinction alongside their illustrious fellow countryman. The names of many of them are mentioned in the chronicles of the period and in various articles and nobiliaries, and we shall record the deeds of bravery of some of them in the article Varões Ilustres.

Not only in that period of military struggle, but also later and in various fields of human activity, many Madeirans brought great honour to their native land through their love of work, their intelligence and their initiative. Some even earned the standing of meritorious citizens and received the most laudatory mentions from the most distinguished people of that country.

As regards the 19th century, we wish to make brief mention here of the Madeirans Dom Mateus de Abreu Pereira and Dom Manuel Joaquim Gonçalves de Andrade, bishops of São Paulo; Drs Francisco Justino Gonçalves de Andrade and João Jacinto Gonçalves de Andrade, professors at the university of the same city; Dr Patrício Moniz, a great sacred orator; Caetano Alberto Soares, a distinguished jurist; General Joaquim de Oliveira Álvares; Father João António de Lessa, a deputy; João da Silva Caldeira, professor of chemistry; and Francisco João Rossio, a military engineer, among others, of whom we have given some biographical notes scattered through the pages of this work.

It is well known that one of the most notable achievements of the Portuguese in Brazilian lands was the creation of the ‘Gabinete de Leitura do Rio de Janeiro’, which founded a rich and extensive library whose catalogue, largely printed, runs to several volumes. One of the most active and helpful promoters of this foundation was the Madeiran Francisco Eduardo Alves Viana, a merchant in the city of Rio de Janeiro.