Pereira (João António de Sá)
Entry on João António de Sá Pereira, governor and captain-general of Madeira under Pombal, known as the 'Pombal madeirense' for his reforms.
He was governor and captain-general (capitão-general, military governor of Madeira) of this archipelago in the period from 1677 to 1766. The commentator of ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) calls him the ‘reformer par excellence’, and he also became known as the ‘Madeiran Pombal’, both because he was appointed to this post by the Marquis of Pombal and because of the reforms he carried out in many public services during that statesman’s government. Among his services, one stands out: he went in person to the island of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) to enforce the famous royal decree (alvará régio) of the fifths and eighths (quintos e oitavos: rent of a fifth or an eighth of the produce), which caused the greatest sensation at the time.