Duarte Coelho

Duarte Coelho Pereira ( – ) was a nobleman, military leader, and colonial administrator in the Portuguese colony of Brazil. He was the first Donatario (Lord Proprietor) of the captaincy of Pernambuco and founder of Olinda.

Early life The birth and childhood of Duarte Coelho Pereira are obscured from history. His father's name was Gonçalo Coelho, but it is not clear which of six men named Gonçalo Coelho may have sired Duarte. Often biographers have assigned his parentage to either the escrivão da fazenda real or the fourth senhor of Felgueiras; however, archival and heraldic evidence supports neither of these men nor points conclusively to any of the four other prominent men named Gonçalo Coelho in this period. That he was not noble at birth is suggested in the fact that coeval writers, some of whom would have known his parentage, are silent as to Duarte Coelho's ancestry. It was common in this era for genealogies to be “adjusted” for famous men; thus, existing genealogies are not conclusive. Likewise, it is also unlikely that there is any substance to the story that Coelho sailed as a boy with his father to Brazil in 1503.

Biography In 1509, he went to India in the fleet of D. Fernando Coutinho, where he served the crown for about 20 years. During that time, he played an important role in the taking of Portuguese Malacca, he was ambassador to Siam, visited China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and played an important role during the capture of Bintan. In 1526, he sent a fleet of brigantines to Sunda Kelapa to fulfill the Luso-Sundanese treaty, however his fleet was destroyed by Fatahillah, a naval commander from Cirebon before they could make contact with Pakuan Pajajaran.

After his return from Asia in 1530, King João put his diplomatic experience to use on a mission to France when Dr. Lourenço Garcês died shortly after his appointment to the French court. In 1531, Duarte Coelho was Capitão-mor of the annual armada to Elmina to take supplies and bring back gold. Returning in 1532, he met with ships returning from India and escorted them back to Portugal. Again in 1532, he patrolled the Malagueta coast and erected fortifications for the crown. Again in 1533, he was dispatched to the Azores to meet and escort the armada returning from India.