Captain-major
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Captain-major".

Captain-major is the English rendering of the Portuguese title Capitão-mor (sometimes Capitão Donatário) for colonial officers, put in charge of a capitania, Portuguese possession (called captaincy, after his title) deemed not (yet) important enough to have its own colonial Governor.

This was notably the case in the following Portuguese colonies, but the list is probably incomplete:

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North Atlantic

Africa

South America

  • Brazilian provinces (some had Governors from the start):
    • Ceará, a captaincy since 1619 (1621-1656 subordinated to Maranhão), there were Captains-major 30 June 1699- 17 January 1799, then Ceará captaincy was split from Pernambuco (to which it had been subordinated since 1656) under its own Governor
    • Espríto Santo, which had been a donataria under its own Governors since 1535, had captains-major 1627-1675, then again two Governors Donatory, and more Captains-major 1682-1799 (though since 1718 it was a crown colony, subordinated to Bahia), afterwards again Governors
    • Grão-Pará had Captains-majors since in 1615 the Settlement begun as a part of Marahão (it was the residence of its Governors 1737-1755) - 1753, next Governors(-general)
    • Maranhão had Captains-major 1745 - 1775, next (as before since 9 January 1616) Governors
    • since its creation in 1582 in the Captaincy of Paraíba, subordinated to Pernambuco, except the occuption (Dutch Directors 1635-1645) and the single 1645-1655 Junta (council), till 1797, next Governors; in 1799 a separate Captaincy of Paraíba do Norte was created
    • at least one Captain-Major is known of the Captaincy of Pernambuco (1535 founded as Donátaria of Nova Lusitania, renamed in 1575), Manuel de Mascarenhas Homem; no later then 1699 it got its own Governors, but nevertheless it became in 1716 a Crown colony, called captaincy of Pernambuco...
    • the 1597 founded Captaincy of Rio Grande had a single Captain-major 1697-1701, Bernardo Vieira de Mello, next Governors, subordinated to Pernambuco till 1808; since 1737 it got its modern name Rio Grande do Norte
    • at least since 1761 in the 1759 founded Captaincy of São José do Piauí, subordinated to Maranhão until 1811, from then with its own governors, since 28 February 1821 renamed Province of Piauí
    • São Vicente had Captains-major 1533 (till 1691 alongside Donatários); on 17 April 1709 the name of São Vicente changed to São Paulo e Minas de Ouro, since 18 June 1710 it had its own Governors (in 1750 it was renamed São Paulo, since 28 February 1821 it is a province)
    • Sergipe d'el Rei had Captains-major since 1696 (also after the 1763 merger with Baía) till 20 February 1821, next it was a province under its own Governors

Asia

  • since 1518 (except in 1524 1551) a Portuguese Captain-major was appointed to Colombo, the capital of Kotte kingdom on Ceylon island (present Sri Lanka), until the last incumbent, Pedro Homem Pereira, was promoted to Governor in 1594; on 27 May 1597, King Dharmapala of Kotte dies without heirs, and bequeaths his entire kingdom to the King of Portugal, making all Ceylon a Portuguese colony
  • since in 1557 the Portuguese established a trading post at Macau (subordinated to Goa in India), it had Captains-major till 1622, then Governors since 7 July 1623 until 19 December 1999 (finally returned to China)
  • East-Timor, a colony since 1642, had Captains at least since 1647, then Captains-major 1665-1702, next Governors
  • Ormus (present Hormuz, in Iran) had Captains-major both in September 1507 - January 1508 as the Portuguese first occupy it, again when since 1 April 1515 Hormuz (Ormuz) Island became a Portuguese possession (subordinated to Goa in India), until its 3 May 1622 incorporated into Persia
  • Malacca, since 24 August 1511 a Portuguese colony on peninsular Malaysia, had Captains-major since 1512 (subordinated to Goa) till 14 January 1641, next Captains-general, till is was list on 14 January 1641 to the Dutch

Even smaller possessions could be under an officer simply styled Capitão (captain)

Such was the case in the following places:

(see also above for those who later got captains-majors):

Colonial captaincies in Africa

Colonial captaincies in America


Other meanings

Captain-major is also an Estonian Navy rank which is 1st senior officer rank and equal to a commander in western navies.

See also

Sources and references
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