Person

Duarte Coelho

c. 1485–1554 · 16th century · Also known as Duarte Coelho Pereira

Duarte Coelho was a Portuguese soldier and navigator who had served in Asia before King John III granted him the captaincy of Pernambuco in 1534. Calling it Nova Lusitânia, he founded Olinda and built a colony based on sugar mills, which became the most prosperous of the hereditary captaincies of Brazil.

Duarte Coelho
Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Captaincy of Pernambuco

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Duarte Coelho. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/duarte-coelho
MLA
“Duarte Coelho.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/duarte-coelho. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Duarte Coelho.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/duarte-coelho.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Duarte Coelho’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/duarte-coelho (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻