Published on July 21, 2022 · Updated on October 19, 2026

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History of the Foundation of Paraíba and João Pessoa

The history of the foundation of Paraíba begins long before the arrival of the Portuguese. Before 1500, the Paraíba coast was home to the Potiguara and Tabajara peoples, while the interior was occupied by the Cariri and other groups known as Tapuia.

Later, however, the captaincy was conquered only with great difficulty: five expeditions were needed, between 1574 and 1585, before the Portuguese and the Tabajara founded the city of Nossa Senhora das Neves, today’s João Pessoa, on 5 August 1585.

Background to the Conquest of Paraíba

In the first decades after 1500, Portugal did little to explore Brazil. After all, Portuguese interests were focused on the spice trade in the Indies, and no gold had been found on the Brazilian coast.

Meanwhile, privateers, especially French ones, began to extract brazilwood (pau-brasil), a tree native to the Atlantic Forest that yielded a red dye used to color fabrics in Europe. To do so, they formed alliances with the Potiguara, giving them tools and other goods in exchange for cutting and carrying the timber, a barter system known as escambo.

Worried about this trade, the Portuguese sent coast-guard expeditions. However, these failed to put an end to the smuggling. For this reason, in 1534, King D. João III created the system of hereditary captaincies, dividing the colony into about 15 tracts of land handed over to 12 grantees (donatários).

The Captaincy of Itamaracá

Among them was the Captaincy of Itamaracá, which stretched from the Santa Cruz channel to the Baía da Traição and included most of present-day Paraíba. It was granted to Pero Lopes de Sousa, who never actually took office. Instead, administrators such as Francisco Braga and, later, João Gonçalves came in his place; the latter founded the Vila da Conceição and built sugar mills (engenhos).

After the death of João Gonçalves, however, the captaincy fell into decline, and the timber smuggling continued.

The Tracunhaém tragedy (1574)

In 1574, Potiguara allied with the French attacked Diogo Dias’s sugar mill in Tracunhaém and killed all its residents. In response, King D. Sebastião separated the region from Itamaracá and created the Royal Captaincy of Paraíba, administered directly by the Crown.

For the Portuguese, conquering Paraíba was essential. First of all, it protected the wealthy captaincy of Pernambuco. In addition, the conquest would break the alliance between the Potiguara and the French and open the way for the colonization of the north.

The Conquest of Paraíba: the Five Expeditions

Along with the order to create the new captaincy, the governor-general, D. Luís de Brito, received three missions from the king: to punish those responsible for the attack, to expel the French and to found a city. Thus began the five expeditions for the conquest of Paraíba, which would eventually lead to the foundation of Paraíba.

First expedition (1574)

The commander was the Crown judge (ouvidor-geral) Fernão da Silva. On arrival, he took possession of the land in the king’s name without resistance. However, it was a trap: his troops were taken by surprise by the Indigenous warriors and had to retreat to Pernambuco.

Second expedition (1575)

This time, the governor-general himself, D. Luís de Brito, led the expedition. However, unfavorable winds prevented the ships from reaching Paraíba. Three years later, the new governor-general, Lourenço da Veiga, also tried, but without success.

Third expedition (1579)

Frutuoso Barbosa accepted the mission on the condition that he would govern Paraíba for ten years if he conquered it. Nevertheless, a strong storm hit his fleet, which had to return to Portugal, and he lost his wife during the voyage.

Fourth expedition (1582)

With the same offer, Frutuoso Barbosa returned determined to conquer Paraíba. Once again, however, he fell into an ambush by Indigenous warriors and the French, and he gave up after losing a son in combat.

Fifth expedition (1584)

Finally, in 1584, the Spanish fleet of Diogo Flores Valdés, together with Frutuoso Barbosa and Filipe de Moura, drove the French out of the mouth of the Paraíba River. Next, it built the Forte de São Filipe e São Tiago there, in honor of King Philip II of Spain, who since 1580 had also ruled Portugal as Philip I.

The Founding of Nossa Senhora das Neves (1585)

Even so, the fort was surrounded by the Potiguara and went through hardships because of quarrels between the Spanish and the Portuguese. Therefore, in March 1585, the Crown judge Martim Leitão arrived in the region with a force of white settlers, Indigenous people, enslaved people and members of the clergy.

On the way, the troops captured a group of Indigenous people. When he learned that they were Tabajara, Leitão ordered their release, stating that he was fighting only against the Potiguara, their rivals. Even so, the Tabajara, fearing betrayal, rejected the first offer of an alliance.

Meanwhile, the situation at the fort grew worse. The Spaniard Castrejón, who commanded the garrison, abandoned and destroyed the fort and threw the artillery into the sea. As a result, Leitão arrested him and sent him back to Spain.

The alliance with the Tabajara

Shortly afterwards, on 2 August 1585, Captain João Tavares sealed a peace agreement with the Tabajara chief Piragibe, a name meaning “fish arm”. Thanks to this alliance, the Potiguara withdrew.

Thus, on 5 August 1585, on a hill on the banks of the Sanhauá River, a tributary of the Paraíba, the Cidade Real de Nossa Senhora das Neves (Royal City of Our Lady of the Snows) was founded. It was named after the saint of the day, who is still the city’s patron saint today. Soon afterwards, Martim Leitão brought stonemasons, carpenters and other workers to build the city, and he then went to the Baía da Traição to drive out the last of the French.

In this way, with the foundation of Paraíba, the city became the third one founded in Brazil, after Salvador (1549) and Rio de Janeiro (1565), and the last one of the 16th century.

The Names of the City of João Pessoa

Over almost four centuries, the capital of Paraíba changed its name several times:

• Cidade Real de Nossa Senhora das Neves (1585) – first, in honor of the saint of the founding day.
• Filipeia de Nossa Senhora das Neves – soon afterwards, in honor of King Philip II of Spain and I of Portugal.
• Frederikstadt (1634) – during Dutch rule, in honor of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange.
• Parahyba or Parahyba do Norte (1654) – after the expulsion of the Dutch.
• João Pessoa (1930) – finally, by State Law No. 700 of 4 September 1930, in honor of the state president who was assassinated that year.

The name Paraíba, on the other hand, comes from the Tupi language and is usually translated as “bad river” or “river that is hard to navigate”. The historian Varnhagen also gives “evil river”, whereas Teodoro Sampaio gives “impassable river”. Before that, the Portuguese called the river São Domingos.

Fundação da Capital da Paraíba - João Pessoa

The city’s early years

In the first decades, the city grew slowly. Among its most important residents was Duarte Gomes da Silveira, a companion of Martim Leitão, who created rewards for anyone who built houses. Moreover, in 1639, he founded the Morgado Salvador do Mundo, an entailed estate, as an endowment for the Santa Casa de Misericórdia.

In the 1630s, Filipeia had about 1,500 inhabitants, and 18 sugarcane mills were operating around it.

Later on, in the 18th century, new churches marked the city’s expansion. Among them, the Baroque complex of the Igreja de São Francisco and the Convento de Santo Antônio stands out, now the Centro Cultural São Francisco.

The First Captains-Major of Paraíba

João Tavares (1585–1588)

As the first captain-major, João Tavares was tasked by Martim Leitão with building the new city. For this purpose, knights, stonemasons, carpenters and Jesuits arrived. He also founded the first sugar mill, the d’El-Rei mill, in Tibiri, protected by the Forte de São Sebastião.

During this period, the Jesuits were in charge of catechizing the Indigenous people. In addition, the government relied on the help of Duarte Gomes da Silveira, a sugar mill owner who for more than 50 years was one of the leading figures of the captaincy. In 1588, however, João Tavares was removed from office by decision of the Crown.

Frutuoso Barbosa (1588–1591)

After pressing his case at court for a long time, Frutuoso Barbosa was finally appointed captain-major, with D. Pedro de la Cueva as military chief. At that time, the Franciscan friars also arrived, and they soon came into conflict with the Jesuits.

Taking advantage of the turmoil, the Potiguara attacked properties. Consequently, the captain-major of Itamaracá, João Tavares and Piragibe came to the rescue with their warriors. On the way, however, João Tavares died of a sudden illness. Even so, the group defeated the Potiguara.

To prevent the French from returning, Barbosa ordered the construction of a fortress in Cabedelo. In the end, tired of the conflicts with the Potiguara and with the Jesuits, he left the government in 1591.

André de Albuquerque Maranhão (1591–1592)

André de Albuquerque governed for just one year. During that time, he fought the Potiguara and built fortifications, such as the Forte de Inhobim, to protect the sugar mills. Even so, the Potiguara managed to set fire to the fort at Cabedelo.

Feliciano Coelho de Carvalho (1592–1600)

Lastly, Feliciano Coelho fought the Potiguara in Copaoba until peace was finally made with the Indigenous people. Furthermore, he opened roads and came into conflict with the Franciscans.

Religious Orders in the Captaincy of Paraíba

Jesuits

The Jesuits were the first missionaries to reach the captaincy. However, conflicts with the Franciscans, who used less rigid methods, led to their expulsion from Paraíba in 1593. More than a century later, they returned and founded a college, where they taught Latin, philosophy and letters.

Later, they founded a seminary next to the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, where the garden of the Palácio do Governo (Government Palace) stands today. In 1759, however, the Marquis of Pombal expelled the Jesuits from the whole of Brazil.

Franciscans

At the request of Frutuoso Barbosa, the Franciscans arrived in 1589 to catechize the Indigenous people. Under the leadership of Friar Antônio do Campo Maior, they founded the first convent in the captaincy and worked in several villages. Like the Jesuits, they opposed the enslavement of Indigenous people. As a result, their large convent, where the Praça São Francisco is located today, became one of the centers of the city’s religious life.

Benedictines and Carmelites

The Benedictines received a plot of land from Feliciano Coelho to build their monastery, on the condition that they finish it within two years. Although the deadline was not met, the governor nevertheless kept the donation. Today, the Igreja de São Bento still preserves a weather vane from 1753.

The Carmelites, for their part, were invited by Cardinal D. Henrique in 1580, but they only reached Paraíba years later, already under Spanish rule. They founded a convent and the Igreja do Carmo. Unfortunately, many of the documents about this period were lost during the Dutch occupation.

The Indigenous Peoples of Paraíba

At the time of the conquest, Paraíba had two major Indigenous groups: the Tupi on the coast and the Tapuia in the interior, above all the Cariri.

• Tabajara: a Tupi group from the southern coast, with about 5,000 people, who allied themselves with the Portuguese. Their villages included Alhandra and Taquara.
• Potiguara: also Tupi, they were more numerous and enemies of the Tabajara; moreover, they occupied the northern coast as far as Rio Grande do Norte and allied themselves with the French.
• Cariri and other Tapuia: finally, they occupied the Borborema plateau and the sertão (the semi-arid backlands), up to the borders of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco.

Some Indigenous leaders stood out in this history. For example, Piragibe sealed the peace that made the founding of the city possible, Tabira fought against the French, and Poti (Filipe Camarão) fought the Dutch and took part in the first Battle of Guararapes.

Even today, the Potiguara live on Indigenous lands in the municipalities of Baía da Traição, Marcação and Rio Tinto, on the northern coast. There, they keep traditions such as the toré, a ritual dance performed at the festivities of 19 April, and they live mainly from fishing and farming.

The Dutch Invasions of Paraíba

In 1578, the young King D. Sebastião died at the battle of Alcácer-Quibir, in Morocco. Then the throne passed to his uncle, Cardinal D. Henrique, who died in 1580 without heirs. Thus, Philip II of Spain took over the Portuguese crown, beginning the Iberian Union.

This harmed the Dutch, who were fighting for independence from Spain and dominated the Brazilian sugar trade. Since they were forbidden to trade with the Portuguese colonies, they created the Dutch West India Company in 1621, with the aim of conquering the sugar-producing areas.

From Salvador to the Baía da Traição (1624–1625)

The first major offensive was the Dutch invasion of Salvador in 1624. In May 1625, however, the fleet of D. Fradique de Toledo Osório drove out the invaders.

As they withdrew, Boudewijn Hendricksz’s Dutch forces headed for the Baía da Traição, where they landed and fortified themselves. In August 1625, troops from Paraíba and Pernambuco, together with Indigenous fighters, then expelled them. After that, the Potiguara who had helped the Dutch were harshly persecuted.

The attacks on Cabedelo (1631–1634)

After conquering Olinda and Recife in 1630, the Dutch turned their eyes to Paraíba. Fearing new attacks, the Portuguese reinforced the Fortaleza de Santa Catarina in Cabedelo and, on the opposite bank of the river, built the Forte de Santo Antônio.

Indeed, in December 1631, about 1,600 Dutch soldiers commanded by Callenfels landed and dug trenches in front of the fortress. However, they were defeated when 600 men arrived from Filipeia. Later, a new attempt against the Forte de Santo Antônio also failed, and so the Dutch returned to Cabo de Santo Agostinho.

The Dutch conquest (1634)

Even so, Paraíba was strategic for securing control of Pernambuco. For this reason, in November 1634, a fleet of 29 ships with about 2,500 men commanded by Sigismund von Schkoppe set sail for Paraíba.

After weeks of fighting, the defenders surrendered the Fortaleza de Cabedelo and the Forte de Santo Antônio. When the Dutch reached Filipeia on 24 December 1634, they found it empty: before fleeing, the residents had set fire to the most important buildings. The city was then renamed Frederikstadt.

Dutch Paraíba (1634–1654)

For two decades, Paraíba was governed by Dutch administrators:

• Servaes Carpentier – he also governed Rio Grande do Norte and lived in the Convento de São Francisco.
• Ippo Eyssens – on the other hand, he became known for his violence and seized the best sugar mills.
• Elias Herckmans – he governed for about five years and, in addition, explored the interior in search of mines, reaching the Serra da Borborema.
• Gijsbert de With – he was considered the most honest and humane administrator.
• Paulo de Linge – finally, he was defeated by the insurgents and took refuge in Cabedelo.

Even during the occupation, the people of Paraíba resisted. Led by André Vidal de Negreiros, a native of Paraíba, they took part in the Insurreição Pernambucana (Pernambuco Insurrection), which began in 1645. Finally, in 1654, the Dutch were expelled from Brazil, and the city was renamed Parahyba. Soon afterwards, in 1655, João Fernandes Vieira took over the government of the captaincy.

Before that, in January 1640, the Luso-Spanish fleet of the Count of Torre faced the Dutch fleet off the coast between Pernambuco and Paraíba. This fleet had left Lisbon in 1638, but an epidemic killed about a third of the crew and forced it to stay in Cape Verde for months. Consequently, the naval battle was not decisive.

The Conquest of the Interior of Paraíba

After the expulsion of the Dutch, the interior was occupied through religious missions, entradas and bandeiras (armed expeditions into the backlands, whose members were called bandeirantes). In the missions, the clergy catechized the Indigenous people, taught trades and built schools. Among them, Father Martim de Nantes stood out, and his mission gave rise to the town of Pilar.

Next came the bandeiras. The captain-major Teodósio de Oliveira Ledo led the first of them, traveling up the Paraíba River and founding the settlement of Boqueirão. For this reason, he is regarded as the main figure behind the occupation of the Paraíba interior, where he brought families and Indigenous people from the mission villages.

After him, other bandeirantes pushed forward, such as the captain-major Luís Soares and Francisco Dias d’Ávila, of the Casa da Torre. However, the peoples of the sertão, such as the Cariri, Sucuru, Icó and Pega, resisted for decades in the so-called Guerra dos Bárbaros (War of the Barbarians).

The first towns of the interior

• Campina Grande: in 1697, Teodósio de Oliveira Ledo set up a mission village of Cariri people in the region. Soon, a market sprang up around the village, which explains the city’s commercial vocation. In 1790, it became the Vila Nova da Rainha. Today, Campina Grande is one of the largest inland cities in the Northeast.
• Pilar: it grew out of Father Martim de Nantes’s mission and was then raised to the status of town in 1765.
• Sousa: formerly called Jardim do Rio do Peixe, it was raised to the status of town in 1766, in honor of the benefactor Bento Freire de Sousa. Today, it is famous for the Vale dos Dinossauros (Valley of the Dinosaurs).
• Pombal: at the end of the 17th century, Teodósio de Oliveira Ledo founded a village there on the banks of the Piranhas River. Later, in 1772, it became a town named Pombal, in honor of the marquis.
• São João do Cariri: first settled in the 17th century, it was raised to the status of town in 1800.
• Areia: formerly known as Bruxaxá, it became a parish in 1815 and a city in 1846. Today, it is one of the most beautiful historic towns in the state.

Politics, Economy and Society in Colonial Paraíba

Politics

Created in 1574 as a royal captaincy, Paraíba was governed by captains-major appointed by the Crown. However, in 1756, it was annexed to the captaincy of Pernambuco, which harmed both its economy and its administration.

For this reason, in 1797, Governor Fernando Delgado Freire de Castilho sent Queen D. Maria I a report on the situation of the captaincy. Finally, by the Royal Charter (Carta Régia) of 11 January 1799, Paraíba became autonomous again.

Economy

In colonial times, the main sources of wealth in Paraíba were brazilwood, sugarcane, cotton and cattle.

• Brazilwood: called ibirapitanga by the Indigenous peoples, it was abundant in the Atlantic Forest of Pernambuco and Paraíba. Its name, in fact, comes from a similar Asian wood that was already used in Europe as a dye.
• Sugarcane: it was the captaincy’s main source of wealth. Brought from the Atlantic islands, such as Madeira, it reached Brazil in the first years of colonization. As early as the first decade after the foundation of Paraíba, the captaincy had ten sugar mills.
• Cotton: although the French already traded it, the “white gold” economy only grew in the 18th century.
• Cattle: besides providing food, cattle also powered the mills’ grinders. Later, in the so-called “leather civilization”, almost everything in the sertão was made of leather, from doors to chests.

Slavery

From the very beginning, the sugar economy depended on enslaved labor. At first, Indigenous people were enslaved. Then, following the 1559 decree (alvará) of the regent queen D. Catarina, each sugar mill owner was allowed to import up to 120 enslaved Africans. From then on, the slave trade grew in Paraíba, just as it did throughout the sugar-producing Northeast.

Society and churches

At the top of society were the sugar mill owners, some of whom came from Pernambuco. Below them were merchants, Crown officials and farmers, while the enslaved were at the bottom. In addition, the Church had great power over social life.

The main churches of the colonial period include:

1. Matriz de Nossa Senhora das Neves, now the Catedral Basílica (Cathedral Basilica)
2. Igreja da Misericórdia
3. Igreja das Mercês
4. Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos
5. Capela de Nossa Senhora Mãe dos Homens
6. Igreja do Bom Jesus dos Martírios

Revolts and Movements in Which Paraíba Took Part

Guerra dos Mascates – Peddlers’ War (1710–1711)

In 1709, the settlement of Recife, dominated by Portuguese merchants known as mascates (peddlers), was raised to the status of town. This angered the sugar mill owners of Olinda, many of whom were in debt to the mascates, and they even occupied Recife. In this conflict, the governor of Paraíba, João da Maia da Gama, supported the mascates, who eventually won.

Revolução Pernambucana (1817)

At the beginning of the 19th century, liberal and Enlightenment ideas reached Paraíba through Freemasonry and through intellectuals such as the naturalist Manuel Arruda da Câmara. As a result, the captaincy joined the Revolução Pernambucana of 1817, a republican movement that also spread to Alagoas, Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará.

The rebels even formed a provisional government. However, the Crown reacted quickly, and within a few months the revolution was defeated. Among the Paraíba leaders who were executed were José Peregrino de Carvalho and Amaro Gomes Coutinho.

Independence and the Confederação do Equador (1822–1824)

In 1822, Paraíba joined the Independence of Brazil. Two years later, however, after D. Pedro I dissolved the Constituent Assembly and imposed the Constitution of 1824, Pernambuco led the Confederação do Equador, which sought to unite the provinces of the Northeast in a republic.

Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará joined the movement. Nevertheless, the repression was harsh. Among the leaders executed was Frei Caneca, who was shot by firing squad in 1825.

Revolução Praieira (1848–1849)

Inspired by the European revolutions of 1848, the Praieira (named after the Rua da Praia, or Beach Street) began in Pernambuco, led by liberals linked to the newspaper on the Rua da Praia. Among other things, they demanded freedom of the press and an end to Portuguese control over trade in Recife. After the defeat in Recife in 1849, the leader Borges da Fonseca continued to fight in Paraíba. In the end, this was the last major revolt of the Empire.

Ronco da Abelha – Bee’s Buzz (1851–1852)

In the backlands of Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas and Ceará, the poor population rose up against the decree that created the civil registry of births and deaths. After all, many believed that the law would be used to enslave free men, at a time when the slave trade had just been banned.

Quebra-Quilos – Kilo Breakers (1874)

In 1874, the adoption of the metric system and the collection of new taxes at markets sparked the Quebra-Quilos revolt, in which the rebels destroyed the new weights and measures. In Campina Grande, for example, there were many arrests, including that of the priest Calixto Correia da Nóbrega.

The Revolution of 1930 and the Name João Pessoa

With the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889, Paraíba became a state. Then, in 1929, the state president, João Pessoa, refused to support Júlio Prestes’s candidacy for the presidency of the Republic, in the famous “Nego” (Portuguese for “I refuse”). Next, he became the vice-presidential candidate on Getúlio Vargas’s ticket.

Shortly afterwards, in 1930, Colonel José Pereira led the Revolta de Princesa (Princesa Revolt) in the sertão against João Pessoa’s government. Finally, on 26 July 1930, João Pessoa was assassinated by João Dantas at the Confeitaria Glória in Recife.

The crime caused great public outrage and was one of the triggers of the Revolution of 1930, which overthrew President Washington Luís and brought Getúlio Vargas to power. Thus, on 4 September of that year, the capital of Paraíba was renamed João Pessoa.

To get to know the capital today, see our guide on what to do in João Pessoa.

Frequently asked questions about the foundation of Paraíba

When was the foundation of Paraíba?

The captaincy was created in 1574, and then the city of Nossa Senhora das Neves, today’s João Pessoa, was founded on 5 August 1585.

That is why João Pessoa’s anniversary is celebrated on 5 August.

Who founded João Pessoa?

The city was founded by the Portuguese under the command of the Crown judge Martim Leitão and Captain João Tavares.

In addition, the alliance with the Tabajara chief Piragibe was decisive for the conquest.

What were the names of João Pessoa?

First Nossa Senhora das Neves (1585), then Filipeia de Nossa Senhora das Neves, Frederikstadt (1634), Parahyba (1654) and finally João Pessoa (1930).

Why is the capital called João Pessoa?

The name honors João Pessoa, the state president who was assassinated in Recife on 26 July 1930.

Accordingly, the change was made official by State Law No. 700 of 4 September 1930.

Is João Pessoa the third oldest city in Brazil?

Yes, it is considered the third city founded in Brazil, after Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.

How long did the Dutch stay in Paraíba?

About 20 years, from December 1634 until 1654.

During that period, the capital was called Frederikstadt.

What does the name Paraíba mean?

The name comes from the Tupi language and is usually translated as “bad river” or “river that is hard to navigate”.