Paulo Dias de Novais

Paulo Dias de Novais
1st Captain-Governor of Portuguese Angola
In office
1575–1589
MonarchsSebastian of Portugal
Henry of Portugal
Philip I of Portugal
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byLuís Serrão
Personal details
Bornc. 1510
Kingdom of Portugal
Died9 May 1589
Massangano, Portuguese Angola
Military service
AllegiancePortuguese Empire

Paulo Dias de Novais (c. 1510 – 9 May 1589), a fidalgo of the Royal Household, was a Portuguese colonizer of Africa in the 16th century and the first Captain-Governor of Portuguese Angola.[1] He was the grandson of the explorer Bartolomeu Dias.[2]

Dias arrived in what is now Angola on 11 February 1575.[3] Attracted by the prospect of the famous silver mines of Cambambe, he founded the settlement of São Paulo de Luanda, near the island of Luanda.[4] He became the first governor of Angola on 19 September 1575.[5]

  1. ^ Caldeira, Arlindo Manuel. "Formação de uma cidade afro-atlântica: Luanda no século XVII" (PDF). Revista TEL. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  2. ^ "A fundação da cidade de Luanda". RTP. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  3. ^ Luanda was born on Cape Island Archived 2011-01-20 at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese).
  4. ^ Livermore, Harold. "Bartolomeu Dias Portuguese explorer". Britannica. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  5. ^ Lingna Nafafé, José (2022). Lourenço da Silva Mendonça and the Black Atlantic Abolitionist Movement in the Seventeenth Century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-83823-8.