Links Between Brazil and Ireland: 1500-1600

 

1659                      Fr. Richard Cary (or Carew) of Waterford visited Brazil from 1659-1662 from Portugal, where he was a Jesuit professor of theology.

 

1654                      Richard Flecknoe: ‘A relation of ten years travells in Europe, Asia, Affrique and America’. London.

This is regarded as the first book written by an English speaking traveler to Brazil. Published in London - http://www.answers.com/topic/richard-flecknoe

 

1643                      A group of Irish catholics requested permission from D. João of Portugal to establish a colony in the present day Municipality of Gurupá, Paraná State.

The group, which had already set out, was denied permission and had to return. Gurupá: http://www.ferias.tur.br/informacoes/4639/gurupa-pa.html

 

1620                      ‘Coconut Grove’ (Cocodivae) was established by Bernardo O´Brien and a group of Irish settlers

on the northern bank of the Amazon River - http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/obrien.html

 

1612                      Philip and James Purcell established a colony in Tocukos (or Tauregue),on the mouth of the Amazon River where they settled and traded in

tobacco, dyes and hardwoods - http://gogobrazil.com/amazonirish.html  Bernardo O'Brien from Co. Clare (1612) arrived later with a second group.

See: LORIMER, Joyce, ed., English and Irish Settlements on the River Amazon, 1550-1646 (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1989). Tobacco

planters in league with the Dutch. Analysis of contemporary account by the Co. Clare planter Bernardo O'Brien significantly extends

evidence available to Aubrey Gwynn in "Irish Settlement", above.

 

31.12.1577           Fr. Thomas Field (1547-1626), a Jesuit from Limerick, appears to have been the first Irishman to settle in Brazil. He lived in Piratininga for 3 years (present-day São Paulo).  Over the following 10 years he helped establish the Jesuit Missions among the Guaraní people in Paraguay together with two of his colleagues. He died in Asunción. See: GWYNN, Aubrey, Father Thomas Field, S.J. (Dublin: The Irish Messenger, 1924). Pamphlet in the Sheaf Mission Series. Detailed account of pioneer Irish missionary in 16th - 17th C Brazil and Paraguay. Furlong, Kirby and MacErlean. GWYNN, Aubrey , "The First Irish Priests in the New World" in Studies, Vol. XXI, No. 82 (June 1932), pp. 213-228. Mentions work of Fr. Thomas Field or Fihilly in Brazil and Paraguay. In author's opinion, Field was "the first Irishman to have said Mass in the New World." Also mentions early 17th C Irish settlements on Amazon.