Diogo de Teive () was a maritime captain and squire to the House of Infante D. Henrique (1394-1460) during the Portuguese period of discovery. Following his exploration into the western Atlantic in the area of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, in 1452 he discovered the western islands of the archipelago of the Azores: for his efforts he was appointed Donatary for the islands of

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

and Corvo.

Donatário

On 1 January 1451, he disembarked on the island of

Terceira Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, about a third of the way across the North Atlantic Ocean at a similar latitude to Portugal's capital Lisbon, with the island group forming an insular part of Portugal. It is one of the ...

in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

from which he made his base. He realized two voyages of exploration to the west of the archipelago (which then only included the Central and Eastern Groups). In 1452, at the end of his second voyage, he discovered the islands of

and Corvo, which he initially believed were a new archipelago, naming them the ''Ilhas Floreira'' (or literally, the ''Flowered Islands''), due to the abundance of flowering plants.Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.30 On 5 December 1452, for his discovery, he was given a concession in the sugar cane industry on the island of

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

by Infante D. Henrique. Some historians claim that he was responsible for the disappearance of the first

Captain-Major A donatary captain was a Portuguese colonial official to whom the Crown granted jurisdiction, rights and revenues over some colonial territory. The recipient of these grants was called a (donatary), because he had been given the grant as a (donat ...

of the

Captaincy A captaincy ( , , ) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish colonies, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule admin ...

of Flores, although unproven.

Later life

By 1472, he had settled in Ribeira Brava, and along with his son (João de Teive) maintained the donatary rights to the islands until 1474, when D. Fernão Teles de Meneses (married to D. Maria de Vilhena) bought those rights over the islands. The Teive family and their descendants have had an important history in the community of Ribeira Brava, including: Gaspar de Teive (16th Century), D. Aleixo de Teive (16th century), friar António de Teive (theologist and monk in the Order of St. Augustine, prior of Castelo Branco and

Vila Viçosa Vila Viçosa () is a town and a municipality in the Évora (district), District of Évora, Alentejo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 8,319, in an area of 194.86 km². The municipal holiday is August 16. Parishes Administratively, th ...

), Baltazar de Teive (16th century), and also another Diogo de Teive, born in the 18th century ("page and gentleman of King Phillip").

References

Notes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Teive, Diogo de 15th-century Portuguese explorers Donatários of the Azores Maritime history of Portugal Year of birth missing Year of death missing