Pedro de Araújo Lima, Marquis of Olinda

Early life

Pedro de Araújo Lima was born on 22 December 1793 at Antas farm, near the village of Sirinhaém in Pernambuco, a captaincy in northeastern colonial Brazil. His father, Manuel de Araújo Lima, was descended from settlers who arrived from Portugal in the early 16th century with Duarte Coelho, the first captain general of Pernambuco. His mother, Ana Teixeira Cavalcante, traced her ancestry to Filippo Cavalcanti, a Florentine nobleman, who married a daughter of the Portuguese settler Jerônimo de Albuquerque and his Amerindian spouse, herself the daughter of a Tabajara cacique.

The family was old and wealthy, owning several engenhos—sugarcane plantations—including Antas farm. Lacking access to primary schools, which were typically found only in larger towns, Araújo Lima learned to read and write at home. At age twelve in 1805, he moved to Recife, the capital of Pernambuco, to live with a paternal uncle. In 1813 he crossed the Atlantic to study law at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, where his fellow Brazilian students included Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos, Manuel Alves Branco, Cândido José de Araújo Viana, Miguel Calmon du Pin e Almeida, and João Bráulio Muniz.

He graduated on 15 March 1817 and received a doctorate in Canon law on 27 August 1819. Returning to Brazil later that year, he disembarked in Pernambuco in December. In mid-1820 he was offered the offices of ouvidor and Provedor da fazenda, dos defuntos, ausentes, capelas e resíduos in Paracatu, Minas Gerais, but declined both. He was 1.70 m tall, with blue eyes and brown hair.