Estácio de Sá (1520-1567) was a Portuguese military officer who fought to expel the French from Guanabara Bay and founded the city of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro in 1565.

Estácio's mission was not easy: the French had been established in Guanabara Bay since 1555, when the first mission commanded by Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon arrived, and they had the support of the Tupinambá.

Estácio founded the city of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro on March 1, 1565, at the foot of Sugarloaf Mountain. The city's original name was a tribute to the young King of Portugal, D. Sebastião. The French remained there until 1567, when Estácio and the Portuguese finally expelled them.

In January 1567, the Portuguese prepared the decisive blow: a veritable fleet – three galleons, two ships, six caravels and many smaller vessels – set sail from Bahia, commanded by Mem de Sá himself and with the presence of Father José de Anchieta; from Espírito Santo, a troop arrived with a majority of Temiminó Indians, enemies of the Tupinambá and allies of the Portuguese.

The Battle of Uruçumirim was then won where, the Portuguese report, Saint Sebastian himself appeared fighting alongside them and the Temiminó – as he had appeared a year earlier in the Battle of the Canoes, in the middle of Guanabara Bay, helping to save one of Estácio de Sá's men from the siege of the Tamoio Indians. It was the victory on January 20th that definitively secured Portuguese dominance over Guanabara Bay, with the expulsion of the French.

In the Battle, Estácio de Sá was wounded in the face by a poisoned arrow. The soldier's health worsened each day, his face marked by infection, until fever overcame him. Wounded on the eve of Saint Sebastian's Day, he died a few days before the anniversary of the founding of his city, on February 20th, 1567. His remains are now in a tomb in the Capuchin Church in Tijuca.

In this first phase of colonization, Captain-Major Estácio de Sá fought bravely to reaffirm Portuguese power in Rio de Janeiro, resisting numerous attacks by the French and indigenous people throughout his command.

In the city he helped build, the Portuguese soldier... Historical records do not mention the private life of the Portuguese soldier, whether he had children or family. He also received other recognitions. Founded in 1865, the Estácio neighborhood in the Central Zone is one of them. Known in the past as a residential area for the middle and lower-middle classes, it now has a street, a square, and a traditional samba school named after the founder of Rio. In Urca, the courageous Portuguese man is honored by having his name given to the traditional E.M. Estácio de Sá school.

Source:

.- [Dicionário do Brasil Colonial, de Ronaldo Vainfas.](https://es.scribd.com/document/428142647/R-VAINFAS-Dicionario-Do-Brasil-Colonial)

Estácio de Sá wounded by an arrow from the Tamoio Indians during the Battle of Uruçumirim in 1567. Illustration by Ivan Wasth Rodrigues. História do Brasil em Quadrinhos, Part 1 (1959)