Susana Dias

Not to be confused with Portuguese filmmaker Susana de Sousa Dias.

Susana Dias (c. 1553 – 2 September 1634) was a Portuguese bandeirante who, along with her son captain André Fernandes [pt], founded the city of Parnahyba in the Captaincy of São Vicente, which would become the modern-day city of Santana de Parnaíba, São Paulo, Brazil.^[1]

Susana Dias
A monument of Susana Dias in Santana de Parnaíba
Born	Susana Dias c. 1553 Captaincy of São Vicente, Colonial Brazil, Kingdom of Portugal
Died	(1634-09-02)September 2, 1634 Parnahyba, Colonial Brazil, Kingdom of Portugal (present-day Santana de Parnaíba, Brazil)
Spouses	Manoel Fernandes Belchior da Costa ​ (before 1625)​
Children	19
Parent(s)	Pero Lopes (father) Beatriz Dias (mother)

Dias was born around 1553 to Pero Lopes, of Portuguese background, and Beatriz Dias, of Indigenous background. Susana's grandfather was cacique Tibiriçá. She established a farm in 1580 on the banks of the Anhembi river (later called the Tietê river), as part of further Portuguese colonization into the interior of the continent in search of minerals and Indigenous slaves. She erected a well dedicated to Saint Anne to whom she was devoted to on the land, to which the current city of Santana de Parnaíba derives its name. It is estimated that one of her sons, André, was two at the time of the establishment of the city, but the municipality was installed in 1625 under his influence to become a separate municipality from the larger São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, the predecessor to the current city of São Paulo.^[1]

She was married twice; First to Manoel Fernandes, and second to Belchior da Costa, the latter ending in 1625. Between them she had 19 children. Many of these children became bandeirantes themselves, going further into Brazil in search minerals and Indigenous slaves. These children included André; Domingos Fernandes, who would later establish the city of Itu;^[2] and Baltasar Fernandes, one of the founders of the city of Sorocaba.^[3]

References

1. "Santana de Parnaíba, História". Prefeirura Municipal de Santana de Parnaíba.
2. "A Cidade – Prefeitura da Estância Turística de ITU" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Prefeitura de Itu.
3. "History of the City of Sorocaba". Municipality of Sorocaba.