donatary captaincy

English

Noun

donatary captaincy (plural donatary captaincies)

1. (historical) A hereditary land grant in colonial Brazil, held by a donatary captain.
   • 1983, James Lockhart, Stuart B. Schwartz, Early Latin America:

     The main feature was the hereditary seigneury or donatary captaincy, under which lordship over extensive territories on the Brazilian coast was granted out between 1533 and 1535.

   • 1994, Otto Solbrig, Dorothy J. Solbrig, So Shall You Reap: Farming And Crops In Human Affairs, page 155:

     Pernambuco proved to be the most successful of the donatary captaincies established in Brazil, largely owing to the donatary Duarte Coelho.

   • 2006, John Michael Francis, Iberia and the Americas, page 412:

     Donatary captaincies were the political, territorial, and administrative units of colonial Brazil.