António de Ataíde
Afonso de Albuquerque, the prominent second governor of the Portuguese Estado da Índia, was his first cousin.[1] His father, Dom Álvaro de Ataíde, senhor (Lord) da Castanheira, had participated in the conspiracy of the Duke of Viseu against king John II and from 1484 to 1496 was exiled in Spain.John III sent him on diplomatic missions to several European countries while he was still in his 20s and appointed him state councilor in 1525 and then vedor da fazenda (Minister of Finance or chancellor) in 1530,[3] a post that he would hold until the king's death in 1557.On November 10, 1556, by decree of King John III, Ataíde became a Donatary of the captaincy of the islands of Itaparica and Tamarandiva, located at the entrance to the Bay of All Saints (Salvador).[3] He was thus rewarded for the more than two and a half decades that he dedicated to the policies of the Portuguese Crown towards her South American colony.