Note 962 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
Mr. Stephens (p. 226) states that there were created three vast "chief captaincies." Baron de Rio-Branco, in his Esquisse de l'histoire du Brésil, in the compilation Brésil en 1889, specifies a division by the king (1532-35) into twelve hereditary captaincies. Both statements seem true. The policy of non-interference was wisely adhered to by later governors, though Thomas de Sousa (circa 1550) introduced a necessary measure of centralisation.