António de Noli facts for kids
Antonio de Noli (born around 1415 or 1419) was an important explorer and nobleman from Genoa, Italy, in the 1400s. He was the first governor of the earliest European colony in Subsaharan Africa.
Antonio de Noli discovered some of the Cape Verde islands for Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal. Later, King Afonso V made him the first Governor of Cape Verde. You'll often find him called Antonio de Noli in history books and official records. In Italy, he's also known as Antonio da Noli or sometimes Antoniotto Usodimare.
Who Was Antonio de Noli?
Antonio de Noli was born into a noble family in Genoa, Italy. Old records from his time, like those by Portuguese historian João de Barros in 1552, say he was from Genoa and "of noble blood." Many modern historians agree he was Genoese.
Around 1447, Antonio de Noli, who was a navy captain and map expert, had to leave Genoa. This was because of political fights between powerful families there. He sailed to Portugal with three ships, his brother Bartholomew, and his nephew Raphael. In Portugal, he started working with Prince Henry the Navigator on overseas explorations.
From 1462 to 1496, Antonio de Noli founded and led Ribeira Grande. This place is now called Cidade Velha and is on the southern part of Santiago Island.
The de Noli family is thought to have come from a small town and castle called Noli. By the 1300s, there were two main branches of the family in Northern Italy. One was in Genoa, and the other in Novara. Members of the Noli family were involved in the government of Genoa as early as the 1200s.
Discovering Islands
Many old history books say Antonio de Noli discovered the Cape Verde Islands. These islands were sometimes called the "ancient Hesperides" by old writers like Pliny. A royal letter from September 19, 1462, supports this.
It's not completely clear which of the Cape Verde Islands Antonio de Noli discovered. Some islands are mentioned in a letter from December 3, 1460. The rest are in the letter from September 19, 1462. Antonio de Noli is credited with finding the first group of islands. Other explorers like Diogo Gomes, Diogo Dias, Diogo Afonso, and Alvise Cadamosto might have found the others.
An official royal letter from October 29, 1462, states that Diogo Afonso, the king's scribe, discovered the last seven islands. The letter from September 19, 1462, gives all the Cape Verde islands to Dom Fernando. In this letter, Antonio de Noli is named as the discoverer of the first five islands. This was the first time his name was officially mentioned as a discoverer.
His Family After Him
Governor Antonio de Noli had a daughter named Dona Branca de Aguiar. She married a Portuguese nobleman, Dom Jorge Correia de Sousa. He also had a son who joined him during his early explorations in Africa.
During the War of the Castilian Succession (1475–1479), the Crown of Castile (which later became Spain) took over the Cape Verde Islands. Even though his titles came from Portugal, Antonio de Noli stayed on as governor. After the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479, Portugal regained control. The governorship then went to Noli's daughter Branca and her Portuguese husband.
After this, there are no more records of Antonio de Noli. We don't know when or where he died, or what happened to his son, his fortune, or his brother Bartholomew and nephew Raphael. For political reasons, the Noli family was still not allowed to return to Genoa in 1497.
In 2008, some old papers were found in the Biblioteca Malatestiana in Cesena, Italy. These papers showed that the de Noli family was in Cesena by the late 1400s. Two documents showed the Noli family's coat of arms. One said "Famiglia Noli oriunda" under the coat of arms. "Oriunda" means "not from Cesena," so they came from somewhere else.
The first mention of the de Noli family in Cesena was "Simone de Antonio Noli Biondi." This means Antonio Noli was his father. Later, Simone de Noli Biondi was a member of the Cesena Council in 1505. Other de Noli descendants also held this position later. Eventually, the family was reported as "extinct" in Cesena.
However, a few years later, descendants of an Antonio de Noli appeared in Northern Genoa. Records from 1586 show names like Antonio de Noli, Bartholomew, Simone, and Raphael. These were names used by the explorer Antonio de Noli and his family. The descendants settled in a small village called Noli in Northern Genoa. Like most de Noli families from the Liguria region, their coat of arms has the red and white colors of the old cities of Noli and Genoa.
Legacy
During World War II, an Italian destroyer ship was named Antonio da Noli. It sank near Corsica on September 9, 1943. This was the day after Italy surrendered to the Allies.
See also
In Spanish: Antonio de Noli para niños
