We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
And from there proceeded to the Court
The owner of Serro do Frio.
THE HOUSE IN LAPA
After sealing the fourth diamond contract, the father, Sergeant Major João Fernandes de Oliveira, settled definitively in the Realm where, thanks to the friendship he had zealously woven with the governor of Minas Gerais, Gomes Freire de Andrade, he began to frequent the higher echelons of the court and won the confidence of the powerful Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Count of Oeiras and future Marquis of Pombal. In the meantime, his son, the chief judge, having been carefully educated in Portugal, established himself in Tejuco where he was to manage the diamond contract.
The strategy employed by the Fernandes de Oliveira family was common among the wealthy men of business. As relations of power in the Portuguese Empire were of a private nature, success in one's endeavours relied upon close and daily contact with the powerful and especially with the king. Based on the same premises, business relations intermingled with family, and it was not unusual to have various members of a family occupying positions in the same company. In general, while one or two looked after business, another had to frequent the court to canvass for favors, concessions, and privileges.
Similar behavior could be observed among some of the most important Portuguese corporations and business families of the eighteenth century, such as the Pinto de Miranda and Pinheiro families.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
