Rolim de Moura Tavare, Dom Antonio (1709 - 1782)

Dom Antônio Rolim de Moura Tavares began his career a captain in the Portuguese royal infantry. After serving in the entourage of Queen Mariana, he was appointed in September 1749 to the governorship of Mato Grosso, a region west of the Guaporé River where gold had been discovered in the early 1730s.

In March 1752 he established the administrative capital of Mato Grosso, named Vila Bela da Santissima Trindade, on the site of a small mining settlement named Pouso Alegre.

In 1762-3 troops under his command successfully defended the remote region when war between Spain and Portugal led to Spanish troops from Santa Cruz de La Sierra in Bolivia attempting to drive Portuguese settlers east of the Guapoé. His reward was the captain-general of Bahia, the title of Count of Azambuja and, in 1766, the office of viceroy.