Portuguese noblewoman and landowner, an important social and political figure in São Tomé and Príncipe. She was the illegitimate daughter of King João III of Portugal and Cecília de Chaves, one of his mistresses. They were exiled by order of the King to São Tomé and Príncipe in the 1530s, under the influence of the Queen-consort Catherine of Castile. The King confirmed immense provisions of land and money to Ana and her husband Gonçalo and to Cecília on the island of São Tomé. After the death of her husband and mother, Ana took over the management of the family business and began to dedicate herself strongly to spiritual matters and to the raising and education of her son Gonçalo Álvares de Chaves, and after his death, to the raising of her granddaughter Catarina Trindade de Chaves, whom she married to the Jew João Barbosa da Cunha. She ordered the building and renovation of churches, the erection of a monastery for the Order of Friars Minor, donated a palace to the colonial administration, gave protection to several exiled Jews in São Tomé, acting as patrons in that colony. At the end of her life she abandoned the slave trade and manumitted her slaves (her business was based on agriculture and commerce). Her influence was such that, at times, the conduct of the colony's own affairs was left to her during the interregnum of governors. The memory of a powerful and influential woman in the colonial period persisted to the point that several geographic, historical and engineering landmarks were named in her honor, such as the Ana Chaves peak, the Ana Chaves bay, the Ana Chaves river, the port of Ana Chaves, Avenida Marginal Ana Chaves, etc.
Portuguese noblewoman and landowner, an important social and political figure in São Tomé and Príncipe. She was the illegitimate daughter of King João III of Portugal and Cecília de Chaves, one of his mistresses. They were exiled by order of the King to São Tomé and Príncipe in the 1530s, under the influence of the Queen-consort Catherine of Castile. The King confirmed immense provisions of land and money to Ana and her husband Gonçalo and to Cecília on the island of São Tomé. After the death of her husband and mother, Ana took over the management of the family business and began to dedicate herself strongly to spiritual matters and to the raising and education of her son Gonçalo Álvares de Chaves, and after his death, to the raising of her granddaughter Catarina Trindade de Chaves, whom she married to the Jew João Barbosa da Cunha. She ordered the building and renovation of churches, the erection of a monastery for the Order of Friars Minor, donated a palace to the colonial administration, gave protection to several exiled Jews in São Tomé, acting as patrons in that colony. At the end of her life she abandoned the slave trade and manumitted her slaves (her business was based on agriculture and commerce). Her influence was such that, at times, the conduct of the colony's own affairs was left to her during the interregnum of governors. The memory of a powerful and influential woman in the colonial period persisted to the point that several geographic, historical and engineering landmarks were named in her honor, such as the Ana Chaves peak, the Ana Chaves bay, the Ana Chaves river, the port of Ana Chaves, Avenida Marginal Ana Chaves, etc.
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