Doria - Role in The Great Explorations

Role in The Great Explorations

The Doria clan helped finance the Portuguese and Spanish navigations in the late 15th and 16th centuries. Francesco Doria, a banker at Seville, financed Christopher Columbus's expeditions, and his son Aleramo Doria was a banker to King John III of Portugal until 1556. Finally, Aleramo's daughter Clemenza Doria was one of the earliest settlers in the 16th century Portuguese colonization of Brazil. Clemenza Doria married twice; her second husband was Fernão Vaz da Costa (c. 1520–1567), son of Portuguese Chief Justice Cristóvão da Costa and a great-grandson of the legendary navigator Soeiro da Costa; they originated the Costa Doria family which is still thriving today as one of their members, José Carlos Aleluia, is a representative in the Brazilian congress, and businessman João Doria Jr. or João Agripino da Costa Doria III held a cabinet-level position in the José Sarney administration in Brazil (1985–1989).

The genoese Lodisio Doria, knight of Christ's Order, settled in the island of Madeira. Their descendants are the Teixeira Doria, lords of Pena d'Aguia, and França Doria families, which also have as direct ancestor the Portuguese navigator Tristão Vaz. The França Doria branch is headed by the Count of Calçada, with a younger branch headed by the Viscount of Torre Bela.