Cândido da Fonseca Galvão

Cândido da Fonseca Galvão, also known as Dom Obá II D'África, was a Brazilian military officer and nobleman. A son of freed Africans, and a grandson of the Obá Abiodun of the Oyo Empire, he held the title of Omoba among the Yoruba people of West Africa. Galvão’s father, Benvindo, was freed on an unknown date in the first half of the nineteenth century. Upon his freedom, he sought to take advantage of the emerging Lençóis diamond rush in north eastern Brazil. Evidence suggests that he arrived around the year of 1845, although there are no birth certificates to corroborate, it is estimated his son Cândido da Fonseca Galvão was born shortly after. [1]