House of Cámara

São Miguel, the largest island in the Azores, was governed by the family between the 15th and 18th centuries.

Over time, a branch of the family settled in the neighboring Kingdom of Portugal. In 1420, João Gonçalves da Câmara (Zarco), a descendant of this line, discovered the Archipelago of Madeira.

For many centuries, the family maintained the hereditary title of Captain-Major (Capitães dos Donatários) of the island of São Miguel in the Azores. Similarly, for five hundred years, until the dissolution of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910, his descendants held no less than 2 marquisate, 5 countships and a lordship, becoming one of the most important noble families of the Kingdom of Portugal. By 1520, the heraldry of the family was already represented in the Livro do Armeiro-Mor, the oldest and most important armorial of the Kingdom of Portugal that included the arms of royalty and the main noble families of Europe.

Built in the 17th century, the Palace of the Counts of Calheta was the residence of the Camara family in Lisbon.

In 1573, the captain of São Miguel, Manuel da Câmara passed on the administration of the island to his son Rui Gonçalves da Câmara (the third such Rui in the family), and went to live in Lisbon until his death in 1578, at a time when the reign of the Cardinal King was nearing its end.[10] Following the king's death several pretenders lined-up to assume the monarchy, including Philip II of Spain, António, Prior of Crato and the Infanta Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, among others.[10] But, it was the conflict between António and Philip II that took centre stage: following António's defeat at the Battle of Alcântra, he remained king in only the Azores (barring São Miguel, where the nobles were indifferent to the monarch).[10]

Rui, meanwhile, following his father's death had chosen to remain in Lisbon, and was there when the continent fell to Philip II.[10] He aligned himself, and by association, his family to the Philippine succession.[10] For his part, King Philip conceded to him, the title of Count of Vila Franca.[10] At the time, the Countship was the highest honorific title that the King could bestow on a Portuguese citizen, especially one that was not his own son.[10] There were few counts in Portugal, and many of them were wealthy and powerful.[10] The selection of the designation was specifically chosen to privilege the nobles of the island of São Miguel, where the provincial capital had been of Vila Franca do Campo until 1522.[10]

Yet, the municipal authorities at the time did not appreciate that D. Rui was named Count in their name, since that title was conferred by a Spanish King.[10] Philip II undeterred responded that the title was merely honorific, and that the title did not transgress any of the rights and privileges of the "citizens" of the town.[10]

João Gonçalves de Camara (Zarco), discovered Madeira in 1419.

Rui da Câmara eventually arrived in his countship along with a second fleet, ordered to the archipelago to conquer the island of Terceira, which had held out (along with other islands) the acclamation of Philip as King of Portugal.[10] This began a period of unified power in the Azores under the flag of Spain, that would continue until the Restoration of Portuguese independence.[10] In the meantime, the Gonçalves da Câmara line enjoyed privileges in the Azores, under successive Captains-Donataráios and Counts of Vila Franca.[10][11][12]

In the aftermath of the succession of John IV to the throne,[12] many of the islands of the Azores acclaimed the monarch and Rodrigo da Câmara, 3rd Count of Vila Franca, eventually accepted his reign following the defeat of the Spanish at the fortress of Terceira and a personal letter from John IV.[13] Rodrigo kept his titles and privileges following the defeat, but, in 1650, the Inquisition investigated and arrested the Count from several complaints raised against him associated with sexual escapades.[13] His possessions, privileges and titles were confiscated and his family's position was in crisis: the noble eventually died a miserable death in the Convent of Cape St. Vincent in 1601.[13] Although his wife was unable to liberate her husband, she was able to influence the King into restoring their family honours and possessions following her husband's death, thanks to her family connections as descendant of Vasco da Gama.[14] Her son was the direct beneficiary of this warming of ties. Owing to the tarnished nature of the Countship of Vila Franca, it was decided by the King to substitute Ribeira Grande for the blemished former provincial title.[14] The use of Vila Franca had already been a polemic decision in the first place, since Philip II of Spain had not consulted the Portuguese before instituting the honorific.[14]

On the initiative of the Marquis of Pombal, King José I of Portugal signed a decree on August 2, 1766 creating the Captaincy General of the Azores, based in Angra do Heroísmo. The Captain General now governed the entire civil, judicial, and military service of the archipelago. By that same decree, the Captains were abolished, ending more than three hundred years of history. However, the family continued to hold their other noble titles until the establishment of the Portuguese Republic in 1910. João da Câmara, a playwright and son of the 8th Count of Ribeira Grande, was the first Portuguese citizen to be nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. in 1901.

Philip II of Spain ascended to the throne of Portugal in 1580, uniting the Portuguese and Spanish empires. His claim to the throne, however, was disputed during the War of the Portuguese Succession (1580 - 83). After securing his throne after the battle of Vila Franca do Campo, Felipe II recognized the support that the Câmara family had given him during the conflict by granting them the Countship of Vila Franca.

1. Rui Gonçalves da Câmara, 1st Count of Vila Franca (1578-1601)
2. Manuel da Câmara, 2nd Count of Vila Franca (1601-1619)
3. Rodrigo da Câmara, 3rd Count of Vila Franca (1619-1662)
4. Manuel da Câmara, 4th Count of Vila Franca (1662-1673)[15]

• D. Manuel Luís Baltazar da Câmara, 1st Count of Ribeira Grande (1630–1675);
• D. José Rodrigo da Câmara, 2nd Count of Ribeira Grande (1665–1724);
• D. Luís Manuel da Câmara, 3rd Count of Ribeira Grande (1685–1723);
• D. José da Câmara, 4th Count of Ribeira Grande (1712–1757);
• D. Guido Augusto da Câmara e Ataíde, 5th Count of Ribeira Grande (1718–1770);
• D. Luís António José Maria da Câmara, 6th Count of Ribeira Grande (1754–1802);
• D. José Maria Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara, 7th Count of Ribeira Grande (1784–1820);

• D. Francisco de Sales Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara, 8th Count of Ribeira Grande (1819–1872), created 1st Marquis of Ribeira Grande by decree of King Pedro V of Portugal, issued on September 5, 1855
• D. José Maria Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara, 9th Count of Ribeira Grande (1843–1907);
• D. Vicente de Paula Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara, 10th Count of Ribeira Grande (1875–1946);

Following the fall of the monarchy, the Republican government abolished noble and honorific titles. Yet, some of the descendants still maintained those honorific titles and claims, including: D. José Maria Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara; D. José Vicente Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara; and D. José Cabral Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara.

One of the Cámara Houses, a pair of townhouses built for the Cámara family in the Paseo de Montejo between 1908 and 1911. They were designed in the fashionable Beaux-Arts style by Gustave Umbdenstock, the French architect,

In 1539, Juan de la Cámara, originally from Alcalá de Henares, came to the New World with Francisco de Montejo, participating in the Spanish conquest of Yucatán.[16] Later, in 1542, he was one of the founders of Mérida, serving as the first chief constable of the city (Alguacil Mayor)[17] and later, also as its mayor.[18]

During the Colonial Period, between the 16th century and the early 19th century, the Cámaras married with the descendants of other conquistadores, becoming one of the most notable families of the Mexican nobility[19] and one of the most important landowners in the Yucatán Peninsula:

"A genealogical study of the different landowning families [...] demonstrates to what extent they formed a caste within the Yucatecan society, and to what extent, they had consciousness of belonging to a privileged group [...] throughout the centuries, they were a separate group [...] With the study of the documents referring to concessions of encomiendas, we were able to glimpse from the beginning the existence of a criollo aristocracy. But as we progress in our investigations, we realized that what actually existed was a small and closed oligarchy that, by the practice of endogamy, had managed to keep their distinguished antecedents even enriching them through new connections to the descendants of other conquistadores [...] it is curious and interesting to observe how all families are closely linked to each other, to the point of being all directly or indirectly related. What is significant is that the vast majority of all these families can boast descent from the most prominent conquistadores [...] Apparently, it seems logical that all the criollo inhabitants of Yucatan descended from the first conquistadores. But what is no longer so normal [...] is that of all the men who distinguished themselves in the conquest of Yucatan — Francisco de Montejo, Gaspar and Melchor Pacheco, Juan de Magaña, Juan de la Cámara, [...] etc. — only very few stand out as common ancestors of many of the Yucatecan families [...] The consequence is the same: a closed society that has defended at any cost its conquistador origin by marriage with other families with similar ancestry."[20]

Raymundo Cámara Luján (1850 - 1919)

For many years,they were the owners of Cancún and its surroundings, the site of one of the most important tourist destinations in the Caribbean.[8]

In the second half of the 19th century, Yucatán became the world’s main producer of henequen fiber; out of its haciendas came 90% of the sacks and rope consumed internationally.[21] Both goods were considered essential in the context of the Second Industrial Revolution and the naval arms races between the Great Powers as the world prepared for World War I. Between 1870 and 1920, "[henequen] crossed all borders. It was sold everywhere: binder twine in the United States; silk in Germany and henequen sacks throughout the Americas. In other words, it almost became an article of first necessity in the entire world."[22] By 1900, the United States, alone, was importing 81 million kilograms of henequen per annum.[23] Indeed, "the wheat crops in the United States, for which henequen was indispensable binder twine, sent so many dollars to the Yucatan Peninsula that it quickly became El Dorado."[22]

The boom rapidly transformed the Yucatan into the wealthiest and most industrialized region in Mexico at the turn of the century. In this context, "the traditional landowning families, owners of latifundios, encomiendas and estancias, whose prestige came from the viceregal period, demonstrated a mysterious ability to adapt to the changing economic order."[24] Various members of the Cámara family formed part of "a group of the 20 or 30 industrialists, who concentrated ownership of the land, were capable of producing 50% of the henequen, of controlling close to 90% of its trade, of directing, of course, the regional political destinies; in other words, they formed an oligarchy,"[25] also known as the divine caste, whose members forged "incalculable fortunes, placing them among the richest men in the Americas."[26]

The family had extensive properties throughout the Yucatán Peninsula. A few of the haciendas owned by the Cámara family in the early 20th century include the following:

• Hacienda San Antonio Cámara (Raymundo Cámara Luján)[27]
• Hacienda Chucmichen (Raymundo Cámara Luján)[27]
• Hacienda Santa Ana (Nicolás Cámara Luján)[28]
• Hacienda Xcalak (Raymundo Cámara Palma )[28]
• Hacienda San Diego Azcorra (Raymundo Cámara Palma)[29]
• Hacienda Itzincab Cámara (Camilo Cámara Zavala)[30]
• Hacienda Polyuc (Raymundo Cámara Luján)[28]
• Hacienda Dzuiché (Raymundo Cámara Luján)[28]

After the Mexican Revolution, Article 27 of the 1917 Constitution had laid the foundation for Agrarian Reform in Mexico. In 1937, a socialist government headed by president Lázaro Cárdenas del Río expropriated the Haciendas from the traditional landowning families and transformed them into ejidos, an autonomous collective unit, with communal right to land ownership. Prior to the expropriation, The Association for the Defense of the Henequen Industry, a landowners' organization, "sent five of its affiliates –among them a Molina, a Cásares and a Cámara, the inevitable names" to the Los Pinos Presidential Residence to meet with President Cárdenas, who "listened calmly to their grievances" but refused their request.[22] Many former haciendas stopped being the economic powerhouses they had once been and now lay in ruins.

María Cámara Vales was married to José María Pino Suárez, vice-president of Mexico between 1911 and his assassination in 1913, during the Mexican Revolution.

A particularly prominent branch includes the Pino-Cámara clan, descendants of Raymundo Cámara Luján, a business magnate. His eldest daughter, María Cámara Vales married José María Pino Suárez, who served as vice-president of Mexico between 1911 and his assassination in 1913, during the earlier stages of the Mexican Revolution. Two of his sons, Alfredo and Nicolás Cámara Vales served as governor of Quintana Roo and Yucatan, respectively. Meanwhile, Hortensia Cámara Vales and Pablo Castellanos León, his daughter and son-in-law, were a couple of concert pianists remembered for having introduced the French and German tradition of classical music to the Mexico Conservatory.[31][32] Their only son, Pablo Castellanos Cámara, was also a concert pianist who, following in his father's footsteps, trained at the Paris and Berlin Conservatories under the supervision of Alfred Cortot and Edwin Fischer.[33]

Alfredo Pino Cámara, another grandson, was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Justice[34] who had achieved notoriety when he acted as the presiding judge in the criminal trial of Tina Modotti, the communist photographer accused of murdering Julio Antonio Mella, her lover and an exiled Cuban activist.[35] Similarly, Fernando Cámara Barbachano was a social anthropologist and museologist linked to the INAH.[36] Finally, his great-grandson, Ismael Moreno Pino, was one of the diplomats that negotiated the Treaty of Tlatelolco which prohibited nuclear weapons in Latin America and the Carribbean.[37]