Draft:João da Silva Guimarães

João da Silva Guimarães was a Portuguese bandeirante who explored the sertões of Bahia and Minas Gerais in the 18th Century.

João da Silva Guimarães was the son of. He explored the bar of the Doce River, the banks of the São Mateus River, and the sertões of Minas Gerais. Later, he explored the and, in Bahia. In the service of the Portuguese Crown, he searched for emeralds rumoured to exist in the sertões of Minas Gerais and for gold and silver reserves in the sertões of Bahia. He even reported the discovery of diamonds in the bar of the Doce River, later going to Alto Sertão of Bahia. From there he went to the Recôncavo of Bahia where he continued to report his discoveries to the Portuguese authorities. In Bahia, he traveled through the territories of the Paraguaçu River, the De Contas River and the Pardo River.

In 1752 he fought alongside against the indigenous people of Sertão da Ressaca, and was defeated. The last reports of him date back to 1764. The regions where he lived in is between the borders of the current states of Espírito Santo, Bahia, and Minas Gerais.

Hermann Kruse and Pedro Calmon have theorised that João da Silva Guimarães was the author of Manuscript 512, which decribes a lost city in the interior of Bahia.