Jacob Curiel of Coimbra (1514-1576),[1] also known as Jacob Curiel or Duarte Nunes of Coimbra, was a prosperous Portuguese cloth merchant and navy commander.

[2] Curiel was born into a family of crypto-Jews, the brother of Fernão Nunes, and grandson of Jeronimo de Saldanha y Bovadilha, who was a Portuguese nobleman.

Curiel rose to become a captain in the Spanish Navy, commanding two fleets.

Upon discovering that Curiel was Jewish, his sailors freed him because they had respected him.

[5][6] Historian Jonathan Israel described him as one of the most influential merchants of the sixteenth century.