He even became the leader of an Indian village after he developed a friendship with Tibiriçá, an important native chief at the time.

[1] Ramalho played an important role in the pacific interaction between the Portuguese and the natives, especially after the arrival of Martim Afonso de Sousa, with whom he became friends after meeting him in São Vicente, the first Portuguese settlement in the Americas.

[2] He lived in the village of Santo André da Borda do Campo, which in 1553 was made a town by Tomé de Sousa, then Governor General of Brazil.

[citation needed] Ramalho is said to have originated the first mamelucos (people of mixed Portuguese and native ancestry), an ethnicity that played an important role in the 17th-century bandeiras (westward inland expeditions carried out by explorers known as bandeirantes).

[4] In historical records, Ramalho is described as an athletic man with a long beard and a brown skin originating from sunburn.