The history of the city begins in June
1758, through a donation that Gomes Freire de Andrade, Count of Bobadela, made
to Colonel Thomáz Luiz Osório, giving him land that lay on the banks of the
Lagoa dos Patos. In 1763, fleeing the Spanish invasion, many inhabitants of the
village Rio Grande sought refuge in the land belonging to Osório. Later, there
also came refugees from Colônia do Sacramento, which had been handed over by
the Portuguese to the Spanish in 1777.
In 1780, the Portuguese rancher José Pinto
Martins established himself in Pelotas
