PITTA, Sebastiao da Rocha (pit'-tah), Brazilian historian, born in Bahia, 3 May, 1660; died in Paraguassu, 2 November, 1738. He studied in the Jesuit college of Bahia, and there took the degree of master of arts. At the age of sixteen he went to Portugal, and was graduated in theology at Coimbra university. On his return to Brazil he wrote in Castilian a romance in imitation of the "Pahneirim de Inglaterra," and composed verses of some merit. He resolved to write the history of Brazil, and went to Lisbon to obtain further data, where, in order to secure more material, he studied French, Italian, and Dutch. After devoting half of his life to the work, he published his "Historia da America Portugueza desde su descobrimento ate 1724" (Rio Janeiro, 1730).