The ukulele looks very similar to many Latin American instruments like the Venezuelan cuatro and the Brazilian cavaquinho. All of them are likely to be related to the Renaissance guitar (which I love).
However, different music has given rise to different techniques.
I own both a tenor ukulele (I know, not the real thing) and a regular one and enjoy playing them very much.
My tenor ukulele is a Martin and might be over 60 years old according to the previous owner.
Glad to have you around.

Hello Charles,
I just took ukulele recently, and I love early hawaiian music (Ernest Ka'ai for example) Uke is a very nice and versatile instrument.
Regards,
Valéry
(Ukeval and Luthval on YT)

Hi Charles, perhaps you should open a post on public space about "machete de Braga" as I'm not sure many people will read in my page to answer your question.
Val ;-)
(I just upload a video played on a nice copy of Espirito de Santo Uke...)