Antonio de Saldanha da Gama
António de Saldanha da Gama (born February 5, 1778 in Lisbon , † July 23, 1839 ibid), Count of Porto Santo , was a Portuguese aristocrat, diplomat and colonial administrator. Before the age of 30, he had already been appointed Governor and Captain General of Maranhão (1802), member of the Overseas Council (1806) and Governor General of Angola (1807). He was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Interim Minister for Finance, Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon and a Freemason.
origin
António de Saldanha da Gama was the son of Manuel de Saldanha da Gama, Junker and member of the Overseas Council, and Francisca Joana Josefa da Câmara, a noble lady from Madeira .
Life
His military career as a Navy officer led him to the British Royal Navy. He was also the wing adjutant of Prince Augustus Frederick, 1st Duke of Sussex of England.
His first political office was that of the governor and captain general of Maranhão, to which he was appointed in 1802. In 1806 he was appointed a member of the Overseas Council, a position his father had already held. From 1807 to 1810 he was Governor General of Angola. During his tenure as Governor General of Angola, he made a contribution to the economic and administrative modernization of the colony. He started the iron ore and copper mining in Angola and the sulfur production in the Benguela region. In the agricultural sector, attempts have been made to cultivate copal (tree sap ) and cardamom cultures.
After the Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula , he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of the Portuguese delegation to the Congress of Vienna . He then entered the Portuguese diplomatic service and was envoy to Saint Petersburg (1815-1820) and Madrid (1820). In 1823 he was appointed ambassador to Madrid. For a short time he held the office of Minister and State Secretary for Economy and Finance (September 4 to 26, 1825).
He joined Freemasonry when he was wing adjutant to Prince Augustus Frederick, 1st Duke of Sussex, who served as Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England . Nevertheless, he was one of the nobles who, with the consent of the three estates of the kingdom, signed the decree in 1828 declaring Michael I the legitimate king of Portugal. He remained neutral during the Portuguese Civil War. After the liberal troops captured the capital in 1833, he was appointed the first president of the Lisbon Municipal Commission.
marriage and family
He married Antonia, the daughter of José de Brito Leal Herédia from Madeira, who was also a Freemason. The marriage remained childless. Hence Francisco Correia Herédia, the son of Francisca and Captain Francisco Moniz of Aragon e Melo, inherited her fortune.
title
- By decree of October 23, 1823, he was named Count of Porto Santo, a title that derives from the home of his mother's family.
- Veador of Queen Charlotte Joachime
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and the Sword
- Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III. from Spain
- Commander of the Order of Avis
- Commander of the Order of Christ
- Honorary member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Lisbon.
Works
Memoria sobre as Colonias de Portugal, Situadas na Costa Occidental da Africa, Given to the government in 1814, the book was printed by the students of Casa Pia in the year of his death and then reprinted in Paris in 1839.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Doris Lauer, Antonio de Saldanho da Gama (1778–1839) in: Winfried Böttcher (Ed.): The "New Folders" of Europe at the Vienna Congress 1814/1815, Baden-Baden 2017, 211f.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Saldanha da Gama, António de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gama, António de Saldanha da |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Portuguese military and diplomat |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 5, 1778 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lisbon , Portugal |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 23, 1839 |
| Place of death | Lisbon , Portugal |