Cândido Rondon

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Cândido Mariano de Silva Rondon (born May 5, 1865 in Mimoso , Mato Grosso , † January 19, 1958 in Rio de Janeiro ) was a Brazilian soldier , engineer and adventurer. He became known for his pioneering work in expanding the Brazilian telegraph network , researching Mato Grosso and the western Amazon basin and his commitment to the indigenous population of Brazil .

Marechal Cândido Rondon

Childhood and youth

Rondon was born in the small village of Mimoso in the state of Mato Grosso. His father was a mestizo of Portuguese and Guana descent, his mother was an indigenous , whose parents were descended from Bororo and Terêna . Both parents died early, Rondon was raised by an uncle and joined the Brazilian army at eighteen . There he joined the republican movement and was involved in the 1889 putsch Manuel Deodoro da Fonsecas , which overthrew the last emperor of Brazil, Pedro II .

Infrastructure projects as an army engineer

Mato Grosso

From 1890 Rondon worked as an engineer building the first telegraph line in the state of Mato Grosso. After completing this project in 1895, he worked on building a road from Rio de Janeiro to Cuiabá . Up until this road construction project, traffic between the Atlantic coast and Mato Grosso was only handled on river routes .

Further expansion of the telegraph network

Subsequently, Rondon was commissioned to build telegraph lines to neighboring Bolivia and Peru . He penetrated into previously unexplored areas and met the indigenous Bororo people . He succeeded in pacifying this and integrating it into the construction work.

Connection of the Amazon basin to the telegraph network

Rondon was able to distinguish itself through the completion and was entrusted with an ambitious project: the connection of the Amazon basin to the telegraph network. He discovered the Rio Juruena , an important tributary of the Rio Tapajós and came into contact with the Nambikwara tribe . In doing so, he benefited from his experience in dealing with indigenous peoples: Rondon managed to come to terms with the Nambikwara, who had previously killed all emissaries from Western civilizations.

The discovery of the Rio da Dúvida

In May 1909, Rondon set out on his longest expedition to date: from Tapirapuã in the northern part of Mato Grosso, he set out northwest to the Rio Madeira . As early as August, Rondon's troops had used up all supplies and had to feed on what they found or could hunt in the jungle . Rondon first reached the Rio Jiparaná and later discovered a large river between the Rio Juruena and Jiparaná. Due to the dreary supply situation, Rondon gave him the name Rio da Dúvida ("River of Doubt"), today Rio Roosevelt . Finally, on Christmas Day 1909, Rondon managed to reach the Rio Madeira by canoe . Back in Rio de Janeiro, he and his men were hailed as heroes, as the expedition was now considered lost.

The establishment of the Fundação Nacional do Índio

In 1910, Rondon founded the Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI for short; German : "National Foundation of Indians") as "Serviço de Proteção ao Índio" (SPI for short; German: "Service for the protection of the Indios"), an organization for the protection of indigenous people Peoples of brazil. Rondon was also the first chairman of the foundation until 1930 .

The original crew of the Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition, v. l. To the right: Zahm, Rondon, Kermit, Cherrie, Miller, four Brazilians, Roosevelt, Fiala

The Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition

Theodore Roosevelt

In 1914 Rondon broke from Cáceres , a settlement on the Río Paraguay , again to the Rio da Dúvida. Rondon wanted to map its course and determine whether it flows into the Amazon . This expedition was largely funded by the American Museum of Natural History ; In addition to 15 Brazilian porters, Rondon was accompanied by former US President Theodore Roosevelt , his son Kermit , Father Zahm and the US natural scientist George Cherrie .

The expedition reached the upper reaches of the Rio da Dúvida on February 24, 1914 near Tapirapua . Since the supplies were already used up, Rondon divided the expedition into two groups, some of the men marched to the Jiparaná and the Rio Madeira while Rondon, Roosevelt, Kermit and Cherrie followed the course of the Rio da Dúvida with some Brazilian porters.

But the expedition was not a lucky star: In addition to the insufficiently measured supplies, the adventurers plagued swarms of insects and diseases such as malaria . Almost all of the expedition participants suffered from a high fever . Added to this was the fact that the dugout canoes were unsuitable for the rapids of the river. Not only did several boats be destroyed and their restoration required precious time due to the scarcity of supplies, but one expedition member lost his life in the rapids. One porter was murdered by another. To make matters worse, the route led through the area of ​​the Cinta Larga , a cannibal tribe . Roosevelt himself was near death when his foot was wounded and the wound became infected.

Before they even reached the mouth of the river, which Rondon renamed the Rio Roosevelt in honor of Roosevelt during this expedition, they met seringueiros , impoverished workers who were extracting natural rubber through extractivism . These ultimately helped the exhausted members of the expedition to return to civilization.

Despite all the adversities, the expedition was ultimately of great scientific importance due to the numerous collections of new animal and plant species and the associated documentation of the biodiversity of the Brazilian rainforest.

Work as a surveyor

From 1914 to 1919, Rondon mapped and measured large parts of Mato Grosso, in the process he discovered other watercourses and came into contact with indigenous tribes who had previously had no contact with western civilization. In 1919 Rondon became chairman of the Brazilian Engineers' Association and chairman of the Telegraph Commission.

Late army career

Rondon commanded 1924-1925 army units that put down the uprisings in São Paulo . From 1927 to 1930, Rondon measured the entire Brazilian border with its neighboring states. His work was stopped by the revolution of 1930 , Rondon resigned from all offices including the chairmanship of FUNAI.

Diplomatic mission in the Tres Fronteras

After the Colombian-Peruvian War , Rondon was entrusted with a diplomatic mission from 1934 to 1938. Rondon mediated in the border dispute over the town of Leticia in the Tres Fronteras .

Parque Indígena do Xingu

In 1952 he took up the chairmanship of FUNAI again. In the course of this activity he supported - against the strong resistance of the government and the agriculture of the Matto Grosso region - the campaign of the brothers Leonardo, Cláudio and Orlando Villas Bôas to establish a national park along the Río Xingú to protect indigenous peoples. On April 14, 1961, three years after his death, that vision was established with the Xingu National Park .

Honors

Rondon Museum in Cuiabá

Rondon was already a legend and national hero during his lifetime. He is known as the “father of Brazilian telecommunications ”, having laid more than 4,000 miles of telegraph cable through the Brazilian jungle in the course of his life . May 5th, Rondon's birthday, is celebrated in Brazil as "Telecommunications Day" in his honor. By Law No. 2409 of January 27, 1955, he was appointed Honorary Marshal of the Brazilian Armed Forces .

Numerous places are named after Rondon, such as the state of Rondônia , the cities of Rondon in Pará , Marechal Cândido Rondon in Paraná and Marechal Rondon and Rondonópolis in Mato Grosso. The airport Cuiabás in Várzea Grande is named after Rondons as well as numerous faculties, libraries, museums, schools and organizations. The Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT) operates a Rondon Museum, which is one of the main attractions of Cuiabá.

The art collection in the Palácio do Planalto in Brasília owns a portrait painting of Rondons by the German-Brazilian painter Wilhelm Techmeier .

literature

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Representations

  • Daniel B. Baker (Ed.): Explorers and Discoverers of the World. Gale Research Inc., Detroit MI et al. 1993, ISBN 0-8103-5421-7 .
  • Candice Millard: River of Doubt. Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. Doubleday, New York NY et al. 2005, ISBN 0-385-50796-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ From the first expedition to the creation of the park . ISA - Instituto Socioambiental, accessed on October 27, 2017 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Rondon, Cândido
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rondon, Cândido Mariano de Silva (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Brazilian army man, engineer and adventurer
DATE OF BIRTH May 5, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Mimoso, today Santo Antônio do Leverger , Mato Grosso
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1958
Place of death Rio de Janeiro