Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque
Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque (born November 12, 1855 in Quinta da Várzea, Batalha , † January 8, 1902 in Lisbon ) was a Portuguese military officer and civil servant. Mouzinho de Albuquerque gained notoriety primarily through the capture of the last king of Gaza , Gungunhana . In addition, he "pacified" large parts of the areas that today belong to Mozambique and headed the colonial government of Portuguese East Africa for several years .
biography
education
Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque was born on November 12, 1855 on the Quinta da Várzea, which belongs to the city of Batalha near Leiria . He was the son of José Diogo Mascarenhas Mouzinho de Albuquerque and Maria Emília Pereira da Silva e Bourbon, who belonged to a local noble family. He was also the grandson of Luís da Silva Mouzinho de Albuquerque on his father's side and the grandson of Joaquim Augusto Pereira da Silva da Fonseca, from the house of Alcobaça on his mother's side.
For Mouzinho de Albuquerque a career in the Portuguese military was planned: That is why he signed up as a volunteer for the 4th Cavalry Regiment while he was still at the polytechnic school, where he attended preparatory courses for the military school. Later switched to the Lisbon Military School of Luz ( Colégio Militar da Luz ), which he graduated in 1878 with a promotion to Alferes .
In 1879 Mouzinho de Albuquerque enrolled at the University of Coimbra for mathematics and philosophy. In the same year he married his cousin Maria José Mascarenhas de Mendonça Gaivão (born July 23, 1857 in Lagoa, Estômbar, † September 2, 1950 in Lisbon) on March 9th. In 1882 he fell ill, so that he had to quit his fourth year and returned to Lisbon. After a two-year break, he was promoted to tenente in 1884 and hired as Regente de Estudos at the military school.
Departure for the colonies
In 1886 Mouzinho de Albuquerque traveled to Portuguese India ( Estado da Índia ), where he took up a position in the administration of the Mormugão railway in Mormugão . Two years later he was appointed Secretary General of the Portuguese colonial government there.
In 1890 Mouzinho de Albuquerque was promoted to captaincy . Associated with this was a transfer to Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique), where he was entrusted with the office of governor of the district of Lourenço Marques (now the province of Maputo). This held e until 1892.
Military success in South Mozambique
For two years Mouzinho de Albuquerque returned to Lisbon. In 1894 he came back as the commander of an infantry force with the task of taking over a military expedition into the interior of the colony of Portuguese East Africa in order to put down the rebellions of the indigenous population there. He was under the orders of the governor of the colony, António Enes .
António Enes had asked the government of the mother country Portugal for troop reinforcements in order to be able to put down the rebellion of the king of Gaza, Gungunhana . While the government hesitated, Enes appointed Mouzinho de Albuquerque as governor of Gaza District on December 10, 1895 . Mouzinho de Albuquerque issued the slogan that Portuguese sovereignty in the region could only be achieved through the death or capture of Gungunhana, the rebellious king of the Kingdom of Gaza. Gungunhana had already received the nickname "Lion of Gaza" ( Leão de Gaza ) because of his vehement resistance .
On November 11, 1895, Enes' troops had already taken the settlement of Manjacaze , the seat of King Gungunhana. After three days of walking, the troops surrounded Chaimite on December 28, 1895 , where the king and his family were. After negotiations, the king gave up his resistance and gave Mouzinho de Albuquerque an additional, it is reported, a thousand pounds in gold, eight diamonds, weapons, ammunition and ivory.
On January 6, 1896, Mouzinho de Albuquerque handed over to the governor of the colony, Joaquim da Graça Correia e Lança , King Gungunhana and the other prisoners in a solemn ceremony in Lourenço Marques. A few days later these were brought to Lisbon at the express request of the then Navy and Colony Minister, Jacinto Cândido da Silva .
The king's capture was hailed in Portugal. Mouzinho de Albuquerque's military success was also recognized internationally. In the course of this he was appointed Governor General of the Colony of Portuguese East Africa on March 13, 1896. He took office on May 21st. On November 27 of the same year he was also appointed royal commissioner ( Comissário Régio ).
Term of office as governor general
In his function as governor general, he primarily commanded the further occupation of the colony inland, including the battles of Naguema (March 3, 1897), Mocutumudo (March 6, 1897) and Macontene (July 21, 1897). Mouzinho de Albuquerque traveled to Lisbon on November 18, 1897, with the aim of obtaining more financial leeway for the Portuguese government to reform the economy and administration of the colony.
He arrived in Lisbon on December 15, 1897, and received a warm welcome from the government. After some rest he went on a trip through Europe (to the United Kingdom, France and the German Reich), where he appeared as a speaker for various geographic societies and spoke of his experiences in Africa.
On April 22, 1898, Mouzinho de Albuquerque returned to Portuguese East Africa without having achieved any tangible negotiation results. It was only on July 7th that year that he received news from the government that a loan had been granted. On the same day the news arrived that his duties as royal commissioner were limited, whereupon he announced his resignation as governor general on July 19.
Return to Lisbon
Thereupon Mouzinho de Albuquerque returned without any major reforms in Mozambique. Only the taxation he introduced on local peoples in the colony led to an improvement in colonial finances - and increased conflicts with the peoples in subsequent years.
Back in Lisbon he was appointed Mouzinho de Albuquerque on September 28, 1898 as royal advisor and major to Carlos I and also a teacher of the young Crown Prince Luís Felipe de Bragança . Since he expressed himself increasingly critical of the Portuguese colonial policy and the politicians in general, rumors arose at court that he had behaved too inhumanely on his military expeditions. Other sources claim that he was said to have a platonic passion for Queen Amélie d'Orléans .
Since Mouzinho de Albuquerque did not want to resist and contradict the intrigues and rumors - for which he was too proud due to his military training and aristocratic origin - he meticulously prepared his own death. On January 8, 1902, he shot himself in a coupé provided by him on the Estrada das Laranjeiras in Lisbon. In some cases, there are still doubts about the suicide thesis.
It is not known where he was buried.
Awards (selection)
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Mouzinho de Albuquerque received a wide variety of medals and awards, particularly due to his achievements in the colony of Portuguese East Africa:
- Order of the Tower and the Sword (Grand Officer)
- Order of Knights of Avis (Commander)
- Order of the Colonial Empire (Grand Cross, posthumous)
- Order of the Red Eagle (Cross 2nd Class)
- Order of Knights of Saints Mauritius and Lazarus (Commander)
- Order of Saints Michael and George (Commander)
- Order of the Leopold (Commander)
- Order of Charles III. (Commander)
- French Legion of Honor (Officer)
Various streets and squares in Portugal bear his name. a. in Porto and Braga . In the capital of the former colony of Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique), Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), one of the city's most important squares was named after him. There was also a statue of Mouzinho de Albuquerque, which has been preserved in the city's fort to this day. In Portuguese Timor , today's Avenida Mártires da Pátria in the capital Dili used to be called Avenida Mouzinho de Albuquerque.
Mouzinho de Albuquerque as a national hero
During the time of the Portuguese military dictatorship (Estado Novo), state propaganda stylized Mouzinho de Albuquerque as the Portuguese national hero. In particular, it should represent the civilizing mission of Portugal in the colony. The heroization increased again during the colonial wars in Angola, Guinea and Mozambique in the 1960s and 1970s. The army used Mouzinho de Albuquerque as the patron saint of cavalry in the Portuguese army.
To this day, so-called "Quadro Mouzinho" are presented to the commander for honors when the Portuguese military missions abroad receive awards.
literature
- Douglas Wheeler: Joaquim Mouzinho de Albuquerque (1855-1902) ea política do colonialismo , in: Análisa Social, Volume XVI, Issue 61-62, 1980; Pp. 295–318 ( available online )
- Isabel Barreto: Construção de heróis nacionais em Portugal e Mozambique: os casos de Mouzinho de Albuquerque e Ngungunhana , Annals of the XXVI. national history symposium, São Paulo, July 2011 ( available online )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Mouzinho de Albuquerque Patrono da Cavalaria Portuguesa. Exército Português, 2010, accessed April 7, 2015 (Portuguese).
- ↑ "Anuario da Nobreza de Portugal - 2006", António Luís Cansado de Carvalho de Matos e Silva, Dislivro Histórica, 1ª Edição, Lisboa, 2006, Tomo III, p. 1274
- ^ Joaquim Mouzinho de Albuquerque (1855–1902). Fundação Mário Soares, accessed April 7, 2015 (Portuguese).
- ^ Queen Amelia of Portugal - The Last Queen of Portugal. The Royal Articles, August 17, 2008, accessed April 7, 2015 .
- ↑ História: Biógrafo de Mouzinho de Albuquerque questiona tese do suicídio. (No longer available online.) Sapo.pt, August 12, 2008, archived from the original on April 15, 2015 ; Retrieved April 7, 2015 (Portuguese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b c d Douglas L. Wheeler: Joaquim Mouzinho de Albuquerque (1855-1902) ea política do colonialismo . In: Análise Social . tape XXVI , no. 61-62 , 1980, pp. 295-318 (analisesocial.ics.ul.pt/documentos/1223995004F4lCB5hd4Kn79QR8.pdf [PDF; accessed April 7, 2015]).
- ↑ a b c d Albuquerque (Joaquim Mousinho de). In: Dicionário histórico. 2012, accessed April 7, 2015 (Portuguese).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mouzinho de Albuquerque, Joaquim Augusto |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mouzinho de Albuquerque; Mouzionho de Albuquerque, Joaquim |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Portuguese military and civil servant |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 12, 1855 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Quinta da Várzea, Batalha |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 8, 1902 |
| Place of death | Lisbon |