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José Maria da Silva Paranhos, the Viscount of Rio Branco (16 March 1819 – 1 November 1880) was a politician, monarchist, diplomat, teacher and journalist of the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889). Rio Branco was born in Salvador, in what was then the Captaincy of Bahia, to a wealthy family, but most of the fortune was lost after his parents' deaths early in his childhood. Rio Branco attended Brazil's Naval School and became a midshipman in 1841. Later that year he was enrolled in the Army's Military Academy, eventually becoming an instructor there. Rather than continue to serve in the military, he became a politician in the Liberal Party. In 1845, he was elected a member of the provincial house of representatives of Rio de Janeiro province, site of the national capital of the same name. Rio Branco rose to power within the province under the tutelage of Aureliano Coutinho, Viscount of Sepetiba—a veteran politician who held tremendous influence over the young and inexperienced Emperor Pedro II. He temporarily abandoned politics after Aureliano Coutinho's fall from grace and the subsequent dissolution of the Liberal Party. Rio Branco's work in the press, highlighting threats posed by the armed conflicts in the Platine republics (Argentina and Uruguay), attracted the attention of Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, who invited him to act as secretary on a diplomatic mission to Montevideo. They were successful in forging alliances, which contributed to the eventual fall in 1852 of Juan Manuel de Rosas, an Argentine dictator who had declared war on Brazil. In 1853 Rio Branco joined the Marquis of Paraná's Conservative Party as well as the cabinet over which the latter presided. He rose rapidly through the Conservative ranks during the early 1860s when many colleagues joined members of the defunct Liberal Party to form a new party. Rio Branco was sent to Uruguay in late 1864, tasked with bringing a diplomatic end to the Uruguayan War. Although successful, he was abruptly dismissed from his post. In 1869, he was recalled and dispatched to Paraguay, this time to negotiate an end to its war with Brazil. His successful efforts in concluding a peace with Paraguay were recognized, and Pedro II ennobled him, making him Viscount of Rio Branco (Portuguese for "White River"). In 1871, Rio Branco became the President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) for the first time. He would become the Council's longest-serving president, and his cabinet the second longest, in Brazilian history. His government was marked by a time of economic prosperity and the enactment of several necessary reforms—though they proved to be seriously flawed. The most important of these initiatives was the Law of Free Birth, which granted freeborn status to children born to slave women. Rio Branco led the government that enacted this law, and its passage increased his popularity. However, his government was plagued by a long crisis with the Catholic Church that had resulted from the expulsion of Freemasons from its lay brotherhoods. After more than four years heading the Cabinet, Rio Branco resigned in 1875. Following a long vacation in Europe, his health swiftly declined and he was diagnosed with oral cancer. Rio Branco died in 1880 and was widely mourned throughout the country. He is regarded by most historians as one of Brazil's greatest statesmen. == Early years == Paranhos was born on 16 March 1819 in Salvador, Bahia, at a time when Brazil was a kingdom united with Portugal. His parents were Agostinho da Silva Paranhos and Josefa Emerenciana de Barreiros. Agostinho Paranhos, along with his two brothers, migrated to Brazil during the first decade of the 19th century. He became a wealthy merchant and married Josefa, the Brazilian-born daughter of one of Bahia's long-established families. Her family had roots in Porto, where Agostinho's own family had originated. Agostinho remained loyal to Portugal at the time of Brazil's Independence in 1822, which resulted in his ostracism and the collapse of his business. José Paranhos had a simple childhood without luxury. Though his parents were no longer rich, he did not experience poverty. In later life, José fondly remembered Bahia as the "native land" of his childhood. His father died when he was still a child and his mother followed a few years later. He and his younger brothers were left in a precarious position, since the remainder of Agostinho Paranhos's fortune had been appropriated by a relative. The brothers were rescued by an uncle on their mother's side, Eusébio Gomes Barreiros, who held the rank of a colonel in the Engineer Corps.〔See: *; *; *.〕 Colonel Barreiros raised his sister's children as his own and financed their education. An educated man, Barreiros had a strong influence on Paranhos's upbringing, and in later years, his nephew always spoke respectfully about his uncle. In 1835, aged 14, Paranhos was sent to the Imperial capital, Rio de Janeiro, to continue his studies. At the beginning of the following year he was admitted into the Naval Academy. To help support his education, Paranhos tutored his classmates. In 1841, when he was 22, he graduated with the rank of midshipman, enrolling in the Army's Military Academy. He pursued a course in engineering and developed a penchant for mathematics. Prior to graduation from the Army Academy, he was promoted to second lieutenant in the Navy and became a substitute teacher in the Naval Academy. In 1842, he married Teresa de Figueiredo Faria, whose family had also come from Porto in Portugal. After Paranhos graduated from the Military Academy in 1843 as a second lieutenant in the engineer corps, he decided to return to civilian life and focus on his career as a teacher. He became a regular instructor at the Naval Academy during 1844, conducting artillery classes. In 1845, he was transferred from the Naval Academy to the faculty of the Military Academy teaching artillery, fortification, and later, mechanics. In addition to teaching, Paranhos also became a journalist, and by 1844 was working for newspapers which supported the Liberal Party. He remained a professor in the Military Academy and began teaching political economy, statistics and administrative law in 1863. In 1874, Paranhos became the dean of the newly created Engineering School (today the Polytechnic School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), a civilian branch of the Military Academy's engineering program. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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