Barbosa, Francisco Villela (1769–1846)

Francisco Villela Barbosa (b. 20 November 1769; d. 11 September 1846), marqués of Paranaguá and minister of the Empire of Brazil. Born in Rio de Janeiro, where his father dealt in commerce, Barbosa graduated in 1796 with a degree in mathematics from the University of Coimbra, later becoming a professor of geometry at the Royal Navy Academy in Lisbon.

His political role was particularly important during the reign of Pedro I (1822–1831). After serving as Rio de Janeiro's representative to the Lisbon Cortes, he returned to Brazil in 1823 and was appointed minister of the empire and of foreign affairs. He also held, on various occasions, the post of navy minister (1823, 1825, 1826, 1829, 1831, and 1841). He supported the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and participated in the framing of the Constitution of 1824. He was a state councilor, and in 1825 he took part in the negotiations to recognize Brazil's independence. In 1826, Barbosa was appointed a senator, but his fidelity to Pedro I forced him to withdraw, temporarily, from public life after Pedro's abdication in 1831. Later, he championed the project that advanced the coming of age of Pedro II. He wrote several works, chiefly treatises on geometry.

See alsoBrazil, The Empire (Second) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Januário Da Cunha Barbosa, "Biografia dos brasileiros distintos por letras, armas, virtudes, etc.: Francisco Villela Barbosa," in Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro 9 (1847): 398-408.

Moacir Werneck De Castro and Francisco De Assis Barbosa, "Marquês de Paranaguá," in Enciclopédia Mirador Internacional, vol. 16 (1983), p. 8, 598.

                             LÚcia M. Bastos P. Neves