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21 Pereira de Melo, António Maria Fontes
(1819-1887)Major 19th-century political leader, engineer, and mastermind of the Regeneration era (1851-80). Trained in the armed forces as an engineer, Fontes Pereira de Melo participated in the suppression of the Maria da Fonte uprising by Saldanha's forces and, in 1851, was called to Lisbon to assume various key posts in several ministries (Navy and Overseas; Treasury; Public Works; Commerce and Industry). In 1858, he assumed leadership of the Regenerador Party and was instrumental in directing and guiding the economic and industrial process known as the Regeneration after 1851. He became prime minister, too, and received many honors and much recognition.Realizing that Portugal lagged in economic development and industrialization, he initiated a program of building the necessary transportation infrastructure. During this era, Portugal acquired a basic network of railroads and roads and the beginnings of industrialization and participation in various export markets with Portuguese products and resources. Fontes Pereira de Melo's programs marked the onset of modern economic development in Portugal and represented the apogee of political stability and financial accomplishment during the constitutional monarchy.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Pereira de Melo, António Maria Fontes
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22 Batalha, Monastery of
A prime example of Portuguese Gothic architecture, Batalha Monastery was ordered built by King João I of Aviz in gratitude for his victory over the army of Castile at the battle of Aljubarrota (1385). Located at the town of Batalha, Leiria district, Batalha's style was influenced by earlier constructions including Alcobaça Monastery, which is not far away. Begun in 1387-88, it was mostly completed by the middle of the 15th century, but there were later works on it as well. The so-called "Imperfect Chapels" remain unfinished to this day. This monastery-church includes the Royal Tomb in the Chapel of the Founder, the double tomb of King João I and Queen Philippa of Lancaster, the parents of Prince Henry of Aviz (Prince Henry the Navigator). Batalha is formally known as the "Monastery of Santa Maria of Victory" in Portugal, but in Britain the building is usually referred to as the Battle Abbey. Batalha also contains Portugal's Tombs of the Unknown Soldiers, from World War I, where two soldiers—one killed in Europe and one killed in Africa—with unknown identities were buried. Members of the armed forces perpetually guard the site. -
23 Caçique /Caçiquismo
Portuguese (and Spanish or Castilian) words for local, regional political boss and the practice and system of local, regional bossism in Portugal and Spain, beginning in the 19th century. The word cacique is derived from the corruption of an Amerindian word in the Caribbean and South America for "chief" or "lord" in the 16th and 17th centuries. In Portugal and Spain, under the constitutional monarchy and later, the local or regional political boss, or cacique, was the central government's informal representative or local authority, who may or may not have held office in the formal administrative system of municipalities, parishes, counties, districts, and provinces. Political parties in the capitals ( Lisbon and Madrid) exercised their influence in the provinces through local figures of importance, such as the mayor of the Câmara Municipal (City Hall), alderman, clerk, or judge, who, come election time, would manage and/or rig elections at the municipal or other levels.The political party based in the capital would depend on the cacique to ensure electoral victory in his area or hometown. To get the requisite votes, the local political boss, then, would have a quid pro quo for the voter: in return for a vote for the indicated party, the cacique would reward the voter (or eleitor, in the Portuguese language) with incentives such as payment in money, a tax break, a job for the voter or a relative, or, in some instances, an excuse from the obligation of serving in the armed forces for a draftee. The systematic use of local bosses in the institution of bossism as described here endured from the last half of the 19th century to the 1920s, under the First Republic, and into the Estado Novo in Portugal, and in the case of Spain, into the Primo de Rivera regime (1923-30). -
24 Captains, Movement of the
An informal name for the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), the organization of career military officers that organized the overthrow of the Estado Novo in the Revolution of 25 April 1974. A significant portion of the army officers of the MFA were captains who had fought in Portugal's African colonial wars in the 1960s and 1970s. Some historians noted parallels between the Captains' Movement of 1973-74 and the movement of "Young Lieutenants" of 28 May 1926, which bloodlessly overthrew the first parliamentary republic (1910-26).Historical dictionary of Portugal > Captains, Movement of the
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25 Carmona, António Óscar de Fragoso
(1869-1951)Career army officer, one of the founders of the Estado Novo (1926-74), and the longest-serving president of the republic of that regime (1926-51). Born in Lisbon in 1869, the son of a career cavalry officer, Oscar Carmona entered the army in 1888 and became a lieutenant in 1894, in the same cavalry regiment in which his father had served. He rose rapidly, and became a general during the turbulent First Republic, briefly served as minister of war in 1923, and achieved public notoriety as prosecutor for the military in one of the famous trials of military personnel in an abortive 1925 coup. General Carmona was one of the key supporters of the 28 May 1926 military coup that overthrew the unstable republic and established the initially unstable military dictatorship (1926-33), which was the political system that founded the Estado Novo (1933-74).Carmona took power as president upon the ousting of the Twenty-eighth of May coup leader, General Gomes da Costa, and guided the military dictatorship through political and economic uncertainty until the regime settled upon empowering Antônio de Oliveira Salazar with extraordinary fiscal authority as minister of finance (April 1928). Elected in a managed election based on limited male suffrage in 1928, President Carmona served as the Dictatorship's president of the republic until his death in office in 1951 at age 81. In political creed a moderate republican not a monarchist, General (and later Marshal) Carmona played an essential role in the Dictatorship, which involved a division of labor between Dr. Salazar, who, as prime minister since July 1932 was responsible for the daily management of the government, and Carmona, who was responsible for managing civil-military relations in the system, maintaining smooth relations with Dr. Salazar, and keeping the armed forces officer corps in line and out of political intervention.Carmona's amiable personality and reputation for personal honesty, correctness, and hard work combined well with a friendly relationship with the civilian dictator Salazar. Especially in the period 1928-44, in his more vigorous years in the position, Carmona's role was vital in both the political and ceremonial aspects of his job. Car-mona's ability to balance the relationship with Salazar and the pressures and demands from a sometimes unhappy army officer corps that, following the civilianization of the regime in the early 1930s, could threaten military intervention in politics and government, was central to the operation of the regime.After 1944, however, Carmona was less effective in this role. His tiring ceremonial visits around Portugal, to the Atlantic Islands, and to the overseas empire became less frequent; younger generations of officers grew alienated from the regime; and Carmona suffered from the mental and physical ailments of old age. In the meantime, Salazar assumed the lion's share of political power and authority, all the while placing his own appointees in office. This, along with the regime's political police (PVDE or PIDE), Republican National Guard, and civil service, as well as a circle of political institutions that monopolized public office, privilege, and decision making, made Carmona's role as mediator-intermediary between the career military and the largely civilian-managed system significantly less important. Increasingly feeble and less aware of events around him, Carmona died in office in April 1951 and was replaced by Salazar's chosen appointee, General (and later Marshal) Francisco Craveiro Lopes, who was elected president of the republic in a regime-managed election.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Carmona, António Óscar de Fragoso
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26 Costa Gomes, Francisco da
(1914-2001)Career military officer, key personality, and authority in transition from dictatorship to democracy, and president of the republic. Born in the remote, poor, Trás-Os-Montes district, Costa Gomes was trained as an army officer and gained experience and promotions in many postings in Portugal's overseas empire from Macau, China, to Angola and Mozambique. As a lieutenant colonel in the post of undersecretary of the army in April 1961, he was implicated in a military coup plot to overthrow Prime Minister Antônio de Oliveira Salazar. Although he was fired, Costa Gomes rebuilt his bridges, was promoted to brigadier general in 1964, and soon was appointed to important commands in the colonial wars in Portuguese Africa: first in Mozambique (1965-69) and then in Angola (1970-72). In September 1972, he returned to Portugal as head of the joint chiefs of staff, a post he kept until he broke with Prime Minister Marcello Caetano in early 1974.During the last part of Caetano's governance, General Costa Gomes, in tandem with his senior, more famous and charismatic colleague in arms, General Antônio de Spínola, was involved in activities that led to the organization of a successful military coup on 25 April 1974, which overthrew the 48-year-old Estado Novo. Although younger officers did most of the work organizing this action, Costa Gomes played a key role, including authorizing the publication of the sensational book by General Spínola, Portugal e o Futuro, published only two months before the Revolution of Carnations in February 1974. Spinola's book acknowledged that Portugal had to find a political not a military solution to the wars in her African colonies, and the public reception of the work helped prepare the atmosphere for a bloodless coup.After the successful coup by the Armed Forces Movement and the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Costa Gomes was appointed chief of defense staff. When General Spínola resigned in September 1974, Costa Gomes became president, a post he ably filled until June 1976, when General Ramalho Eanes was elected president of the republic. Costa Gomes soon withdrew from the public eye, but in 1981 was promoted to Portugal's highest military rank of marshal.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Costa Gomes, Francisco da
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27 Delgado, General Humberto
(1906-1965)Pioneer air force advocate and pilot, senior officer who opposed the Estado Novo, and oppositionist candidate in the 1958 presidential elections. One of the young army lieutenants who participated in the 28 May 1926 coup that established the military dictatorship, Delgado was a loyal regime supporter during its early phase (1926-44) and into its middle phase (1944-58). An important advocate of civil aeronautics, as well as being a daring pilot in the army air force and assisting the Allies in the Azores in World War II, Delgado spent an important part of his career after 1943 outside Portugal.On missions abroad for the government and armed forces, Delgado came to oppose the dictatorship in the l950s. In 1958, he stood as the oppositionist candidate in the presidential elections, against regime candidate Admiral Américo Tomás. In the cities, Delgado received considerable popular support for his campaign, during which he and the coalition of varied political movements, including the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and Movement of Democratic Unity, were harassed by the regime police, PIDE. When the managed election results were "tallied," Delgado had won more than 25 percent, including heavy votes in the African colonies; this proved an embarrassment to the regime, which promptly altered electoral law so that universal male suffrage was replaced by a safer electoral college (1959).When legal means of opposition were closed to him, Delgado conspired with dissatisfied military officers who promised support but soon abandoned him. The government had him stripped of his job, rank, and career and, in 1959, fearing arrest by the PIDE, Delgado sought political asylum in the embassy of Brazil. Later he fled to South America and organized opposition to the regime, including liaisons and plotting with Henrique Galvão. Delgado traveled to Europe and North Africa to rally Portuguese oppositionists in exile and, in 1961-62, dabbled in coup plots. He had a role in the abortive coup at Beja, in January 1962. Brave to the extent of taking risks against hopeless odds, Delgado dreamed of instigating a popular uprising on his own.In 1965, along with his Brazilian secretary, Delgado kept an appointment with destiny on Portugal's Spanish frontier. Neither he nor his companion were seen alive again, and later their bodies were discovered in a shallow grave; investigations since have proved that they were murdered by PIDE agents in a botched kidnapping plot.When the true story of what happened to the "Brave General" was revealed in the world press, the opposition's resolve was strengthened and the Estado Novo's image reached a new low. Posthumously, General Delgado has been honored in numerous ways since the Revolution of 25 April 1974.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Delgado, General Humberto
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28 Guarda Nacional Republicana
(GNR)The Republican National Guard is Portugal's national highway and traffic police, and forms its rural and urban constabulary. A paramilitary force, it was established in 1911, under the First Republic, to protect the novice regime in the capital and other main cities. While it was recruited from the career army officer corps and noncommissioned ranks, the GNR was based on a historic precedent (the monarchy had a life guard with similar functions) and a political necessity (the need to be a deterrent and bulwark against threatening army insurrections) during a time of political instability. With increasingly heavy weaponry, a much enlarged GNR became a source of controversy as the First Republic ended and the military dictatorship was established (1926-33) and grew into the Estado Novo. The Estado Novo eventually reduced its strength, but maintained it as a reserve force that might confront a potentially unreliable army in the capital and main cities and towns. Since the Revolution of 25 April 1974, the GNR has been used as a kind of state police. Its personnel can be seen in their distinctive uniforms, dealing with highway safety, traffic, the drug problem, and serious crimes. While the main headquarters is at Carmo barracks (Carmo Square), Lisbon, where Prime Minister Marcello Caetano surrendered to the Armed Forces Movement on 25 April 25 1974, GNR detachments are found all over the country.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Guarda Nacional Republicana
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29 Guinea-Bissau
Former West African colony of Portugal until its independence in September 1974, Guinea-Bissau (not to be confused with Guinea-Conakry, its neighbor to the east and south) was the scene of Portuguese activity, at least on the coast, since the mid-l5th century. Its area is about 22,256 square kilometers (14,000 square miles). Portugal established a few forts and trading posts on the coast of what became Guinea-Bissau, and the slave trade became the major economic activity until the mid l9th century. Portugal's coastal presence was not expanded to the tropical interior until the 19th century, when Lisbon supported various so-called "pacification" campaigns. African resistance continued, however, to 1936.With the formation of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAICG), the principal nationalist movement, in 1956, African resistance increased. Between 1963 and 1974, a war of insurgency against Portuguese colonial rule was fought in the country. Unlike Portugal's territories in southern Africa— Angola and Mozambique — Guinea-Bissau did not have Portuguese settlement of any consequence, and the major private company that dominated the territory's economy (Companhia União Fabril) withdrew most of its assets by 1972. An important part of the alienation and radicalization of the Armed Forces Movement's officers took place in the grueling bush war in Guinea-Bissau. After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Portugal granted independence to this colony. -
30 Herculano, Alexandre
(1810-1877)One of Portugal's greatest historians and one of its giants in 19th-century writing and literature. Born in Lisbon to a middle-class family, Herculano studied commerce and diplomacy. At age 21, he enlisted in the liberal armed forces of King Pedro IV but was forced to flee to exile in Great Britain and then France. Later, he was part of the victorious liberal expeditionary force that landed near Oporto. He began his serious studies in Oporto, but soon relocated to Lisbon, where he worked as a journalist. In 1839, he was named to the post of director of the Royal Library at Ajudá Palace and at Necessidades Palace, and thus began to prepare to write his classic work, História de Portugal, a major study that when completed took the history of the country only up to the end of the 13th century. The first volume of this work, with which his fame as a historian is most closely associated, was published in 1846, but Herculano was a versatile writer who wrote novels, essays, and poetry as well as history.In addition to being a man of words, he was a man of action who was active in exchanges with other literati and who did government service. Herculano, for example, was on the commission that revised the civil code of Portugal. His histori cal writings influenced future generations of writers because of his literary style, because he broke through the legend and myth that had surrounded ancient and medieval Portuguese history, and above all because of his objective, scientific approach to research and conclusions. Dissatisfied with politics and public life, Herculano retired to a farm in the country (at Vale de Lobos) in 1859 and worked as a farmer until 1866. -
31 Pedro IV, king
(also Emperor Pedro I of Brazil)(1798-1834)The first emperor of Brazil and restorer of the liberal, constitutional monarchy, as well as of the throne of his daughter, Queen Maria II. Born in Queluz Palace, the second son of the regent João VI and Queen Carlota Joaquina, Pedro at age nine accompanied his parents and the remainder of the Braganza royal family to Brazil, fleeing the French invasion of Portugal in late 1807. Raised and educated in Brazil, following the return of his father to Portugal, Pedro declared the independence of Brazil from Portugal in the famous "cry of Ipiranga," on 7 September 1822. As Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, he ruled that fledgling nation-state-empire from 1822 to 1831, when he abdicated in favor of his son Pedro, and then went to Portugal and the Azores.Pedro's absolutist brother, Dom Miguel, following the death of their father João VI in 1826, had broken his word on defending Portugal's constitution and had carried out an absolutist counterrevolution, which was supported by his reactionary mother Carlota Joaquina. Pedro's daughter, Queen Maria II, who was too young to assume the duties of monarch of Portugal, had lost her throne to King Miguel, in effect, and Pedro spent the remainder of his life restoring the constitutional monarchy and his young daughter to the throne of Portugal. In the 1832-34 War of the Brothers, Pedro IV's armed forces triumphed over those of Dom Miguel and the latter fled to exile in Austria. Exhausted from the effort, Pedro died on 24 September 1834, and was buried in Lisbon. In 1972, his remains were moved to Ipiranga, Brazil. -
32 PIDE
(Political Police)Commonly known as the PIDE, the Estado Novo's political police was established in 1932. The acronym of PIDE stood for Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado or International and State Defense State Police, the name it was known by from 1945 to 1969. From 1932 to 1945, it was known by a different acronym: PVDE or Polícia da Vigilância e de Defesa do Estado. After Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar was replaced in office by Marcello Caetano, the political police was renamed DGS, Direcção-Geral da Seguridade or Directorate General of Security.This force was the most infamous means of repression and a major source of fear among the opposition during the long history of the Estado Novo. While it was described as "secret police," nearly everyone knew of its existence, although its methods — in theory—were "secret." The PVDE/PIDE/DGS had functions much broader than purely the repression of any opposition to the regime. It combined the roles of a border police, customs inspectorate, immigration force, political police, and a regime vetting administration of credentials for government or even private sector jobs. Furthermore, this police had powers of arrest, pursued nonpolitical criminals, and administered its own prison system. From the 1950s on, the PIDE extended its operations to the empire and began to directly suppress oppositionists in various colonies in Africa and Asia.While this police became more notorious and known to the public after 1958-61, before that new outburst of antiregime activity, it was perhaps more effective in neutralizing or destroying oppositionist groups. It was especially effective in damaging the Communist Party of Portugal (PCP) in the 1930s and early 1940s. Yet, beginning with the unprecedented strikes and political activities of 194345, the real heyday had passed. During World War II, its top echelons were in the pay of both the Allies and Axis powers, although in later propaganda from the left, the PIDE's pro-Axis reputation was carefully groomed into a myth.As for its actual strength and resources, it seems clear that it employed several thousand officers and also had thousands of informants in the general population. Under new laws of 1945, this police force received the further power to institute 90-day detention without charge or trial and such a detention could easily be renewed. A who's-who of the political opposition emerges from those who spent years in PIDE prisons or were frequently arrested without charge. The PIDE remained numerous and well-funded into 1974, when the Revolution of 25 April 1974 overthrew the regime and abolished it. A major question remains: If this police knew much about the Armed Forces Movement coup conspiracy, why was it so ineffective in arresting known leaders and squashing the plot? -
33 Pronunciamento
Portuguese word for military coup d'etat, uprising, or insurrection, derived from the verb "to declare, to announce solemnly and publicly." The Spanish word is similar ( pro-nunciamiento). Praetorianism or military insurrectionism became a chronic problem, as well as a political tradition, first in Spain after the army's coup of 1812, followed by an army insurrection in the cause of constitutional monarchy in 1820 in Oporto, Portugal. Both civilian and military conspiracies to use the military to intervene in public affairs, overthrow the current government, and establish a "new" system became common from this time on in Iberian affairs, and such activity was also common in 19th-century Latin America, where Spain and Portugal had former colonies. The Portuguese word for the tendency to have pronunciamentos or golpes is referred to as golpismo. -
34 Revolution of Carnations
Refers to the Revolution of 25 April 1974. Carnations of many colors, but principally red because of the symbolism of red for leftist (including socialist and communist) views and action, were common in Lisbon flower shops during the rainy day of 25 April 1974, when the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) overthrew the Estado Novo. The carnation appeared to embody the peaceful, bloodless, almost romantic nature of the military coup, which met little or no resistance from the Estado Novo's last defenders. The only blood shed on 25 April was spilled when the Lisbon headquarters of the political police (DGS) fired into a surging crowd of procoup enthusiasts who rushed the front of the building; five persons died and several people were injured.When people began to give the MFA troops carnations to stick in their rifles, guns, and uniforms and on their helmets and caps, the idea of using the carnations as a symbol of the peaceful intentions of the MFA spread. Soon various parties and even the government adopted the symbol of red carnations, and this icon of change began to appear in graffiti on walls.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Revolution of Carnations
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35 Santos, José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso
(1929-1987)Balladeer, singer, poet, musician, composer, and teacher. Known to the public simply as "Zeca" or "José Afonso," he was a student poet, singer, and musician in the 1950s, and premier interpreter of Coimbra fado, creator of a new school of fado music, and leader of a reform movement in popular music. Using his distinctive musical compositions, appealing baritone singing voice, and iconoclastic lyrics of resistance to tyranny, Afonso Santos employed his poetic and musical gifts as instruments of resistance and opposition to the enduring Estado Novo. Two recorded songs became early shots in this war: Balada de Outono (Autumn's Ballad) and Menino d'Oiro (Golden Boy). With diverse, subversive meanings usually disguised in allegory, his lyrics and style eschewed the traditional Coimbra fado's fare of broad sentiment and unrequited love. Instead, Afonso presented new ballads with contemporary resonance. In the mid-1960s, when so many Portuguese youth were drafted and mobilized for Portugal's colonial wars in Africa, he lived and taught school in Mozambique, where he organized opposition to the regime. Later in that colony, he was arrested by the PIDE.After his return to Portugal, Afonso's reputation as a rebel ballad-eer grew; among his most celebrated recorded ballads were Cantigas de Maio (Songs of May, 1971) and Venham Mais Cinco (Five More Came, 1973). His famous revolutionary, rallying song, Grândola, Vila Morena, banned by the Estado Novo before 1974, became the single most famous piece of Portuguese revolutionary music in the second half of the 20th century. Grândola featured Afonso's voice and lyrics and expressed a clearly leftist ideology and resistance to tyranny, to the background sounds of marching feet growing louder. Selected by the coup planners of the Armed Forces Movement as a signal for action, a secret password sign to be played over Lisbon radio at about midnight on 24/25 April 1974, this remarkable song acquired new fame and a place in history as both an actual signal for rebel military operations to begin and an enduring revolutionary rallying cry. After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Grândola became the most potent symbol of the move to topple the Estado Novo and open the way for profound change, as well as a musical icon, equaled only by the iconographic red carnation. The first stanza of Afonso's lyrics, translated from the Portuguese, is: Grândola, dark-brown town, Homeland of Brotherhood The people have more power within you, oh city....Historical dictionary of Portugal > Santos, José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso
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36 United States of America
(USA)Portugal and the United States established full and formal diplomatic relations in 1791, and the first commercial treaty between them was signed in 1840. The two very different countries have been linked by geography and by Portuguese immigration to the United States. Both share the status of being Atlantic powers. Significant Portuguese immigration to the eastern seaboard, especially to coastal New England, began in the first half of the 19th century, but the numbers of Lusitanian immigrants reached their peak only after 1910. Although there was relatively little trade between the two countries until after 1880, Portugal's diplomats briefly toyed with the notion of using the United States as a counterweight ally to her oldest ally, Great Britain, especially during the era of bitter territorial and trade disputes between Britain and Portugal over south-central Africa after 1850.It was during the 20th century, however, that Luso-American diplomatic relations assumed a new importance, and again the Atlantic connection played a key role. On two occasions during world wars, in 1917-18 and 1944-45, the United States armed forces used the Azores Islands for air and naval bases. In 1951, Portugal and the United States signed the first major Azores base agreements, at first as part of America's Cold War defense strategy needs. The Azores base question has assumed an essential role in the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.The United States also sponsored Portugal's entry in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). American trade and investment in Portugal increased significantly since the 1940s and, by 1980, the United States had become one of Portugal's main trade partners. By the 1990s, this relationship experienced some changes, as Portugal's membership in the European Union (EU) strengthened the trade positions of EU members such as Britain, Germany, France, and Spain. Luso-American cultural relations, however, including the increasing knowledge of English in Portugal, became closer. Among the factors responsible for this were the presence of a larger American community in Portugal, American investment, the Fulbright exchange program, and American-language schools, whose activity suggested that English taught in British-language schools in Portugal no longer held a clear monopoly.Historical dictionary of Portugal > United States of America
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37 Women
A paradox exists regarding the equality of women in Portuguese society. Although the Constitution of 1976 gave women full equality in rights, and the right to vote had already been granted under Prime Minister Marcello Caetano during the Estado Novo, a gap existed between legal reality and social practice. In many respects, the last 30 years have brought important social and political changes with benefits for women. In addition to the franchise, women won—at least on paper—equal property-owning rights and the right of freedom of movement (getting passports, etc.). The workforce and the electorate afforded a much larger role for women, as more than 45 percent of the labor force and more than 50 percent of the electorate are women. More women than ever attend universities, and they play a larger role in university student bodies. Also, more than ever before, they are represented in the learned professions. In politics, a woman served briefly as prime minister in 1979-80: Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo. Women are members of government cabinets ("councils"); women are in the judicial system, and, in the late 1980s, some 25 women were elected members of parliament (Assembly of the Republic). Moreover, women are now members of the police and armed forces, and some women, like Olympic marathoner Rosa Mota, are top athletes.Portuguese feminists participated in a long struggle for equality in all phases of life. An early such feminist was Ana de Castro Osório (1872-1935), a writer and teacher. Another leader in Portugal's women's movement, in a later generation, was Maria Lamas (18931983). Despite the fact that Portugal lacked a strong women's movement, women did resist the Estado Novo, and some progress occurred during the final phase of the authoritarian regime. In the general elections of 1969, women were granted equal voting rights for the first time. Nevertheless, Portuguese women still lacked many of the rights of their counterparts in other Western European countries. A later generation of feminists, symbolized by the three women writers known as "The Three Marias," made symbolic protests through their sensational writings. In 1972, a book by the three women writers, all born in the late 1930s or early 1940s (Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta, and Maria Velho da Costa), was seized by the government and the authors were arrested and put on trial for their writings and outspoken views, which included the assertion of women's rights to sexual and reproductive freedom.The Revolution of 25 April 1974 overthrew the Estado Novo and established in law, if not fully in actual practice in society, a full range of rights for women. The paradox in Portuguese society was that, despite the fact that sexual equality was legislated "from the top down," a gap remained between what the law said and what happened in society. Despite the relatively new laws and although women now played a larger role in the workforce, women continued to suffer discrimination and exclusion. Strong pressures remained for conformity to old ways, a hardy machismo culture continued, and there was elitism as well as inequality among classes. As the 21st century commenced, women played a more prominent role in society, government, and culture, but the practice of full equality was lacking, and the institutions of the polity, including the judicial and law enforcement systems, did not always carry out the law. -
38 Holt, Benjamin
SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology[br]b. 1 January 1849 Concord, New Hampshire, USAd. 5 December 1924 Stockton, California, USA[br]American machinery manufacturer responsible for the development of the Caterpillar tractor and for early developments in combine harvesters.[br]In 1864 Charles Henry Holt led three other brothers to California in response to the gold rush. In 1868 he founded C.H.Holt \& Co. in San Francisco with the help of his brothers Williams and Ames. The company dealt in timber as well as wagon and carriage materials, as did the business they had left behind in Concord in the care of their youngest brother, Benjamin. In 1883 Benjamin joined the others in California and together they formed the Stockton Wheel Company with offices in San Francisco and Stockton. The brothers recognized the potential of combine harvesters and purchased a number of patents, enlarged their works and began to experiment. Their first combine was produced in 1886, and worked for forty-six days that year. With the stimulus of Benjamin Holt the company produced the first hillside combine in 1891 and introduced the concept of belt drive. The Holt harvesting machine produced in 1904 was the first to use an auxiliary gas engine. By 1889 Benjamin was sole family executive. In 1890 the company produced its first traction engine. He began experimenting with track-laying machines, building his first in 1904. It was this machine which earned the nickname "Caterpillar", which has remained the company trade name to the present day. In 1906 thecompany produced its first gasoline-engined Caterpillar, and the first production model was introduced two years later. The development of Caterpillar tractors had a significant impact on the transport potential of the Allies during the First World War, and the Holt production of track-laying traction engines was of immense importance to the supply of the armed forces. In 1918 Benjamin Holt was still actively involved in the company, but he died in Stockton in 1920.[br]Further ReadingW.A.Payne (ed.), 1982, Benjamin Holt: The Story of the Caterpillar Tractor, Stockton, Calif: University of the Pacific (provides an illustrated account of the life of Holt and the company he formed).R.Jones, "Benjamin Holt and the Caterpillar tractor", Vintage Tractor Magazine 1st special vol.AP -
39 Marconi, Marchese Guglielmo
[br]b. 25 April 1874 Bologna, Italyd. 20 July 1937 Rome, Italy[br]Italian radio pioneer whose inventiveness and business skills made radio communication a practical proposition.[br]Marconi was educated in physics at Leghorn and at Bologna University. An avid experimenter, he worked in his parents' attic and, almost certainly aware of the recent work of Hertz and others, soon improved the performance of coherers and spark-gap transmitters. He also discovered for himself the use of earthing and of elevated metal plates as aerials. In 1895 he succeeded in transmitting telegraphy over a distance of 2 km (1¼ miles), but the Italian Telegraph authority rejected his invention, so in 1896 he moved to England, where he filed the first of many patents. There he gained the support of the Chief Engineer of the Post Office, and by the following year he had achieved communication across the Bristol Channel.The British Post Office was also slow to take up his work, so in 1897 he formed the Wireless Telegraph \& Signal Company to work independently. In 1898 he sold some equipment to the British Army for use in the Boer War and established the first permanent radio link from the Isle of Wight to the mainland. In 1899 he achieved communication across the English Channel (a distance of more than 31 miles or 50 km), the construction of a wireless station at Spezia, Italy, and the equipping of two US ships to report progress in the America's Cup yacht race, a venture that led to the formation of the American Marconi Company. In 1900 he won a contract from the British Admiralty to sell equipment and to train operators. Realizing that his business would be much more successful if he could offer his customers a complete radio-communication service (known today as a "turnkey" deal), he floated a new company, the Marconi International Marine Communications Company, while the old company became the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company.His greatest achievement occurred on 12 December 1901, when Morse telegraph signals from a transmitter at Poldhu in Cornwall were received at St John's, Newfoundland, a distance of some 2,100 miles (3,400 km), with the use of an aerial flown by a kite. As a result of this, Marconi's business prospered and he became internationally famous, receiving many honours for his endeavours, including the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909. In 1904, radio was first used to provide a daily bulletin at sea, and in 1907 a transatlantic wireless telegraphy service was inaugurated. The rescue of 1,650 passengers from the shipwreck of SS Republic in 1909 was the first of many occasions when wireless was instrumental in saving lives at sea, most notable being those from the Titanic on its maiden voyage in April 1912; more lives would have been saved had there been sufficient lifeboats. Marconi was one of those who subsequently pressed for greater safety at sea. In 1910 he demonstrated the reception of long (8 km or 5 miles) waves from Ireland in Buenos Aires, but after the First World War he began to develop the use of short waves, which were more effectively reflected by the ionosphere. By 1918 the first link between England and Australia had been established, and in 1924 he was awarded a Post Office contract for short-wave communication between England and the various parts of the British Empire.With his achievements by then recognized by the Italian Government, in 1915 he was appointed Radio-Communications Adviser to the Italian armed forces, and in 1919 he was an Italian delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. From 1921 he lived on his yacht, the Elettra, and although he joined the Fascist Party in 1923, he later had reservations about Mussolini.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsNobel Prize for Physics (jointly with K.F. Braun) 1909. Russian Order of S t Anne. Commander of St Maurice and St Lazarus. Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (i.e. Knight) of Italy 1902. Freedom of Rome 1903. Honorary DSc Oxford. Honorary LLD Glasgow. Chevalier of the Civil Order of Savoy 1905. Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal. Honorary knighthood (GCVO) 1914. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal of Honour 1920. Chairman, Royal Society of Arts 1924. Created Marquis (Marchese) 1929. Nominated to the Italian Senate 1929. President, Italian Academy 1930. Rector, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 1934.Bibliography1896, "Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and in apparatus thereof", British patent no. 12,039.1 June 1898, British patent no. 12,326 (transformer or "jigger" resonant circuit).1901, British patent no. 7,777 (selective tuning).1904, British patent no. 763,772 ("four circuit" tuning arrangement).Further ReadingD.Marconi, 1962, My Father, Marconi.W.J.Baker, 1970, A History of the Marconi Company, London: Methuen.KFBiographical history of technology > Marconi, Marchese Guglielmo
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40 Messerschmitt, Willi E.
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 26 June 1898 Frankfurt-am-Main, Germanyd. 17 September 1978 Munich, Germany[br]German aircraft designer noted for successful fighters such as the Bf 109, one of the world's most widely produced aircraft.[br]Messerschmitt studied engineering at the Munich Institute of Tchnology and obtained his degree in 1923. By 1926 he was Chief Designer at the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in Augsburg. Due to the ban on military aircraft in Germany following the First World War, his early designs included gliders, light aircraft, and a series of high-wing airliners. He began to make a major impact on German aircraft design once Hitler came to power and threw off the shackles of the Treaty of Versailles, which so restricted Germany's armed forces. In 1932 he bought out the now-bankrupt Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, but initially, because of enmity between himself and the German aviation minister, was not invited to compete for an air force contract for a single-engined fighter. However, in 1934 Messerschmitt designed the Bf 108 Taifun, a small civil aircraft with a fighter-like appearance. This displayed the quality of his design and the German air ministry was forced to recognize him. As a result, he unveiled the famous Bf 109 fighter which first flew in August 1935; it was used during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–9, and was to become one of the foremost combat aircraft of the Second World War. In 1938, after several name changes, the company became Messerschmitt Aktien-Gesellschaft (and hence a change of prefix from Bf to Me). During April 1939 a Messerschmitt aircraft broke the world air-speed record at 755.14 km/h (469.32 mph): it was entered in the FAI records as a Bf 109R, but was more accurately a new design designated Me 209V-1.During the Second World War, the 5/70P was progressively improved, and eventually almost 35,000 were built. Other successful fighters followed, such as the twin-engined Me 110 which also served as a bomber and night fighter. The Messerschmitt Me 262 twin-engined jet fighter, the first jet aircraft in the world to enter service, flew during the early years of the war, but it was never given a high priority by the High Command and only a small number were in service when the war ended. Another revolutionary Messerschmitt AG design was the Me 163 Komet, the concept of Professor Alexander Lippisch who had joined Messerschmitt's company in 1939; this was the first rocket-propelled fighter to enter service. It was a small tailless design capable of 880 km/hr (550 mph), but its duration under power was only about 10 minutes and it was very dangerous to fly. From late 1944 onwards it was used to intercept the United States Air Force bombers during their daylight raids. At the other end of the scale, Messerschmitt produced the Me 321 Gigant, a huge transport glider which was towed behind a flight of three Me 110s. Later it was equipped with six engines, but it was an easy target for allied fighters. This was a costly white elephant, as was his high-speed twin-engined Me 210 fighter-bomber project which nearly made his company bankrupt. Nevertheless, he was certainly an innovator and was much admired by Hitler, who declared that he had "the skull of a genius", because of the Me 163 Komet rocket-powered fighter and the Me 262.At the end of the war Messerschmitt was detained by the Americans for two years. In 1952 Messerschmitt became an aviation adviser to the Spanish government, and his Bf109 was produced in Spain as the Hispano Buchon for a number of years and was powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. A factory was also constructed in Egypt to produce aircraft to Messerschmitt's designs. His German company, banned from building aircraft, produced prefabricated houses, sewing machines and, from 1953 to 1962, a series of bubble-cars: the KR 175 (1953–55) and the KR 200 (1955–62) were single-cylinder three-wheeled bubble-cars, and the Tiger (1958–62) was a twin-cylinder, 500cc four-wheeler. In 1958 Messerschmitt resumed aircraft construction in Germany and later became the Honorary Chairman of the merged Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm company (now part of the Franco-German Eurocopter company).[br]Further Readingvan Ishoven, 1975, Messerschmitt. Aircraft Designer, London. J.Richard Smith, 1971, Messerschmitt. An Air-craft Album, London.Anthony Pritchard, 1975, Messerschmitt, London (describes Messerschmitt aircraft).JDS / CMBiographical history of technology > Messerschmitt, Willi E.
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