260th Birthday of José Bonifácio

                     Little more than eight months ago, the Brazilian scientist and politician would complete 260 years-old. He helped put some Enlightenment ideas in the formation of the new country that was being created. Unfortunately he faced opposition from the retrograte, conservative, farmer elite, and he can't put his ideas in practice.  Nowadays, all the world recognizes the injustice he suffered becoming twice  politically exiled.  This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published at   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Bonif%C3%A1cio_de_Andrada_e_Silva. The second was published at https://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/en/jose-bonifacio-connected-ideas-from-the-age-of-enlightenment-to-brazils-independence-process/

                            José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva (1763-1838) was a Brazilian statesman, naturalist, mineralogist, professor and poet, born in Santos, SP. He was one of the most important mentors of Brazilian independence, and his actions were decisive for the success of Emperor Pedro I. He supported public education, he was an abolitionist and suggested that a new national capital be created in Brazil's interior. His career as mineralogist was marked by the discovery of four minerals. In 1800, Bonifácio was appointed professor of geology at Coimbra University and 1812, he was made secretary of the Lisbon Academy of Science. Returning to Brazil in 1819, he urged prince regent Pedro to resist the recall of the Lisbon court, and when the Independence of Brazil was declared, Bonifácio became minister of the interior and of foreign affairs. He was elected by the Constituent Assembly and author of the abolition project in Brazil, presented to the Constituent in 1821, but his democratic principles resulted in his dismissal from office in July 1823. Bonifácio spent part of his life in Europe. In his travels around Europe he studied chemistry and mineralogy with other scientists. In 1797, he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. His relationship with the prince Pedro I became incompatible and he decided to join the opposition. In 1823 he was exiled and went to Bordeaux where he lived until 1829. In 1831 when Dom Pedro I abdicated from the throne, he was appointed by the former Emperor to be the tutor of the emperor's son. He didn't agree with the Regent's government so he tried to reestablish the Empire. After being arrested in 1833 and tried for intriguing on behalf of Dom Pedro I, he passed the rest of his days in retirement at the Niterói. In December 1836, he contracted tuberculosis. He died of the disease in April 1838.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             In 1819, a 58-year-old mineralogist, with degrees in Law and Philosophy from the University of Coimbra, embarked on a journey from Lisbon to Brazil. Nearing retirement, naturalist Bonifácio was an intellectual imbued with ideas of the Enlightenment. He fought against French troops led by Napoleon and, despite his inherent responsibilities, he never became politically involved. However, this would change next year with the emergence of the Porto Revolution, which would bury the old regime and establish a constitutional monarchy in Portugal, based on the liberal ideas shared by him. The revolution shaped the formation of governing boards within the provinces, and Bonifácio was elected to the São Paulo board, establish in 1821. Two years later, he'd become one of the main architects of Brazil's Independence. In this new Brazil, he'd be constituent representative and Minister of State and Foreign Affairs. In 1823, the then Minister clashed with the elite Brazilian political leaders, which led to his dismissal in July. With the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, he lost his mandate as representative and was exiled by the same emperor whose power he had helped to consolidate. Bonifácio's image has been disputed since the early years following Brazil's Independence. On the one hand, he is called the "Patriarch of Independence," while, on the other hand, he is seen as a despot who censored and persecuted political opponents while Minister. He is considered a man ahead of his time, having proposed the abolition of slavery and reform to the land tenure system. He shared the idea commonly held during the Age of Enlightenment, that the enlightened, the scholars knew what was best for the country. He supported a liberal regime, which entailed some degree of grassroots participation. Despite the importance of some of his roles in Portugal, only now his writings are beginning to be recognized as pioneering by science historians. In fact, in Europe, he was already identified as a forerunner in his awareness of the link between nature and the explotation of natural resources, which we'd call 'ecology' today. Bonifácio's link to Enlightenment also led to his economic ideas. As a member of the Academy of Science, he helped write Economic Memories of the Royal Academy of Science of Lisbon, a collection of essays on the Portuguese Empire's economy, published from 1789 to 1815.