Pinheiro, José Feliciano Fernandes (1774–1847)

José Feliciano Fernandes Pinheiro (b. 9 May 1774; d. 6 July 1847), viscount of São Leopoldo and minister of the Empire of Brazil (1825–1827). Born in Santos of a family of tradesmen, he graduated with a degree in law from the University of Coimbra in 1798. He was employed as a translator at the Arco do Cego Typography in Lisbon. There, he drew the attention of Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, who in 1800 appointed him minister of the colonies, to establish the Customs of Rio Grande de São Pedro do Sul Captaincy. He was elected representative to the Lisbon Cortes for São Paulo in 1821, and in 1823 he became a representative to the Brazilian Constituent Assembly.

Pedro I appointed Pinheiro president of the province of São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul (1824–1826), where he established the important immigrant colony of São Leopoldo. He was a senator from 1826 until his death and a member of the Council of State in 1827–1830.

Pinheiro played an important part in academic and cultural life. He was one of the founders of the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute, and a member of various foreign cultural institutions. He wrote several works, including Annals of the São Pedro Province, the first significant history of the region. He contributed to the creation of the Brazilian nation not only as a politician and administrator but as a memorialist and historian as well.

See alsoBrazil, The Empire (First) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Visconde De São Leopoldo, "Memorias," in Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro 37 (1874): 5-69, and 38 (1875): 5-49.

José Feliciano Fernandes Pinheiro, Anais da Província de São Pedro, introduction by Viana Moog, biography by Aurelio Porto, 4th ed. (1978).

Additional Bibliography

Lustosa, Isabel. D. Pedro I. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2006.

Ramos, Luís A. de Oliveira. D. Pedro, imperador e rei: Experiências de um príncipe (1798–1834). Lisboa: Edições Inapa, 2002.

                        LÚcia M. Bastos P. Neves