Duarte Leite Pereira da Silva, GCC (11 August 1864 in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

– 29 September 1950 in

; ), was a Portuguese historian, mathematician, journalist, diplomat and politician. He graduated in Mathematics at the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

, in 1885. He taught at the Politecnic Academy of Porto, from 1886 to 1911. Meanwhile, he was also the director of the newspaper diary "''A Pátria''". As a historian, he published many studies, later compiled in "''História dos Descobrimentos''" (History of the Discoveries), in 2 volumes.

Political career

After the overthrow of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910, he was Minister of Finance during the first

Augusto de Vasconcelos Augusto César de Almeida de Vasconcelos Correia, Order of Saint James of the Sword, GCSE (24 September 1867 – 27 September 1951), better known as Augusto de Vasconcelos () was a Portuguese people, Portuguese surgeon, politician and diplomat, ...

government (1911), and succeeded him, as

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and Minister of Internal Affairs, from 16 June 1912 to 9 January 1913. From 1914 to 1931 he served as Portuguese ambassador to Brazil. He was a candidate to the Presidency of the Republic in the elections held in the Congress of the Republic, in 1925. Faithful all his life to his left-wing republican principles, he became a member of the 1945–48

Movement of Democratic Unity The Movement of Democratic Unity () was a quasi-legal platform of Portuguese democratic organizations that opposed the authoritarian regime of António de Oliveira Salazar and was founded in October 1945. The defeat of the Fascist regimes in World ...

, which during its brief lifespan functioned as the first form of legalized opposition to Salazar's far-right ''Estado Novo'' (New State) regimen.

References

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1864 births 1950 deaths People from Porto Portuguese Republican Party politicians Prime ministers of Portugal Finance ministers of Portugal Government ministers of Portugal Ambassadors of Portugal to Brazil Portuguese anti-fascists 20th-century Portuguese historians Portuguese journalists Portuguese male journalists University of Coimbra alumni {{Portugal-writer-stub