Duarte da Ponte Ribeiro, 1st Baron of Ponte Ribeiro (

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the Viseu District, district of the same name, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões Interm ...

; –

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

; ) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian physician, diplomat and cartographer. He was the first and last baron of Ponte Ribeiro.

Biography

Born in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

to surgeon José da Costa Quiroga da Ponte Ribeiro and Ana Ribeiro, he arrived to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in 1807. In 1811, at the age of 16, he graduated as a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

from the

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

School of Medicine. Shortly after Brazil's independence, a cause he supported, he was appointed consul general in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, where he was tasked with having the country recognise Brazil's independence. He later served as a diplomat in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

until the

Platine War The Platine War (, ; 18 August 1851 – 3 February 1852) was fought between the Argentine Confederation and an alliance consisting of the Empire of Brazil, Uruguay, and the Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos Province, Entre Ríos and Corrie ...

, where he played an important role. Between 1836 and 1841, he became the Empire's representative to the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, with which he negotiated a draft trade treaty, an opportunity in which he employed the thesis of ''

Uti possidetis ''Uti possidetis'' is an expression that originated in Roman private law, where it was the name of a procedure about possession of land. Later, by a misleading analogy, it was transferred to international law, where it has had more than one mean ...

'' '' de facto''. Although the treaty was rejected by the General Assembly, the doctrine became a principle in Brazil's boundary negotiations, when it was adopted as a guideline by the

baron of Rio Branco Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, ...

. He was honored as commander of the Imperial Order of Christ, in 1841, and great dignitary of the Imperial Order of the Rose. Furthermore, he was part of the Imperial Council and a noble knight of the Imperial House. He was also a member of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute (IHGB) since 1838.

References

{{reflist 1795 births 1878 deaths People from Viseu Brazilian diplomats Brazilian physicians Brazilian cartographers Portuguese emigrants to Brazil