Pereira Passos
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Francisco Pereira Passos (29 August 1836 – 12 March 1913) was a Brazilian civil engineer and politician. He was mayor of the
Federal District A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...
of Brazil from 1902 to 1906, nominated by President
Rodrigues Alves Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, PC (; 7 July 1848 – 16 January 1919) was a Brazilian politician who first served as president of the Province of São Paulo in 1887, then as Treasury minister in the 1890s. Rodrigues Alves was elected the ...
. During his tenure, Pereira Passos promoted a large-scale urban renewal plan for Rio, inspired by
Georges-Eugène Haussmann Georges-Eugène Haussmann (; 27 March 180911 January 1891), commonly known as Baron Haussmann, was a French official who served as prefect of Seine (1853–1870), chosen by Emperor Napoleon III to carry out a massive urban renewal programme of n ...
's renewal of
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.


Biography

Passos was son of Antônio Pereira Passos, Barão de Mangaratiba, and Clara Oliveira. Until the age of fourteen he was raised at the Bálsamo Farm, in São João Marcos, currently Rio Claro district, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In March 1852 he joined the then Military School, now the Polytechnic School of the
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (, UFRJ) is a public university, public research university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the country and is one of the Brazilian centers of excellence in teaching and r ...
— former University of Brazil where he graduated in 1856 as a Bachelor in Physical and Mathematical Sciences, which gave him the Diploma of civil engineer. He was a classmate of
Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, Constant ...
. He studied in France from 1857 to the end of 1860, where he attended the urban reform of Paris promoted by Georges-Eugène Haussmann. His stay in Paris had a profound influence on Passos, who was to devote himself to railway engineering and urban planning. On his return to Brazil in 1860, Pereira Passos dedicates himself to the construction and expansion of the Brazilian railway network, under the demand of the coffee economy. He participated in the construction of the Santos–Jundiaí Railroad (1867), the extension of the D. Pedro II Railroad to the
São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...
(1868), and technical consultant to the Ministry of Agriculture and Public Works (1870). He returned to Europe in 1871, in the company of the
Baron of Mauá 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, ...
, as inspector of the Imperial Government. In Europe, he studied European rail systems and was inspired by the Swiss railroad which climbed Mount Righi with slopes of up to 20%, to run the railway extension to Petrópolis. System that would still be used later in the first tourist railrway of Brazil, Corcovado Railway. He directed at the same time the Arsenal of Ponta da Areia, at the invitation of the Baron of Mauá, producing rails and wagons. He was appointed engineer of the Ministry of the Empire in 1874, and it is up to Pereira Passos to accompany all the works of the imperial government. He was part of the commission that was to present the city's overall urban reform plan, including widening streets, building major avenues, channeling rivers among other urban and sanitary measures. The survey carried out from 1875 to 1876 would be the basis of the future master plan of the city, put into practice in the administration of Passos as mayor. He returned to Europe in 1880 and remained in Paris until 1881. In the meantime he attended courses at the Sorbonne and the
Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...
, visiting factories, steel mills, transport companies and public works in Europe. Still in 1881 he became a consultant for ''Compagnie Générale de Chemins de Fer Brésiliens'', to accompany the construction of a railway line in Paraná, linking the
Port of Paranaguá The Port of Paranaguá is one of the main ports of Brazil and Latin America. It is in the city of Paranaguá, in the Brazilian state of Paraná, is the second largest port of Brazil in tonnage and the third in container shipping. It is a main ...
to
Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Southern Brazil. The city's population was 1,773,718 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the larg ...
. On his return to Brazil, he moved to Paraná and only after the railroad was inaugurated in 1882, he returned to the capital. On his return, he assumed the chairmanship of ''Companhia Ferro-Carril de São Cristóvão'', replacing the Viscount of Taunay. After restructuring the company, in 1884, Pereira Passos proposes to the shareholders the acquisition of the Italian project Giuseppe Fogliani, for the construction of a great avenue. Despite the shareholders' approval and the construction license obtained, the project did not go out of print. However, this would be more an anticipation of what would come to occur in his management as mayor 20 years later: the opening of '' Avenida Central''.


Mayor

Appointed mayor by President Rodrigues Alves, Pereira Passos promoted a great urban reform in the city, with the goal of transforming it into a modern French-style capital, a "''Tropical Paris"''. Inspired by the Haussmann reforms, in four years Pereira Passos transformed the city's appearance: the
cortiço Cortiço (, ), or gueto (Portuguese language for "beehive" and "ghetto" respectively; tenements), is a common Portuguese term used in Brazil for an area of concentrated, high density urban housing where people live with poor sanitation and hygie ...
s (high-density housing for low income people) and the narrow, dark streets, were demolished, with large boulevards and buildings took their place. Some of the works made in his tenure are the opening of Avenida Central (currently
Avenida Rio Branco Rio Branco Avenue (), formerly Avenida Central, is a major road in downtown Rio de Janeiro. It was built as the leading brand of the urban reform carried out by the mayor Pereira Passos in early 20th century. It is one of the main thoroughfares ...
), Avenida Beira-Mar and
Avenida Atlântica Avenida Atlântica ( Portuguese for ''Atlantic Avenue'') is a major seaside avenue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is long, and spans the entire length of the neighbourhoods of Copacabana and Leme. Layout In the stretch between its extremity in ...
, the modernizing of the Port of Rio de Janeiro and the beginning of the construction of the Municipal Theater. Passos' reforms and demolitions became known as the "''Bota Abaixo"'' (''Knock-it-down).''


Social aspects

Despite improvements in sanitation and urban development, Pereira Passos's plan entailed a high social cost, with the beginning of formation of
favela Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was b ...
s in the city. The reform promoted a great valorization of the soil in the central area, still partially occupied by the low income population. About 1,600 old residential buildings were demolished. As a result of these demolitions, the poor population of the city center was forced to live with other families, to pay high rents or to move to the suburbs, since the popular housing constructed to replace the demolished ones was insufficient. A large part of the immense population affected by the remodeling remained in the region and the hills located in the center of the city - Providência, Santo António, among others - once little inhabited, suffer a rapid occupation of the proletarian housing. The favelas appear, that would mark the configuration of the city until the present day.


Death

Pereira Passos died on March 12, 1913, boarding the ocean liner ''Araguaia,'' on a trip to France.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Passos, Pereira 1836 births 1913 deaths Brazilian engineers Mayors of Rio de Janeiro (city)