Roberto Ivens (12 June 1850 in

Ponta Delgada Ponta Delgada (; ) is the largest municipality (''concelho'') and executive capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal. It is located on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous in the archipelago. As of 2021, it has 67,2 ...

– 28 January 1898 in Dafundo, Oeiras) was a Portuguese explorer of Africa,

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, colonial administrator, and an officer of the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy (), also known as the Portuguese War Navy (''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'') or as the Portuguese Armada (''Armada Portuguesa''), is the navy of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Chartered in 1317 by King Dinis of Portugal, it is ...

Early life

Roberto Ivens was the son of Margarida Júlia de Medeiros Castelo Branco and Robert Breakspeare Ivens (1822–?). Margarida was of lower nobility and Roberto's Grandfather, William Ivens, was a merchant awarded the Ivens

Arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

in 1816. Robert Breakspeare Ivens was a great-grandson of Thomas Hickling (

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

1745–1836 Ponta Delgada) the American vice-consul in

. In 1861, Ivens attended the Navy School 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 ...

. At school Roberto was known as "Roberto of the Devil" and he became known as an intelligent young gentleman. He joined the Portuguese Navy in 1870 at the age of 20 and attended Escola Prática de Artilharia Naval in 1871. Ivens left for the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

in September of the same year, where he was the garrison of the ''Estefânia''.

Travels

Ivens began his travels in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

in 1872. On 10 October 1874 he completed three years of travels in the colonies. Returning to Portugal in January 1875, Ivens made examination for

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. In April 1875, he sailed on the '' Duque de Terceira'' for Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe and various ports of South America. In 1876, Ivens set out for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, bringing Portuguese products to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

for the

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition, officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876. It was the first official wo ...

. His ancestor, Thomas Hickling, had been an ardent American revolutionary, and had in fact left

for the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

following an argument with his

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

father. Ivens went on an expedition into the provinces of

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

beginning on 11 May 1877, and studied relations between hydrographic basins in

Zambezi The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...

. His hydrographic studies are considered even today to be "amazingly perfect". In the same year he was promoted to the rank of

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

. Ivens went on an expedition on 21 June 1885 at

Quelimane Quelimane () is a seaport in Mozambique. It is the administrative Capital (political), capital of the Zambezia Province and the province's largest city, and stands from the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Sinais (or "River of the Good Signs"). The riv ...

. Ivens, as requested by the King Luís I, and in the aftermath of the

Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin,

, to travel between Angola and Mozambique, which ended in over 4,500 miles (about 8,300 km) of which 1/3 was uncharted in what was called " Pink Map". For his service to Portugal, Roberto had the honor of being named aide-de-camp to King Luís. In 1895, he was made Officer of Military Order of Aviz and was nominated on October 17 as secretary of the Commission of Cartography.

Honours

Portugal has ten streets named after Roberto Ivens including one in

named ''Avenida Roberto Ivens''. Several schools are named in his honor, including Escola Básica Integrada Roberto Ivens, near his birthplace. A species of African lizard, '' Lubuya ivensii'', is named in his honor. He was also portrayed in the 500

Angolan escudo The escudo was the currency of Angola between 1914 and 1928 and again between 1958 and 1977. It was subdivided into 100 ''centavos'' with the ''macuta'' worth 5 centavos and was equivalent to the Portuguese escudo. History The introduction of th ...

banknote issued in 1956. In 2019,

TAP Air Portugal TAP Air Portugal is the flag carrier of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its airline hub, hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and operates on average 2, ...

named an

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was ...

, registered CS-TXD, for Roberto Ivens.

Partial list of works

*'' De Benguela às Terras de Iaca'' 1881 *'' De Angola à Contracosta'' 1886

References

External links