Teodoro Fernandes Sampaio () (7 January 1855 – 11 October 1937) was a Brazilian

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

and public intellectual who worked as an engineer, geographer, politician, and historian.

Early life

Sampaio was born on the Engenho Canabrava, property of the Visconde de Aramaré in

Santo Amaro, Bahia Santo Amaro, also known as Santo Amaro da Purificação (), is a municipality in the state of Bahia in Brazil. The population is 60,131 (2020 est.) in an area of . It is located in the metropolitan area of Salvador. Santo Amaro is located approxima ...

. His father was Manuel Fernandes Sampaio, a white priest, and his mother, Domingas da Paixão do Carmo, was an enslaved woman.

Education

In 1864 his father took young Sampaio to

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and

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 ...

, where he studied engineering at the Colégio Central. During his studies in Rio de Janeiro, Sampaio worked as a

drafter A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British English, British and English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman, drafting technician, or CAD technician in American English, American and Canadia ...

and taught mathematics in the Museu Nacional. Sampaio graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the

Polytechnic School Polytechnic School, often referred to simply as Poly, is a college preparatory private day school located in Pasadena, California with approximately 850 students enrolled in grades Kindergarten through 12. The school is a former member of th ...

in Rio de Janeiro in 1877 and returned to Santo Amaro. Reunited with mother, Sampaio managed to purchase the

manumission Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing slaves by their owners. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that the most wi ...

of his three brothers Martinho, Ezequiel and Matias.

Engineering and cartography

In 1879, Emperor

Pedro II of Brazil ''Don (honorific), Dom'' PedroII (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed the Magnanimous (), was the List o ...

named Sampaio to the national "Comissão Hidráulica" (Hydraulic Commission). He was the only Brazilian serving on a team of American engineers working to enlarge the port of Santos led by William Milnor Roberts. As part of this endeavour, Sampaio produced his first cartographic work, drawing the blueprints and survey charts of the port of Santos along with surveys of 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 ...

. The expedition explored the river from its mouth, on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, up to the navigable limit at the time, near the town of

Pirapora Pirapora is a municipality in northcentral Minas Gerais in Brazil. The population is 56,640 (2020 est.) in an area of 550 km². The name Pirapora comes from the Tupi words for "fish" + "jump", referring to the piracema season when a mass migratio ...

in the then province of Minas Gerais. The return journey, inland through the north-eastern Brazilian state of

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 ...

, led to Sampaio's major cartographic work, the topographic survey of

Chapada Diamantina Chapada Diamantina (; Portuguese language, Portuguese for the "Diamond Plateau") is a region of Bahia state, in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast of Brazil. This mountain range is known as “Serra do Espinhaço,” in Minas Gerais state, ...

, a mountain range in Bahia State, and his book ''O Rio São Francisco e a Chapada Diamantina'', published in 1906, which later became a classic of Brazil's history and geography.

Institutional memberships

Sampaio was one of the founders of the Escola Politécnica of São Paulo (Polytechnic School of São Paulo) in 1893 and of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de São Paulo (Historical and Geographical Institute of São Paulo) in 1894. He was also a member of the Instituto Geográfico e Histórico da Bahia (Geographic and Historical Institute of Bahia), serving as president in 1922, and a member of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (1902).

Historical significance

Sampaio was the first person with an enslaved mother to become a federal deputy in Brazil's history. His most important books were: * ''O Rio São Francisco e a Chapada Diamantina'' (1906); * ''O Tupi na Geografia Nacional'' (1901); * ''Atlas dos Estados Unidos do Brasil'' (1908); * ''Dicionário Histórico, Geográfico e Etnográfico do Brasil'' (1922); * ''História da Fundação da Cidade do Salvador'' (posthumous). Books about him: * ''Theodoro Sampaio e a Chapada Diamantina'' (Trechos da expedição de 1879/1880), Otoniel Fernandes Neto, ed. do Author, Brasília, 2005. (). * ''Baianos Ilustres'', Antônio Loureiro de Souza, Salvador, 1949. A well-known, major street in the city of

, Rua Teodoro Sampaio, is dedicated to Sampaio.

Bibliography

* "Theodoro Sampaio - nos sertões e nas cidades" Versal Editores, Rio de Janeiro, 2010. (). * ''O Rio São Francisco e a Chapada Diamantina'', Teodoro Sampaio (''José Carlos Barreto de Santana'' org.), Companhia das Letras, São Paulo, 2002. () * ''Theodoro Sampaio e a Chapada Diamantina'' (''Trechos da expedição de 1879/1880''), Otoniel Fernandes Neto, ed. do Autor, Brasília, 2005. (). * ''Baianos Ilustres'', Antônio Loureiro de Souza, Salvador, 1949.

References

External links

* * https://archive.today/20140119174546/http://biblio.etnolinguistica.org/autor ("Works by Teodoro Sampaio") * http://mundoafro.atarde.com.br ("Reproduction of drawings by Teodoro Sampaio") {{DEFAULTSORT:Sampaio, Teodoro Fernandes 1855 births 1937 deaths Brazilian engineers Afro-Brazilian people People from Santo Amaro, Bahia Brazilian cartographers