Aires Pinto de Sousa Coutinho
7th Captain-General of the Azores
In office
9 September 1810 – 14 May 1817
MonarchJohn VI of Portugal
Preceded byMiguel António de Melo
Succeeded byFrancisco António de Araújo e Azevedo
ConstituencyAzores
Personal details
Born
Aires Pinto de Sousa Coutinho
CitizenshipKingdom of Portugal
NationalityPortuguese
ResidenceAngra do Heroísmo
OccupationGovernor General

Aires Pinto de Sousa Coutinho was a noble, colonial administrator, 6th Captain-General of the Azores, Field Marshal and master of the House of Balsemão and Ferreiros de Tendais.

Biography

Sousa Coutinho was a virtuous, religious person, generally characterized as polite and stern.[1]

Captaincy-General

He was nominated to the post of Captain-General on 15 December 1809, and disembarked in Angra do Heroísmo on 7 September 1810, taking-up his post two days later.[1]

Aires' governorship was linked to the creation of the Military Academy in Angra (decreed by King John VI); the construction of the military road of Praia (linking Angra and Praia) and the battery installed in the Fort of Santo António do Monte Brasil, in addition to the transformation of Ponta Delgada into a free trade zone (a consequence of the Peninsular Wars) and which ended the construction of the trans-Atlantic port in Vila Franca).[1] Owing to anomalies created by the Portuguese Corte's stay in Angra, the municipal council of Angra requested that Aires Pinto create a tribunal to investigate.[1]

Aires Pinto continued to support many of his predecessor's initiatives to maintain the islands' subsistence, including improving irrigation and distribution of potable water to Mosteiros and Ponta Delgada, and the establishment of the Junta de Melhoramento Agrícola (Agricultural Improvement Board).[1] But, these failed to stop the revolts and protests caused by the shipment of wheat from Praia.[1] In health, an epidemic of smallpox and contagious fevers, the General ordered the construction of an "ambulatory pharmacy", and provided the conditions to stem the epidemic. He also restricted hunting of partridge, quail, woodcocks and wild rabbit.[1]

Sousa Coutinho was virtuoso, religious and polite, but grave, and governed his mandate with competency and overall satisfaction.[1] Following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, and exile to Elba, he had proclaimed, the drubbing of the "despot of France and jailer of Europe", before decreeing an amnesty and pardoning the deportees of the Amazonas.[1][2]

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.81
  2. ↑ Following the first Peninsular War English Regent in Portugal, William Beresford had detained and exiled "French"-influenced revolutionaries to Angra. A total of 56 people were shipped to the Azores, where their influence would later form the base of the Liberal forces that helped to save former-King Pedro IV from his brother Miguel, during the Liberal Wars.

Sources

  • Bento, Carlos Melo (2008), História dos Açores: Da descoberta a 1934 (in Portuguese), Ponta Delgada (Azores), Portugal: Câmara Municipal de Ponta Delgada
  • Faria, Manuel Augusto (2000), "Plantas dos Fortes da Ilha Terceira", Atlântida (in Portuguese), vol. LXV, Angra do Heroísmo (Azores), Portugal, pp. 154–171{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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