8 September 1819 Antonio Maria de Fontes Pereira de Melo Minister of Portugal

António Maria de Fontes Pereira de Melo was born on 8 September 1819 in
Santa Isabel, Lisbon, Portugal.



Family

He was the son of João de Fontes Pereira de Melo, a Portuguese General,
politician and Governor of Cape Verde and Minister of the Maritime and
Overseas.

His mother was Jacinta Venãncia Rosa da Cunha Matos.



Duty

António was, like his father, a Portuguese statesman, politician and engineer.
Historically he became a very important political figure, deputy and he served
even six times as Minister of Finance.

He is remembered for conducting industrial and public infrastructure, which is
known as Fontismo (after his name).

He also implemented educational reforms in accordance with the
industrialization process. He initiated the Instituto Industrial de Lisboa
and the Escola Industrial do Porto.

Death

António Maria de Fontes Pereira de Melo died on 22 January 1887, in
Lisbon, Portugal at the age of 67.

Legacy

The Fontes Pereira de Melo Lighthouse of the island Santo Antão in
Cape Verde was named for him. It was constructed when he was
Prime Minister. Now it is called the Ponta do Tumbo Lighthouse.



Source pictures: Wikipedia

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Who is who? de Liedekerke family!

House of Wittelsbach - Between crazyness and excellence

Who was Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan?