A Black's Journey on the Amazon: The Career of Captain Eduardo Gonçalves Ribeiro (1862-1900)

Abstract

When Marshal Floriano Peixoto assumed the presidency of Brazil in 1891, he appointed nine military officers to implementhis reformist agenda and govern states, all but one in the North and Northeast of Brazil. The governor of Amazonas,Captain Eduardo Gonçalves Ribeiro left an enormous legacy that included the opera house of Manaus, built over a decadebefore the one in Rio de Janeiro. He drained the swamps and left Manaus a planned city while eradicating yellow fever,again a decade earlier than the national capital. In his four years, he greatly expanded the primary school network inhis state while taking measures to encourage industry and immigration. Favored by the rubber boom and the export tax onthis product, Ribeiro realized all these programs while balancing the state budget. Although still poorly known,Ribeiro must number among the most prolific state administrators of his time. Ribeiro was black. Our objective inpreparing this article is to demonstrate how high a black could rise in nineteenth century Brazil and to demonstratehow much a motivated follower of President Floriano Peixoto could achieve as the governor of a state.