Alfredo Bensaúde was one of the most illustrious Azoreans in history. Mineralogist, engineer and university professor, he stood out for being the founder and first director of the Instituto Superior Técnico (Higher Technical Institute). Born on 4th March 1856, in the city of Ponta Delgada, to a well-off family, he

A figure of great importance in Azorean and Portuguese political life, Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro was a leading politician of the final phase of the Constitutional Monarchy. Born in Ponta Delgada on 7th November 1949, he graduated in Law from the University of Coimbra in 1872 and practised law in his

Teófilo Braga is one of the most illustrious personalities in the history of the Azores. Born on 24th February 1843, in the city of Ponta Delgada, he came from a family of aristocrats, his father being a former officer of the Miguelista army. Poet, philologist, historian, ethnologist, and politician, his

Manuel de Arriaga was the first President of the Portuguese Republic, and was born in the city of Horta, Faial Island, on 8th July 1840. Coming from a family of the small local aristocracy, he entered the University of Coimbra Law School, completing his bachelor’s degree in 1866 and his

José Curry da Câmara Cabral was one of the most prestigious Portuguese doctors, as well as a professor of medicine at the Lisbon Medical-Surgical School and one of the most famous researchers and professors in the area of medical sciences. His name gained singular recognition due to the fact that

King John III is one of the most celebrated Portuguese monarchs. Heir to a vast maritime empire that stretched across the Orient, Africa and the Americas, he ruled Portugal and its vast domains between 1521 and 1557. He was the first-born son of King Manuel I’s second marriage to Maria

King Manuel I was one of the most famous Portuguese monarchs, reigning over four continents and three oceans. Known as the Fortunate One, he ruled between 1469 and 1521, 26 years marked by a period of great navigations and discoveries, such as the arrival in India and Brazil, but also

Diogo de Silves is the assumed name of a Portuguese navigator from the 15th century who allegedly discovered the Azores Islands in 1427. According to a letter by the Catalan Gabriel de Valseca, dated 1439, Diogo de Silves may have been the discoverer of Santa Maria Island, and most likely