Aires Pinto de Sousa Coutinho

Aires Pinto de Sousa Coutinho
Aires Pinto de Sousa Coutinho
7th Captain-General of the Azores
	In office; 9 September 1810 – 14 May 1817
Monarch	John VI of Portugal
Preceded by	Miguel António de Melo
Succeeded by	Francisco António de Araújo e Azevedo
Constituency	Azores
Personal details
Born	Aires Pinto de Sousa Coutinho
Citizenship	Kingdom of Portugal
Nationality	Portuguese
Residence	Angra do Heroísmo
Occupation	Governor 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 on two days later.[1]

Aires' governorship was linked to the creation of the Military Academy in Angra (by KingJohn VI); the construction of the military road of Praia (Angra-Praia) and the new battery installed in the Fort of Fort of Santo António do Monte Brasil, in addition to the transformation of Ponta Delgada into a free trade zone as a consequence of the Peninsular Wars (and which stopped the construction of a trans-Atlantic port in Vila Franca do Campo).[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 potable water from Mosteiros and Ponta Delgada, and the establishment of the Junta de Melhoramento Agrícola.[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 epidemia. He also restricted hunting of partridge, quail, woodcocks and wild rabbit.[1]

Sousa Coutingo was virtuoso, religious and polite, but grave, and governed his mandate with competency and overall satisfaction, until 14 May 1817.[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 pardoning the Liberal deportees of the Amazonas.[1][2]

References

Notes

Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.81
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), LXV, Angra do Heroísmo (Azores), Portugal, pp. 154–171

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[Bento81-1] 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.