| Milton Santos | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 May 1926 Brotas de Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil |
| Died | 24 June 2001 (aged 75) |
| Fields | Human geography |
Milton Almeida dos Santos (born May 3, 1926 – June 24, 2001) was a Brazilian geographer who had a degree in law.
Santos was born in Brotas de Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil on May 3, 1926. Santos' parents were teachers at elementary school and taught him at home how to read and write. By the time he was eight, Santos had already completed the equivalent of an elementary school education. Milton's father was a descendant from slaves, which gave Santos motivation to study. From 1934 to 1936, he lived in Alcobaça, learning French and good manners.
To finance university classes in Salvador, he taught geography to high school students. Partially motivated by a plea from his uncle, he graduated, majoring in law. Instead of practicing law, he took and passed a public examination for secondary teacher and went to teach geography in Ilhéus. His teaching career, replete with challenges, in no small way imposed by his condition of blackness.
Santos went on to study and teach in Europe, America, and Africa. He turned the painful exile that the military dictatorship had imposed on him for thirteen years into benefits. Milton Santos wrote more than forty books in several languages. These works became a reference for all those who intended to understand the world in a critical way.
A serious and combative geographer, he didn't spare anyone of severe criticism. Politicians, intellectuals, department friends, and even the more faithful students received criticism alike. Though gray hair appeared in his last years, the professor would always appear in long-sleeve shirts and red tie, dressed with the same seriousness that he had worked with knowledge.
Some of his works include "Por Uma Geografia Nova" (1978) and "A Natureza do Espaço" (1996). His work "O Espaço Dividido", in which Santos develops a theory on urban development in underdeveloped countries, is considered a geography classic.
Milton Santos went on to win the Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize- the highest award that can be gained in the field of geography. The award is modeled after the Nobel Prize and is considered and colloquially called the Nobel Prize for geography.