Tristão Gonçalves de Alencar, later Araripe, was born in 1789 in Ceará, Brazil. He was one of the sons of Barbara de Alencar and an important revolutionary leader during the revolutionary movements of 1817. He was elected President of Ceará during the brief period of "confederação do Equador" in 1824.
He was brutally murdered by the imperial forces on October 30, 1884 in the interior of Ceará.