Francisco António de Araújo e Azevedo

Francisco António de Araújo e Azevedo (21 December 1772; Angra - 4 April 1821) was a Portuguese military officer and colonial administrator. Eventually reaching the rank of brigadier, he was part of the king's council (honoured with the Order of Avis and Order of Tower and Sword), before holding the position as 7th Captain-General of the Captaincy-General of the Azores.

Biography

Francisco was part of the House of Sá e Lage, of Ponte de Lima, and was the brother of António de Araújo e Azevedo (1754-1817), first Count of Barca, an influential politician of the time.

Captaincy-General

Francisco António was nominated as 7th Captain-general of the Captaincy of the Azores on 20 August 1816, disembarking in Terceira on 11 May 1817: he took-up his office on 14 May 1817.

Between 1820 and 1821 he resided in the Palácio Bettencourt, which was constructed in the late 17th and early 18th century, eventually becoming the seat of government.

During his government, Francisco António took measures to clear uncultivated lands, completed the public works on the Angra-Praia roadway through Achada, and instituted measures to alter wagon-wheels (which were destroying the roads). He ordered the culling of goats that were in empty lots, in order to control herds and transform agriculture from a subsistence to commercial enterprise. These measures were badly interpreted by the general population, who developed a hate for him, referring to Captain-General as the mata-cabras (goat-killer).

Fearing that the diplomatic crisis between Portugal and Spain, resulting from the occupation of Montevideo (province of Cisplatina) by Portuguese troops in 1817, would result in possible reprisals against the Azores, he promoted not only a thorough reform of the military structures in the archipelago, but also the restoration and construction of new forts, such as the Fort of São José, the Fort of São Caetano and the Fort of São João.^[1]

Having led the Constitutional Revolt in Angra that deposed his successor, Francisco de Borja Garção Stockler, he was killed in a counter-revolution that occurred on 3–4 April 1821. He was buried in the church of the Fortress of São João Baptista on Monte Brasil, but his remains were later transferred to the cemetery of Livramento in Angra do Heroísmo.

References

Notes

Sources

• Faria, Manuel Augusto (2000), "Plantas dos Fortes da Ilha Terceira", Atlântida (in Portuguese) LXV, pp. 154–171