Rufino Galvão, Viscount of Maracaju

The Viscount of Maracaju
Prime Minister of Brazil
In office 15 November 1899 - 31 December 1890
Monarch	Pedro II Isabel
Predecessor	Viscount of Ouro Preto
Successor	João Alfredo Correia de Oliveira
Born	2 July 1831 Laranjeiras, Sergipe, Brazil
Died	18 February 1909 (77 years old) Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Profession	Politician, army officer, engineer, astronomer, geographer
Military rank	Field marshall
Conflicts	Platine War, Paraguyan War
Religion	Catholic

Rufino Enéas Gustavo Galvão, Viscount of Maracaju was a Brazilian military officer and politician who fought in the Paraguayan War, served as Prime Minister of Brazil, Provincial President of three different Brazilian provinces and as the Minister of War of Brazil.

As a military officer, he participated in the battles of Ytororó and Avay, he was the Chief of the Engineering Commission which after the Paraguayan War marked the new border with Paraguay, where serving with distinction, he earned the title of Baron of Maracaju. His highest achieved rank was that of Marshal.

As a politician, he was President of the Province of Amazonas, President of the Province of Mato Grosso, President of the Province of Pará, Minister of War in three different periods and finally Prime Minister of Brazil.

Biography

Galvão was the son of José Antônio da Fonseca Galvão and Mariana Clementina de Vasconcelos Galvão, brother of Antônio Eneas Gustavo Galvão , baron of Rio Apa, and judge Manuel do Nascimento da Fonseca Galvão .

He was governor of the provinces of Amazonas, named by imperial letter of January 19, 1878, from 7 March 1878 to 26 August 1879, from Mato Grosso and Pará from 16 of December of 1882 the 1884, and Minister of War in 1889, having commanded the delimitation of the border between Brazil and Paraguay.

Prime Minister

After the coup against Prime Minister Viscount of Ouro Preto (of whom he was Minister of War in his cabinet), headed by Deodoro da Fonseca and young republican officers he was installed as Prime Minister by a reluctant Pedro II. In the next day he along Deodoro da Fonseca resisted the attempted republican coup with no casualities and exiled the most important figureheads there, much to the demise of more hardline monarchists that would rather prefer a live sentence.

Soon after those events the abdication of Pedro II happened, followed by the Coronation of Isabel that he both atended. Not long after her coronation, Emperess Isabel met with parliament and Maracaju's cabinet where she promised along with her husband, the Emperor Gastão. That he would not involve himself in political affairs, in order to acalm those who feared Gastão becoming a "gray eminence" in Isabel's reign.

His government recieved a good support from the military thanks to the new benefits to them granted by Galvão. He was also became well liked by Isabel during his ternure.