José Maria Mendes Ribeiro Norton de Matos, GCTE, GCL (March 23, 1867 in Ponte de Lima,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

– January 3, 1955 in Ponte de Lima) was a Portuguese general and politician.

1880s

After attending college in Braga, and attending the Escola Académica in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

in 1880, Norton de Matos became part of the mathematics faculty at the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...

in 1884. He later went to military school and, in 1898, departed for

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a s ...

. There, he began his career in colonial administration.

1910s-1920s

Norton de Matos' return to Portugal coincided with the transformation of the political system of Portugal into a republic. He was prepared to serve the new regime, and he soon became the chief of staff of the 5th military division. In 1912 he gained the post of governor-general of

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordinat ...

. His leadership was considered instrumental in protecting the Portuguese colony from foreign powers such as Britain,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and

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. Norton de Matos was recalled to Portugal in 1915 due to a new political situation that arose in Portugal during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and named Minister of War. In this capacity, he was responsible for organizing the Portuguese intervention on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...

. In 1917, Norton de Matos exiled himself to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

after disagreements with

the new republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

. He later returned and became the Portuguese delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, which led to the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...

. Later he returned to Angola as High Commissioner of the Republic, from 1921 to 1923, before becoming Portuguese ambassador to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

from 1923 to 1926. In 1929 he was elected a Grand Master of the Masons in Portugal.

1940s

Norton de Matos returned to teaching, accepting a position as professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico, but was dismissed from his chair. He then became a leading opposition figure against the Salazar regime. In 1943, he was named to the National Council of

Movement of National Antifascist Unity The Movement of National Antifascist Unity ( pt, Movimento de Unidade Nacional Antifascista or MUNAF) was a political platform of democratic organizations which fought against the Portuguese authoritarian regime ( led by António de Oliveira Salazar ...

, or MUNAF, and on his 81st birthday, he was named the candidate of the opposition now united under the Movement of Democratic Unity (MUD, the successor organization to the MUNAF after 1945) for President in the election of 1949, under the dictatorial Estado Novo regime, while demanding freedom to advertise his message and the close inspection of votes. The regime refused these demands, and Norton de Matos withdrew from the election on February 12, 1949. Despite his fierce opposition to Salazar, Norton de Matos also defended Portuguese colonialism but in a more progressive way. In 1953 he published a book titled “Africa Nossa” (“Our Africa”) where he made an appeal for policies that would promote massive territorial occupation by Portuguese white settlers in Africa and at the same time support the gradual assimilation of the African populations. Norton de Matos continued to lead a democratic opposition movement centered in the city of

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

. He died in his hometown in 1955.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton de Matos, Jose Portuguese colonial governors and administrators Portuguese generals 1867 births 1955 deaths Candidates for President of Portugal Portuguese anti-fascists Portuguese military personnel of World War I Ambassadors of Portugal to the United Kingdom Governors of Portuguese Angola 1910s in Angola 1940s in Angola Portuguese Freemasons People from Huambo People from Ponte de Lima 20th-century Portuguese politicians Recipients of the Order of the Tower and Sword