Manuel Francisco Antonio Julián Montt Torres (; September 4, 1809 – September 21, 1880) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an statesman and scholar. He was twice elected

President of Chile The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is re ...

between 1851 and 1861.

Biography

Montt was born in

Petorca Petorca is a Chilean town and commune located in the Petorca Province, Valparaíso Region. The commune spans an area of . Since 2010 Petorca has been affected by a long-term drought aggravated by poor water administration that have allowed limit ...

Valparaíso Region The Valparaíso Region ( es, Región de Valparaíso, links=no, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions.Valparaíso Region, 2006 With the country's second-highest population of 1,790,219 , and fourth-smallest area of , ...

, the son of

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

immigrants. His family was very poor, and in 1822, the death of his father increased their hardship. The same year, Manuel's mother secured his entrance into the Instituto Nacional (''National Institute''), where he also would serve as rector later in life (1835–40), though he could only afford the fees by tutoring other students. After studying law at the Instituto Nacional, he graduated as a lawyer in 1833 and soon achieved prominent

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

posts. Montt had a distinguished career as a scholar, and was introduced into public life during the presidency (1831–1841) of

José Joaquín Prieto José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

Diego Portales Diego José Pedro Víctor Portales y Palazuelos (; June 16, 1793 – June 6, 1837) was a Chilean statesman and entrepreneur. As a minister of president José Joaquín Prieto's government, he played a pivotal role in shaping the state and po ...

. Montt distinguished himself by his courage in the crisis that followed upon Portales' assassination in 1837, though only holding a subordinate post in the government. In 1840, Montt was elected to the

National Congress of Chile The National Congress of Chile ( es, Congreso Nacional de Chile) is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile. The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Cham ...

. He served as minister of the interior and minister of justice under President

Manuel Bulnes Manuel Bulnes Prieto (; December 25, 1799 – October 18, 1866) was a Chilean military and political figure. He was twice President of Chile, from 1841 to 1846 and from 1846 to 1851. Born in Concepción, he served as the president of Chile bet ...

(1841–51). He emphasized the need for educational and scientific advancement in the Chile, and was Minister of public instruction for a time. He was also twice Minister of Interior and Foreign Affairs during the Bulnes administration. In 1849, botanist

Claude Gay Claude Gay, often named Claudio Gay in Spanish texts, (March 18, 1800 – November 29, 1873), was a French botanist, naturalist and illustrator. This explorer carried out some of the first investigations about Chilean flora, fauna, geology and geo ...

published ''

Monttea ''Monttea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. Its native range is southern South America and is found in Argentina and Chile. The genus name of ''Monttea'' is in honour of Manuel Montt Manuel Francisco Ant ...

'', a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and Chile, belonging to the family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

in Manuel Montt's honour. In 1851 Montt won the presidency, but the liberals thought his election was fraudulent and instigated an armed revolt, the

Revolution of 1851 The Revolution of 1851 (or Civil War of 1851) was an attempt by Chilean liberals to overthrow the conservative government of president Manuel Montt and repeal the Chilean Constitution of 1833. After various battles and sieges, by late December 18 ...

, which was quickly subdued. Montt represented the conservative oligarchy and was authoritarian and inflexible in his beliefs, but he also worked for the economic and social progress of his nation. He angered the conservatives when he asserted the state's right of patronage in Chile's Roman Catholic Church and when he supported the abolition of restrictions on the sale or bequeathing of landed estates. His administration made advances in commerce and banking, codified Chilean laws, strongly promoted public education and immigration, and colonized the area south of the Bío-Bío River. Manuel Montt was the first civilian president and furthered the reforms begun by

. With Vicente Perez Rosales, the Minister of Immigration, he encouraged the settlement of German immigrants in the south of the country. The city of

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...

, at the centre of the newly settled lands, was named after him. He governed Chile with an energy and wisdom that laid the foundation of her material prosperity. He was ably assisted by his minister of the interior

Antonio Varas Antonio Varas de la Barra (June 13, 1817 – June 5, 1886) was a Chilean political figure. He began his political career as a Conservative, but was later a member of the National Party, of which he was one of the founders in 1857. He served ...

, and it was from the union of the two statesmen that the well-known ultra-conservative faction, the Montt-Varistas, took their name. His presidency was marked by the establishment of railways, telegraphs, banks, schools and training-colleges. Near the end of his second term, when Montt indicated a preference for Varas, his minister of the interior, to be his successor, liberals again staged an armed uprising. Montt again subdued the revolt but pacified the liberals by shifting his support to

José Joaquín Pérez José Joaquín Pérez Mascayano (; 6 May 1801 – 1 July 1889) was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the sou ...

, who was a moderate. On giving up the presidency in 1861, Montt became President of the Supreme Court, a position which he held up to his death in September 1880. His nephew

Jorge Jorge is a Spanish Language, Spanish and Portuguese Language, Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth ...

(born 1846) was president of Chile in 1891–1896, as well as his son,

Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

(died 1910), between 1906 and 1910.

References

Sources

*P. B. Figueroa, ''Diccionario biografico de Chile, 1550-1887'' (Santiago, 1888) *J. B. Suarez, ''Rasgos biograficos de hombres notables de Chile'' (Valparaiso, 1886)

External links

Short biography

Genealogical chart of Montt family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montt, Manuel 1809 births 1880 deaths People from Petorca Chilean people of Catalan descent

Manuel Montt Manuel Francisco Antonio Julián Montt Torres (; September 4, 1809 – September 21, 1880) was a Chilean statesman and scholar. He was twice elected President of Chile between 1851 and 1861. Biography Montt was born in Petorca, Valparaíso R ...

Presidents of Chile Supreme Court of Chile members Chilean Ministers of the Interior Foreign ministers of Chile Chilean Ministers of Defense Conservative Party (Chile) politicians National Party (Chile, 1857) politicians Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera alumni Candidates for President of Chile

Biography

See also

References

Sources

External links