Evaldo Cabral de Mello (

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

, January 20, 1936) is a Brazilian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, history writer and former diplomat, considered to be one of the most important Brazilian historians of the twentieth century.

Biography

Evaldo Cabral de Mello was born in Recife on January 20, 1936 to Luís Antônio Cabral de Melo and Carmem Carneiro Leão Cabral de Melo. He is the younger brother of poet

João Cabral de Melo Neto João Cabral de Melo Neto (January 6, 1920 – October 9, 1999) was a Brazilian poet and diplomat, and one of the most influential writers in late Brazilian modernism. He was awarded the 1990 Camões Prize and the 1992 Neustadt International Pr ...

(1920–1999) and the cousin of sociologist

Gilberto Freyre Gilberto de Mello Freyre (March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter, journalist, congressman born in Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is commonly associated with other ...

(1900–1987). Cabral de Mello studied the philosophy of history in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and

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 ...

. Upon returning to Brazil he entered the diplomatic training institution

Rio Branco Institute The Rio Branco Institute (; Abbreviation: IRBr) is a graduate school of International Relations and diplomatic academy located in Brasília, Brazil. The institute was created on April 18, 1945, as part of the centennial celebration of the birth o ...

in 1960. Afterwards, Cabral de Mello worked as a diplomat for the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1962 until his retirement. In 1975, Cabral de Mello released his first book, ''Olinda restaurada: guerra e açúcar no Nordeste, 1630-1654''. Since then he has written several books, including ''O negócio do Brasil: Portugal, os Países Baixos e o Nordeste, 1641-1669''. In this book he showed that the Portuguese reconquest of Brazil from the Dutch was no military victory, but that a large sum of money was paid by

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 ...

to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

in exchange for

Dutch Brazil Dutch Brazil ( nl, Nederlands-Brazilië), also known as New Holland ( nl, Nieuw-Holland), was a colony of the Dutch Republic in the northeastern portion of modern-day Brazil, controlled from 1630 to 1654 during Dutch colonization of the America ...

. In 1992, he was appointed Member of the

Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit The National Order of Scientific Merit ( pt, Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico) is an honor bestowed upon Brazilian and foreign personalities recognized for their scientific and technical contributions to the cause and development of science in ...

by the

Brazilian government The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative o ...

. In October 2014, he was appointed Member of the

Brazilian Academy of Letters The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL) ( English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on Tue ...

(chair 34).ABL elege o historiador Evaldo Cabral de Mello para a sucessão do Acadêmico João Ubaldo Ribeiro
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References

Editora Senac - Short biography
1936 births Living people Brazilian diplomats 20th-century Brazilian historians Brazilian male writers Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) People from Recife {{Brazil-diplomat-stub