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

Ponte de Lima Ponte de Lima () is the oldest ''vila'' (chartered town, head of a municipality) in Portugal. It is part of the district of Viana do Castelo. The population in 2011 was 43,498, in an area of 320.25 km2. The town proper has about 2,800 inhabi ...

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 ...

– January 3, 1955 in Ponte de Lima) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

general and politician.

1880s

After attending college in

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, 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. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

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 university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coi ...

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 se ...

. 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 = , coordina ...

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

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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 one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and named Minister of War. In this capacity, he was responsible for organizing the Portuguese intervention on the Western Front. In 1917, Norton de Matos exiled himself to

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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 hum ...

. 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 ...

. 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 North ...

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 Instituto Superior Técnico MHSE • MHIP (IST, also known colloquially as Técnico, and stylized TÉCNICO LISBOA) is a public school of engineering and technology, part of University of Lisbon. It was founded as an autonomous school in 1911 ...

, 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 The Movement of Democratic Unity ( pt, Movimento de Unidade Democrática or MUD) was a quasi-legal platform of Portuguese democratic organizations that opposed the authoritarian regime of António de Oliveira Salazar and was founded in October 1945 ...

(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 metropol ...

. 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