Gonçalves (Francisco Mendes)
Emigrant from Campanário who became one of Argentina's richest men as merchant, coloniser and financier, dying in Buenos Aires in 1930.
Around the middle of the 19th century a boy of tender age, a native of the parish (freguesia) of Campanário (‘bell tower’), left Madeira and settled in the Argentine Republic. There, after some years, he acquired a great fortune, and he later became one of the richest men in that prosperous South American nation. What deserves special mention here, however, is the astonishing energy and enterprising spirit of this Madeiran. As a merchant, coloniser of vast uncultivated territories, director of banking houses and negotiator of high-finance operations, he attained the greatest prestige and influence. He extended the network of his dealings to the whole of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, and it was not unusual for the governments of those countries to turn to his experience and knowledge to solve many problems closely bearing on the highest interests of the state. He died in the city of Buenos Aires, at an advanced age and possessed of great wealth, on 28 December 1930, known as ‘Gonçalves the millionaire’.
It is regrettable that he did not heed any of the appeals sent to him from Madeira to help with some small improvements needed in his native parish, which it urgently required.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 05
Abroad
- Argentina
Country where he made his fortune.
South American country to which about 250 Madeirans emigrated in 1905. Francisco Mendes Gonçalves made his fortune there, the Visconde da Ribeira Brava managed the Casa Armstrong properties there around 1893, and Anatole France travelled there in 1909.
- Brazil
Country reached by his business.
Brazil is recorded in the Elucidário as a chief destination of Madeiran emigrants, including several clergy and writers. It was also a market for Madeira wine and brandy and a maker of wickerwork from Madeiran osiers. It was linked to Madeira by the 1874 telegraph cable and is the native country of the araçá.
- Buenos Aires
Argentina. City where he died.
Buenos Aires is a foreign city. The Elucidário records it as the place where Manuel Rodrigues was a Franciscan and where Francisco Mendes Gonçalves died.
- Campanário
Ribeira Brava. His native parish, which he declined to help.
Campanário is a parish in Madeira, formerly part of Câmara de Lobos and later joined to the municipality of Ribeira Brava, drained by the Ribeira do Campanário (or da Lapa). The Elucidário records its landing, its band, its capitania-mor, its tithes paid to the Jesuits, a former chapel of St John founded in 1728, and the vicar sentenced by the Alçada of 1823. It was also the birthplace of Bishop D. Manuel Joaquim Gonçalves de Andrade and the jurist Francisco Justino Gonçalves de Andrade.
People
People mentioned · 01- Francisco Mendes Gonçalvesd. 1930
Madeiran emigrant known as 'milionário Gonçalves', a leading banker and coloniser in Argentina.