CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia

Brazilian poet, playwright, physician and diplomat (1811–1882)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ2532628 ↗
Source-derived summary

Domingos José Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia (August 13, 1811 – July 10, 1882), was a Brazilian poet, playwright, medical doctor and diplomat. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in Brazilian literature, and was a pioneer of Brazilian theatre.

He is the patron of the 9th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

Early life

Domingos José Gonçalves de Magalhães was born in Rio de Janeiro, to Pedro Gonçalves de Magalhães Chaves. His mother's name is unknown. He entered a Medicine course in 1828, graduating in 1832.

Career

In the following year, he travelled to Europe, where he met and befriended Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre and was exposed to the Romantic ideals. He wrote in 1836 a Romantic manifesto, Discurso Sobre a História da Literatura no Brasil, and, in the same year, he published the poetry book Suspiros Poéticos e Saudades, the first Romantic work to be written by a Brazilian.

Returning to Brazil in 1837, he wrote two tragic plays: António José, ou O Poeta e a Inquisição in 1838 and Olgiato in 1839. In 1838 he became a Philosophy teacher in the Colégio Pedro II. He founded with Porto-Alegre and Francisco de Sales Torres Homem the short-lived magazine Niterói; only two issues were published.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia” as brazilian poet, playwright, physician and diplomat (1811–1882). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1811, 1882, 1828, 1832—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1811-08-13. The account is most persuasive where Gonçalves, Magalhães and Viscount can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as brazilian poet, playwright, physician and diplomat (1811–1882). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2532628. VIAF identifies the subject as 88876973. The Library of Congress control number is n85074246. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1811, 1882, 1828 and 1832.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia primary sources, Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia archive and Gonçalves research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Gonçalves de Magalhães, Viscount of Araguaia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.