Cândido Mariano de Silva Rondon (1865-1956) was a Brazilian explorer who is most famous for exploring with Teddy Roosevelt during Roosevelt's exploration of the Rio Roosevelt in the Mato Grosso state in Brazil. The current Brazilian state of Rondonia is named after him. He is the founder of the Fundação Nacional do Índio or Funai, and he was also promoted to the rank of Marshal, making him Brazil's highest ranking military officer ever. 1865 is a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1956 is a leap year starting on Sunday. ... Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858–January 6, 1919) was the twenty-fifth (1901) Vice President and the twenty-sixth (1901-1909) President of the United States, succeeding to the office upon the assassination of William McKinley. ... Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, located in the western part of the country. ... The Federative Republic of Brazil (República Federativa do Brasil in Portuguese) is the largest and most populous country in South America, and fifth largest in the world. ... Rondônia is a state of Brazil, located in the northern-western part of the country. ...

Early life

He was born in 1865 in Mimoso, a small village in the Mato Grosso state. His father was of Portuguese ancestry, and his mother was an Indian. Both of his parents died when he was very young and he was raised by his uncle. After finishing high school at the age of 16, he taught elementary school for two years, and then joined the Brazilian army. On joining the military, he entered officer's school and graduated in 1888 as a second lieutenant. He was also involved with a coup that overthrew the Emperor of Brazil, the only American monarch. Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, located in the western part of the country. ... A Lieutenant is a military or paramilitary officer. ... Pedro II can refer to two monarchs: Pedro II of Brazil (1825-1891) Peter II of Portugal (1648-1706) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

As an army engineer

In 1890, he was commisioned as an army engineer with the Telegraphic commission, and helped build the first telegraph line across the state of Mato Grosso. This telegraph line was finally finished in 1895, and afterwards, Rondon started construction on a road that lead from Rio de Janeiro to Cuiaba, the capital of Mato Grosso. Until this roadway was complete, the only way between these two cities was by river transport. Also during this time, he married his wife, Chiquinha Xavier, and together they had 7 children. From 1900 to 1906, Rondon was in charge of laying telegraph line from Brazil to Bolivia and Peru. During this time he opened up new territory, and was in contact with the warlike Bororo tribe of western Brazil. Throughout his life, Rondon laid over 4,000 miles of telegraph line through the jungles of Brazil. Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ... Ipanema beach A NASA satellite image of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro (meaning River of January in Portuguese) is the name of both a state and a city in southeastern Brazil. ... Cuiabá is the capital city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. ... The Bororo are a Macro-Jê-speaking people in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil; they also extended into Bolivia and the Brazilian state of Goiás. ...

Explorations

As a result of Rondon's competence in contructing telegraph line, he was put in charge of extending the telegraph line from Mato Grosso to the Amazon. In the course of constructing the line, he discovered the Juruena river, in northern Mato Grosso which is an important tributary of the Tapajós river. He also discovered the Nambikwara tribe, which had until then killed all Westerners they had come in contact with. The name Amazon may refer to several concepts: The legendary Amazons, women renowned in antiquity for their prowess in battle. ... The Tapajós, a Brazilian river running through a humid, hot and unhealthy valley, pours into the Amazon River 500 miles above Pará and is about 1200 miles long. ...

In May of 1909, Rondon set out on his longest expedition. He set out from the settlement of Tapirapuã in northern Mato Grosso heading northwest to meet up with the Madeira river, which is a major tributary of the Amazon. The Madeira River is a major waterway in South America. ...

Bibliography

Baker, Daniel ed. Explorers and Discoverers of the World. Detroit: Gale Research, 1993

External links

Candido Rondon: A friend of the Indians (http://www.phfawcettsweb.org/rondon.htm) is a good site to learn more about Rondon's involvement with Funai.

Candido Rondon: Explorer, Geographer, Peacemaker: 1865 - 1958 (http://www.vidaslusofonas.pt/candido_rondon2.htm) has a timeline and good information about Rondon's life and work.