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The Baron of Rio Branco
Figure 6.1. The Baron of Rio Branco.
One of the observers of the politics of the African Scramble was an obscure Brazilian
diplomat who before long would make an indelible mark on the geography and politics
of the tropics; indeed, in the Western Hemisphere he “made” its map. This was the
Baron of Rio Branco, who would become well known to many of the adepts of tropical
“Scrambles” as one of its deftest practitioners.
The Baron of Rio Branco
TheBaronofRioBranco,JoséMariadaSilvaParanhos,isacclaimedasthemostskilled
diplomat in Brazil's history. He, like Euclides, had come from fairly modest circum-
stances and a Bahian family. His father, the Viscount of Rio Branco, had risen through
theranksofimperialfavorandendedwithasinecureasaSenatorofEmpireandthetitle
ofViscountforhisdiplomatic serviceduringtheParaguayanWar,whenbothlargeareas
of Paraguay and Bolivia became Brazilian, a “preboard” for later scrambles. After this
war, in part because of the distinguished role black soldiers had played in it, he argued
for the “free birth law”—that is, children of slaves born after 1871 were to be free at age
twenty-one; the legislation itself is known as the Rio Branco Act.
The Viscount's son, an exceptional young scholar, had been a bohemian in his youth
and, unlike the austere Euclides, a boon companion in the serenades, practical jokes,
brothelvisits,anddrinkingboutsoftheelite jeunesse dorée .Hewasalsoadedicatedand
careful historian and published two topics on Brazilian military and diplomatic history
before he was thirty. 2 In 1869 it had been “arranged” for him to be the deputy to the Im-
perial Parliament from Mato Grosso—that redoubt of military posts, nonvoting Indian
tribes, and a few gold-mining camps was an all-purpose political trump card. But at that
time he had neither wealth nor temperament for Brazil's intrigue-saturated political life.
After six years, Rio Branco requested foreign posting in Brazil's diplomatic corps. His
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