Duarte da Ponte Ribeiro
{{Short description|Portuguese-born Brazilian diplomat (1795–1878)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = His Excellency
| name = The Baron of Ponte Ribeiro
| image = Anônimo - Retrato de Duarte da Ponte Ribeiro.jpg
| birth_date = {{dts|1795|03|04}}
| birth_place = Viseu
| death_date = {{dts|1878|09|01}}
| death_place = Rio de Janeiro
}}
Duarte da Ponte Ribeiro, 1st Baron of Ponte Ribeiro (Viseu; {{dts|1795|03|04}} – Rio de Janeiro; {{dts|1878|09|01}}) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian physician, diplomat and cartographer. He was the first and last baron of Ponte Ribeiro.{{Cite book |title=Um Diplomata do Império: Barão da Ponte Ribeiro |last=Soares de Souza |first=José Antônio |publisher=FUNAG - Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão |year=2021 |isbn=978-65-8708-378-0 |edition=1st |language=pt |url=https://funag.gov.br/biblioteca-nova/produto/1-1160 |pages=23–24}}
Biography
Born in Portugal to surgeon José da Costa Quiroga da Ponte Ribeiro and Ana Ribeiro, he arrived to Brazil in 1807. In 1811, at the age of 16, he graduated as a surgeon from the Bahia School of Medicine.
Shortly after Brazil's independence, a cause he supported, he was appointed consul general in Spain, where he was tasked with having the country recognise Brazil's independence. He later served as a diplomat in Lisbon, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Buenos Aires until the Platine War, where he played an important role.
Between 1836 and 1841, he became the Empire's representative to the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, with which he negotiated a draft trade treaty, an opportunity in which he employed the thesis of Uti possidetis de facto.{{Cite book |title=Exposição dos trabalhos historicos geographicos e hydrographicos que serviram de base a carta geral do imperio exhibida na exposição nacional de 1875 |last=da Ponte Ribeiro |first=Duarte |publisher=Typographia Nacional |year=1876 |oclc=637997136}}{{Cite thesis |title=Duarte da Ponte Ribeiro. Território e territorialidade no Império do Brasil |last=Macedo Janke |first=Leandro |date=2015-02-06 |publisher=University of São Paulo |url=https://teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8136/tde-11062015-140713/pt-br.php |doi=10.11606/T.8.2015.tde-11062015-140713|doi-access=free }} Although the treaty was rejected by the General Assembly, the doctrine became a principle in Brazil's boundary negotiations,{{Cite book |title=A diplomacia na construção do Brasil 1750-2016 |last=Ricupero |first=Rubens |publisher=Versal Editores |year=2017 |location=Rio de Janeiro |language=pt |oclc=1017706725 |author-link=Rubens Ricupero}} when it was adopted as a guideline by the baron of Rio Branco.
He was honored as commander of the Imperial Order of Christ, in 1841, and great dignitary of the Imperial Order of the Rose. Furthermore, he was part of the Imperial Council and a noble knight of the Imperial House.
He was also a member of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute (IHGB) since 1838.