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✅ Who Were the “Deportados da Amazonas”?

From the last quarter of the 18th century onwards, across various parts of the world (America, Europe), absolute monarchies faced growing opposition, revolutionary movements emerged, and the first liberal experiments were attempted.

During this turbulent period, French troops under Napoleon invaded Portugal, forcing King João VI to flee the country and establish his court in Brazil.

Liberal ideas began to take hold in Portugal, despite being met with strong repression. As a result of this repression, in 1810, several politically liberal-minded individuals were deported to the Azores aboard a frigate named Amazonas, which led to their association with the vessel’s name. These were dozens of prisoners, detained without formal charges, but accused of being “Jacobins,” supporters of the liberal ideas spreading from France. The prisoners formed an intellectual elite, including scholars, professors, doctors, judges, lawyers, military officers, businessmen, and even priests.

Initially sent to Terceira Island, the Captain-General of the Azores, citing security concerns, ordered that some of these deportees be relocated to other islands in the archipelago. Allowed a certain degree of freedom, they gradually integrated into local life but also contributed to the spread of liberal ideas. When the Liberal Revolution erupted in Porto in 1820, they played a crucial role in securing the victory of the liberal cause in the Azores.

Among those deported to São Miguel, Vicente Ferreira Cardoso da Costa stood out—a distinguished magistrate who became part of a group of intellectuals from São Miguel. They viewed adherence to the liberal movement, which had taken root in the Kingdom, as a means of freeing the island from the unwanted control of Terceira and its Captain-Generals.

It was under the influence of this separatist sentiment that a small and peaceful revolution took place in Ponta Delgada on March 1, 1821. According to Dr. Vicente José Ferreira da Costa—by then a prominent political figure in São Miguel—“the 1820 liberal revolution did not gain the support of São Miguel’s upper classes out of a desire to advance the revolutionary ideals of Porto, but rather out of a wish to free the island from the rule of Terceira, which the people of São Miguel perceived as harmful to their economy and a source of exploitation and oppression.”

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