Augusto Casimiro


Augusto Casimiro dos Santos was a Portuguese journalist, a poet and political commentator.

Biography

Augusto Casimiro dos Santos was born in Amarante, he later studied at its primary school and lyceum. He attended a military school when he was 16 and was assigned in place with the Coimbra Infantry Regiments. He continued to study at the University of Coimbra.
He soon revealed himself as a poet and a chronicler, he became an author in 1906 and published his first periodical contribution in the 1910s and were related for raising its republican ideals.
As a lieutenant, he took part in the Portuguese Expeditionary Force in Flanders from 1917 to 1918. He was decorated with the Cross of the War, fourragère of the Tower of the Sword, Order of Christ, medal of Gold of Good Services, Military Cross, Legion of Honour, Order of Avis and the Order of Santiago where he was promoted to a captain during the campaign.
After the Great War, he taught at the Military College where he went on a campaign to marcate entirely the border between Angola and Belgian Congo which was worked under the direction of Norton de Matos who was High Commissioner of the Republic in Angola.
He went for some years to Angola where he greatly wrote on colonial themes and characters.
He was a staunch opponent and was head of the movements of the republican opposition of Estado Novo which took power in 1926, he took part in the 1931 Madeira Revolt where he was later dismissed from the army. He was exiled to Cape Verde between 1933 and 1936, there, he wrote Ilhas Crioulas in 1935 and two African related works. The work Ilhas Crioulas formed the last ingredient for the creation of an anti-colonial review titled Claridade published in 1936, nearly a year after the publication of the work. He returned in 1937 where he was put on reserve.
He kept a large literary activity, he published in many periodicals including A Águia and Seara Nova, he also contributed some articles in the reviews Serões, Azulejos, Amanhã in 1909 and Atlantida from 1915 to 1920.
In 1954, he published a collection of poems titled Portugal Atlântico — Poemas de África e de Mar. One of the poetic works included O Vitória do Homem , A Primeira Nau, À Catalunha , Primavera de Deus , Livro das Bem-Amadas and A Vida Continua .
He translated the work D. Teodósio II by D. Francisco Manuel de Melo into early Modern Portuguese in 1944 and elaborated the biography of Catherine of Braganza which was published as Dona Catarina de Bragança, Rainha de Inglaterra, FIlha de Portugal in 1956.
He died in Lisbon on 23 September 1967.

Published works