Manuel Antonio de Sousa (Born - Mapuçá - Goa, November 10, 1835 – Died - Mozambique, 20 January 1892).
Manuel Antonio de Sousa was a Goan Portuguese merchant and military, Portuguese Captain-General of Manica and Quiteve.
Manuel Antonio de Sousa was born in Mapuçá, county of Bardez (Goa) in 1835. Son of Felix de Sousa, owner and Farmer, and D. Dorothy Thomas Mascarenhas. Manuel studied at the Seminary of Rachol in Salcette, up to 16 years. In 1853 he emigrated to Zambezia, to help administer the estate of his uncle Felix Mascarenhas. Arriving in Mozambique, he married his cousin, D. Anastasia Maria Mascarenhas, the only daughter of his uncle. He established himself as a businessman in the region of Sena. He Quickly made his fortune in trade in ivory and was gaining power in the region, and their elephant hunters, armed, formed the nucleus of his personal militia. He earned a reputation both for his loyalty to the governor-general and the kingdom of Portugal, and by relentlessly going to increase his personal empire, fighting the Indian chiefs and kings.
In 1856 he took the war of succession to the kingdom of Gaza and settled in the mountains of Gorongosa, where he established the basis for a system aringa which, together with his private army, used to defend their interests. On several occasions the forces of Gouveia helped Portuguese forces officers in combat, particularly in campaigns against the Bonga. In 1863, thanks to the great services he succeeded Isidoro Correia Pereira in the commission of Captain-General of Manica and Quiteve.
During his absence in Sena, to receive the commission, its position in Gorongosa was taken by Umzila, winner of the throne of Gaza, and only managed to recover their cost territories. Around 1874 he was recognized as lord of Manica, and married the king's daughter Barué, who had a son, who went on to acknowledge as king of that region. Manuel Antonio de Sousa became a close friend of the artillery captain, Joaquim Carlos Paiva de Andrada, who was an architect of the Mozambique Company, and a raid in support of the chief Mutassa on land disputed by Rhode's British South African Company were quickly arrested by police at the company, which resulted in a diplomatic conflict between Portugal and the British Empire. Were eventually freed thanks to the intervention of the Portuguese government.
During his arrest he ran a rumor that had been killed, and this led to the agitation of the people of Barué. Manuel Antonio de Sousa died in combat, trying to regain control of Barué.
On November 28, 1960 the Portuguese Governor of Goa Vassalo de Silva inaugurated at the entrance of Mapuçá a statue of Antonio Manuel de Sousa, by sculptor Martin Correia in commemoration of the 125th anniversary of his birth.
The Statue was Destroyed by Indians in 1961 and in that place today in Mapuçá Gandhiji’s Monument is Lying.
