Braga, Teófilo

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Teófilo Braga (təô´fəlŏŏ brä´gä), 1843–1924, Portuguese intellectual and political leader, b. Ponta Delgada in the Azores. At the Univ. of Coimbra he was a member of the positivist circle of Quental. In 1871 he began to teach at the Univ. of Lisbon, writing voluminously on many subjects. He tried to apply the positivist principles of Comte in his general history of Portuguese Literature (10 vol., 1870–81). A republican and an anticlerical in politics, he was chosen as first president of the new republic of Portugal (1910–11) and served again briefly in 1915. His teaching had a great effect on Portuguese intellectual life, and his writing stimulated interest in Portuguese history and literature. Several collections of his poetry were published during his lifetime.