Background
He was the second son of Maria II and Ferdinand II, a member of the House of Braganza and was created Duke of Porto.
He was the second son of Maria II and Ferdinand II, a member of the House of Braganza and was created Duke of Porto.
Despite a flirtation with the Spanish succession prior to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, Luís"s reign was otherwise one of domestic stagnation as Portugal fell ever further behind the nations of western Europe in terms of public education, political stability, technological progress and economic prosperity. In colonial affairs, Delagoa Bay was confirmed as a Portuguese possession in 1875, whilst Belgian activities in the Congo (1880s) and a British Ultimatum in 1890 denied Portugal a land link between Portuguese Angola and Portuguese Mozambique at the peak of the Scramble for Africa. Luís was mostly a man of the sciences, with a passion for oceanography.
He invested a large portion of his fortune in funding research boats to collect specimens in the oceans of the world, and was responsible for the establishment of one of the world"s first aquariums, the Aquário Vasco da Gama in Lisbon, which is still open to the public with its vast collection of maritime life forms, including a 10 meter long squid.
Titles and Styles 31 October 1838 - 11 November 1861 His Highness The Duke of Porto and Viseu 11 November 1861 - 19 October 1889 His Most Faithful Majesty The King of Portugal and the Algarves Luís I"s official styling as King of Portugal:By the Grace of God and by the Constitution of the Monarchy, Luís I, King of Portugal and the Algarves, of either side of the sea in Africa, Lord of Guinea and of Conquest, Navigation, and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India, et cetera
Luís was a cultured man who wrote vernacular poetry, but had no distinguishing gifts in the political field into which he was thrust by the deaths of his brothers Pedro V and Fernando in 1861. Luís"s domestic reign was a tedious and ineffective series of transitional governments called Rotativism formed at various times by the Progressistas (Liberals) and the Regeneradores (Conservatives – the party generally favoured by King Luís, who secured their long term in office after 1881).