1865-1958

Brazilian Explorer, Military Colonel, and Engineer

Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon was one of the foremost explorers of South America. A colonel and engineer in the Brazilian army, he mapped much of Brazil's unexplored interior. Among his most well-known expeditions was one he shared with former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1914. The men took a perilous trip down the River of Doubt, mapping the course of this previously unknown waterway, and providing information about the insects and other animals of the river basin.

Rondon was born on May 5, 1865, in Cuiabá, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. In his youth, he lost both parents and went to live with an uncle. After high school, Rondon spent two years as a primary school teacher before joining the Brazilian army in 1881. He...