Evaldo Cabral de Mello was born in Recife on January 20, 1936 to Luís Antônio Cabral de Melo and Carmem Carneiro Leão Cabral de Melo. He is the younger brother of poet
João Cabral de Melo Neto (1920–1999) and the cousin of sociologist
Gilberto Freyre (1900–1987). Cabral de Mello studied the
philosophy of history in
Madrid and
London. Upon returning to Brazil he entered the diplomatic training institution
Rio Branco Institute in 1960. Afterwards, Cabral de Mello worked as a diplomat for the
Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1962 until his retirement. In 1975, Cabral de Mello released his first book,
Olinda restaurada: guerra e açúcar no Nordeste, 1630-1654. Since then he has written several books, including
O negócio do Brasil: Portugal, os Países Baixos e o Nordeste, 1641-1669. In this book he showed that the Portuguese reconquest of Brazil from the Dutch was no military victory, but that a large sum of money was paid by
Portugal to the
Dutch Republic in exchange for
Dutch Brazil. In 1992, he was appointed Member of the
Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit by the
Brazilian government. In October 2014, he was appointed Member of the
Brazilian Academy of Letters (chair 34). ==References==