Genus Lafoensia
Pictures from Observations
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For João Carlos de Bragança (1719–1806), Portuguese Duke of Lafões (Lafoens), a nobleman, politician, traveller and founder of the Royal Academy of Science of Lisbon. When his elder brother died in 1761, King José I refused him succession to the Duchy of Lafões. Such was the king’s enmity that in 1757 De Bragança, aged 38, left Portugal and did not to return for 21 years. He visited England, becoming a member of Royal Society of London, and took part in the seven-year Austro-Prussian War. Between 1763–1777 he visited most Eastern and Western European countries and parts of Asia and North Africa. In 1778, he returned to Portugal aged 59, on the death of José I. The new Queen Maria I restored his title. With the help of the young scientist José Correia da Serra he founded the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon and later became Portugal’s army marshal.