Milton Almeida dos Santos (1926-2001) was an influential Brazilian geographer who made important contributions to geography scholarship through his critical engagement and writings on urban development in Global South.
Milton Santos Nature of Space. Photo credit: Pauline Couper.
Although he graduated with a Law degree, he decided not to practice, becoming instead a high-school geography teacher. By 1964, the military government in Brazil considered Santos as “subversive”, he was arrested and spent three months in jail. After his release, he spent thirteen (13) years in exile working as an academic in different countries in Europe, North America and Africa.
This experience underpins his intellectual network, which involved scholars from France, the United States, and Latin America. In 1977, Santos returned to Brazil and from 1983 onwards was affiliated with the University of São Paulo, which hosted him until his death in 2001. Although, most of his writings were in Portuguese (responsible for his work being overlooked by the English-speaking community of geographers), these are increasingly being translated into English.
In 1994, Santos received the Vautrin Lud Prize, the so-called “Nobel Prize for Geography. He is also a posthumous recipient of the Prêmio Anísio Teixeira – one of the most important awards in the field of education in Brazil.