Floriano Peixoto

Floriano Vieira de Araújo Peixoto ( 30 April 1839 &mdash; 29 July 1895), born in Ipioca (today a district of the city of Maceió in the State of Alagoas), was a Brazilian soldier and politician, a veteran of the Paraguayan War, and the second president of Brazil.

Election and Succession as President
Floriano Peixoto was an army Marshal when elected vice-president in February 1891. Later, in November 1891, he rose to the presidency following the resignation of Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, the first president of Brazil. Floriano Peixoto came to the presidency in a difficult period of the new Brazilian Republic, which was in the midst of a general political and economic crisis made worse by the effects of the bursting of the Encilhamento economic bubble.

Government
Floriano Peixoto defeated a naval officers' rebellion against him in 1893–1894 and a seditious military movement in the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina during the same years. His government was marked by increased centralization of power and nationalism.

Legacy
He is often referred to as "the Consolidator of the Republic" or "The Iron Marshal". He left the presidency on 15 November 1894. In spite of his unpopularity, he was responsible for the consolidation of the new Republican Government.

Desterro, the capital of the state of Santa Catarina, was renamed Florianópolis as punishment for its participation in the Federalist Revolution in 1894.