Milton Almeida dos Santos (May 3, 1926 – June 24, 2001) was a Brazilian geographer and geography scholar who had a degree in law. He became known for his pioneering works in several branches of geography, notably urban development in developing countries. He is considered the father of critical geography in Brazil. Santos was a recipient of the Vautrin Lud Prize, often seen as geography's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, and a posthumous recipient of the , given every five years by CAPES (the Brazilian agency for the improvement of higher education personnel) to distinguished contributors to research and development in the country.

Biography

Santos was born in Brotas de Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil on May 3, 1926. His parents were elementary school teachers who home-schooled him. His Black paternal grandfather had been formerly enslaved. By the time Santos was eight, he was through with his elementary education. From 1934 to 1936, he lived in Alcobaça, where he went to study French and "good manners".

Santos taught geography and math to fellow high-school students in order to finance his pre-law in Salvador. He graduated in law from the Federal University of Bahia but decided not to practice, becoming instead a high-school geography teacher in Ilhéus.

Santos wrote more than forty books, all told, in several languages. His works became a reference for those interested in understanding geography from a critical point of view (if not necessarily in a negative light), especially by applying concepts of the Frankfurt School.

His works include "Por uma Geografia Nova" (For a New Geography) (1978) and "A natureza do espaço" (The Nature of Space) (1996). His work "O espaço dividido" (The Shared Space), in which Santos develops a theory of urban development in developing countries, is considered a geography classic.

In 1994, Santos was awarded the Vautrin Lud Prize, the highest prize in geography. The Prize is modeled after the Nobel Prize and colloquially called the Nobel Prize for geography. To date, Santos remains the only Latin-American scholar to ever win it. as a result of prostate cancer diagnosed about seven years earlier. His work continues to be relevant to ongoing debates about the future of geography as a discipline. As such, his work "The Active Role of Geography: A Manifesto" was translated to English and published by Antipode in 2017.

On 1 October 2018, search engine Google celebrated Milton Santos with a Doodle.

Major works

  • Santos, M. (1948). O povoamento da Bahia: Suas causas econômicas. Salvador: Imprensa Oficial da Bahia.
  • Santos, M. (1953). Estudos sobre geografia. Salvador: Tipografia Manú.
  • Santos, M. (1960). Marianne em Preto e Branco. Salvador: Livraria Progresso Editora.
  • Santos, M. (1965). A cidade nos países subdesenvolvidos. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira.
  • Santos, M. (1974). Geography, Marxism and underdevelopment. Antipode, 6(3), 1–9.
  • Santos, M. (1975). L’espace partagé: Les deux circuits de l’economie urbaine des pays sous- developpes. Paris: M.-Th. Génin, Librairies Techniques.
  • Santos, M. (1979). The shared space: The two circuits of the urban economy in underdeveloped countries. London and New York, Methuen.
  • Santos, M., M. A. de Souza & M. L. Silveira (Eds.), Território: Globalização e fragmentação. São Paulo: Hucitec and ANPUR.
  • Santos, M. (1990). Metrópole corporativa fragmentada: o caso de São Paulo. São Paulo: Nobel.
  • Santos, M. (1990). Espace et Méthode. Paris: Publisud.
  • Santos, M. (1993, 1998). A Urbanização Brasileira. São Paulo: Hucitec.
  • Santos, M. (1994). Por uma economia política da Cidade, São Paulo: Hucitec.
  • Santos, M. (1996a). A Natureza do espaço. Técnica e tempo. Razão e emoção. São Paulo: Hucitec. TRans: (1997) La Nature de l'Espace. Technique et Temp. Raison et Émotion. Paris: L'Harmattan. Trans: (2000) La Naturaleza del Espacio. Técnica y Tiempo. Razón y Emoción. Barcelona: Ariel. Trans: Santos, M., & BALETTI, B. (2021). The Nature of Space. Duke University Press.
  • Santos, M. (2000a). Por uma outra globalização: Do pensamento único à consciência universal. Rio de Janeiro: Record. Trans. Santos, M. (2017). Toward an other globalization: From the single thought to universal conscience. Translated by L. Melgaço and T. Clarke. Cham: Springer.
  • Santos M with Bernardes A, Zerbini A, Gomes C, Bicudo E, Almeida E, Betioli Contei F, Grimm F, Nobre G, Antongiovanni L, Bueno Pinheiro M, Xavier M, Silveira M L, Montenegro M, Ferreira da Rocha M, Arroyo M, Borin P, Ramos S and de Lima Belo V (2000) O Papel Ativo da Geografia: Um Manifesto. Revista Território 5(9):103–109 https://www.ub.edu/geocrit/b3w-270.htm (last accessed 12 September 2025). Trans: Melgaço, Lucas. (2017). The Active Role of Geography: A Manifesto (By Santos et al. Translated by Tim Clarke and Lucas Melgaço). Antipode. 10.1111/anti.12318.
  • Santos, M. (2004 [1978, 1990]). Por uma geografia nova. São Paulo: Edusp. Trans: (2021) For a New Geography. University of Minnesota Press.
  • Santos, M., & Silveira, M. L. (2001). O Brasil: Território e sociedade no início do século XXI. Rio de Janeiro: Record. https://archive.org/details/obrasilterritr00sant

See also

  • Afro-Brazilians
  • Marxist geography
  • Vautrin Lud Prize

References

  • Transactions of the Institute of the British Geographers, 2018 by Federico Ferretti & Breno Viotto Pedrosa
  • Revista Scripta Nova - University of Barcelona
  • 10 years without Milton Santos - From there to here (2011) (vídeo)
  • Folha Online Brasil
  • Milton Santos
  • For a New Geography -- University of Minnesota Press (2021) translated by Archie Davies
  • AGB - Profile of Milton Santos
  • Curriculum of Milton Santos - Currículo Lattes
  • A meeting with Milton Santos Documentary film. Director: Silvio Tendler, 2006