Severiano de Heredia
Severiano de Heredia | |
|---|---|
| Paris municipal council | |
| In office April 1873 – 1881 | |
| Deputy of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 21 August 1881 – 11 November 1889 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 November 1836 Havana, Cuba |
| Died | 9 February 1901 (aged 64) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Batignolles Cemetery, Paris, France |
| Citizenship | Spanish, French |
| Political party | Republican Union (1881–1885) Radical Left (1885–1889) |
Severiano de Heredia (8 November 1836 – 9 February 1901) was a Cuban-born biracial politician, a freemason, a left-wing republican, naturalized as French in 1870, who was president of the municipal council of Paris from 1 August 1879 to 12 February 1880, making him the only native of the American continent who was appointed on relevant post of the Mayor of Paris and the first mayor of African descent of a Western world capital.
In 1880, he succeeded Victor Hugo in the presidency of the Philotechnical Association. He served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1881 to 1889 and was briefly Minister of Public Works for the cabinet of Maurice Rouvier in 1887, at the time when the Eiffel Tower first started being built, where he planned and oversaw the construction of some of the finest French highways. He is believed to be a cousin of the famous French poet José-Maria de Heredia.