Irineu Evangelista de Sousa, the Viscount of Mauá (1813–1889) was a Brazilian entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

, industrialist, banker and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. He was called the Rothschild

Rothschild family

The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...

 of the South American continent by the New York Times in 1871. He received the titles of baron

Baron

Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...

 (1854) and visconde com grandeza (viscount with greatness) (1874) of Mauá. He was the patron of the Ministry of Transport and a pioneer in several areas of the economy of Brazil

Economy of Brazil

The economy of Brazil is the world's seventh largest by nominal GDP and eighth largest by purchasing power parity. Brazil has moderately free markets and an inward-oriented economy...

. One of his greatest achievements was to start the construction of the Mauá Railroad, the first railroad in Brazil.