Maria Do Carmo Geronimo

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Maria Do Carmo Geronimo
Born	March 5, 1871? Brazil
Died	June 14, 2000 (aged 129)? Brazil

Maria Do Carmo Geronimo (March 5, 1871? - June 14, 2000) Claimed to have been the last Brazilian slave. Born in Brazil, she claimed to have been born March 5, 1871. She died in 2000 at the claimed age of 129 years and 101 days.

Contents 1 Age claim 2 Historical claim 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Age claim

Though her age was never validated, Maria do Carmo was popular in the press in the 1990s. She was often shown with Jeanne Calment ("Women in the 120's") or at Carnival. In August 1997, she was featured in Time Magazine following the death of Jeanne Calment (listing potential claimants to the 'world's oldest person' title).

[edit] Historical claim

Historians note that even though Brazil didn't abolish slavery until 1888, a law passed in June 1871 required that children born to slaves henceforward would be freed. Thus, it was possible her age was exaggerated to make her 'legal' as a slave. On the other hand, Maria claimed to still have whip marks on her back, and slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888--when she would have been 17 years old, if born in 1871. Proponents of her claim point out that if she had been much younger, she wouldn't have been whipped.

[edit] See also

• Longevity claims

[edit] References

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/793515.stm
• http://english.people.com.cn/english/200006/16/eng20000616_43177.html

Persondata
NAME	Geronimo, Maria Do Carmo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH	March 5, 1871?
PLACE OF BIRTH	Brazil
DATE OF DEATH	2000-6-14
PLACE OF DEATH	Brazil