Manuel Francisco de Vargas

Manuel Francisco de Vargas, also known as Adviser Vargas, was an engineer, businessman and politician from Portugal. He was a prominent numismatist, specializing in Hispano-Arab coins.

Biography

Born in Mértola in the region of Alentejo, he was one of the engineers of the Douro line, having been appointed, on 4 February 1888, as one of the members of a commission to organize the expropriations necessary for the construction of the section between the stations of Porto-São Bento and Porto-Campanhã. He was deputy director and administrator of the Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses company. He also held the position of Ministry of Public Works, Trade and Industry between 1900 and 1903, distinguishing himself by reforming the rail transport tariff systems and by drawing up and publishing the Rede ao Sul do Tejo Plan, an official document that outlined all the railway projects of that time in the south of Portugal.
He was Minister of Public Works from 1900 to 1903.
As a specialist in Arabic numismatics, he was the author of several works published in O Arqueólogo Português. He is also the author of the "Catálogo das Moedas Árabes", published in volume XI of the "Boletim da Associação dos Arqueólogos".
He died on 9 December 1921 at age 72.