Manuel Maria de Oliveira Ramos was the son of the Porto journalist João Oliveira Ramos, usually known as “Pai Ramos” or Father Ramos, from whom he got his taste for journalism. Oliveira Ramos wrote articles for numerous periodicals such as the Revista de Portugal, A Época, Diário de Notícias, O Século, Diário Ilustrado, Primeiro de Janeiro and Novidades. He finished his secondary education in Porto before moving on to the Army School and later he studied Mathematics at the University of Coimbra. He took the General Staff course and then served first in the 3rd Army Division (Porto) and later in the General Staff corps. He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant (1888), lieutenant (1890), captain (1893), major (1907) and colonel (1912) and maintained his connection to the armed forces until he passed into the Reserve (1924).

He was responsible for the History course at the Colégio Militar at the request of the principal of the time, General Morais Sarmento. He was also an interim teacher at the Liceu de Lisboa [Lisbon Secondary School] at the invitation of the rector, José Maria Rodrigues. In 1907 he even taught History and Literature to the two princes, D. Luís Filipe and D. Manuel. In 1901, the reform carried out by Jaime Moniz of the Curso Superior de Letras [Higher School of Letters] led to applications being invited for teaching positions for the subjects created by the new study programme. When the application process ended in 1904, Oliveira Ramos finished first before Agostinho Fortes and Manuel Abúndio da Silva (in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively). After having taken the oral and written examinations required by the regulations, Oliveira Ramos presented for the public selection process his dissertation Origens Europeias. Esquema etno-histórico, which demonstrated the author’s personal predilection for medieval themes. He was appointed as a lecturer on the Ancient, Medieval and Modern History course. The death of Consiglieri Pedroso (1910) left the chair of the History of Portugal course vacant and Oliveira Ramos took this on, thereby allowing Agostinho Fortes to be appointed to the post he had left vacant.

When the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon was set up, he joined the Historical Sciences Section as an ordinary lecturer, but assumed coordination of the History of Portugal and Aesthetics and History of Art courses (a decision that would have been influenced by his works on art criticism: A Música Portuguesa, 1891 and A Baixela Barahona – um problema de Arte, 1900). Later he taught the courses of Medieval History (1915-31), History of the Discoveries and Portuguese Colonisation (1918-30) and History Propaedeutic (1918-31). When the History of Portugal course was divided into two courses, each of a year’s duration, he became the coordinator of the first part (1917-1931). Due to a shortage of teaching staff in the Faculty of Letters, he also taught a course in the Philosophy Section (Philosophy II, 1915) for six months.

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