Joaquim Heliodoro da Cunha Rivara (23 June 1809 – 20 February 1879) was a Portuguese physician, professor, intellectual and politician.

In October of that year was appointed Professor of Rational and Moral Philosophy of the Liceu de Évora, where he could indulge his taste for the humanities and his love for books.

He also devoted himself to the translation of articles from the Revue des Deux Mondes and corresponded with some of the most prominent Portuguese intellectuals of his time.

Among the tasks entrusted to him was also the establishment of the circumscription of the Catholic bishops of India under the jurisdiction of the Padroado do Oriente, which had been redefined by the Concordat of 1857, because in addition to the functions of Secretary General, in 1862 he was appointed by Minister Mendes Leal as Royal Commissioner in the East.

He also devoted himself to journalism, publishing articles in defence of what he understood to be the rights of Portugal in the East against the hegemony of the British Raj .

His most valuable work, however, was the development of the Arquivo Português-Oriental (1857–1876), where he transcribed in chronological order the documents found in the East about the Portuguese rule.

After resigning as Secretary General, he continued to live in Goa until 1877, when he returned to Évora and devoted himself to publishing articles about history, especially regarding the Portuguese presence in India.

He also studied the history of the Alentejo: the Memórias da Villa de Arrayolos were published posthumously in three volumes, under the editorship of Francisco Martins Ramos, between 1979 and 1991.

He was a corresponding fellow of the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (1855), the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico do Brasil e the Real Sociedade Asiática.