Heavy Portuguese settlement in Guinea-Bissau

[Deleted member 67076]

Normally I hate these colonialism PODs but I found one to be very interesting due to demographics and the potential impact on Western Africa.

Portuguese Guinea-Bissau was one of the least populated colonies on Earth, having less than 600,000 people in 1950. At the same time Portugal was trying to heavily export people to settle her colonies up until the Carnation Revolution. So, I'm wondering if its reasonable for Portugal to pull the whole settler colonialism card, at least far more successfully than in Angola. That said, Angola had a very large amount of settlement, with around 400,000 Portuguese at the eve of decolonization, and an additional 100,000 mixed race individuals out of a total population of 6 million by 1973.

Would it be possible to get similar levels of settlement in Portuguese Guinea? Or to resettle the Portuguese Angolans to Guinea before or after decolonization? And what would be the effects of such a thing?

I know the problem is the rebellions and that PAIGC got control of vast swaths of the country despite Portugal having a larger military on the ground due to the terrain, the undeveloped economy and heavy Soviet/Cuban/Chinese/Swedish arms, but I suppose with better settlement Portugal could manage to alter the demographics enough where they can hold onto most of the country and defeat the insurgency.

As for the 'why' factor in settlement. Well, Guinea Bissau's got good farmland, its got a number of deep water ports (although Bissau is the only one worth anything even today and with that said then, its a pretty underdeveloped port). Its a small area to hold on in comparison to every other colony, and thus, easier to secure.

Critically, Senegal would not like it, but its not like they're in a position where they can do anything. Similarly, left wing governments around the world would protest but again I don't think they can do much.

Thoughts?

 

[Viriato]

The problem with Guinea-Bissau was that unlike Angola it was economically poor, with few natural resources. It produced little else but groundnuts, and contained no mineral resources. Most of the commercial agriculture was dominated by the Portuguese CUF industrial group.

The main attraction of the Portuguese settlers to Africa was not agriculture. The vast majority of the European inhabitants lived in and around the cities and towns, working in the civil service, commerce etc. These towns/cities usually depended on the economic resources of the hinterland, and cities such as Beira in Mozambique or Lobito in Angola prospered as ports for not only the interior of Portuguese territories, but the Katanga and Rhodesias as well. Bissau really does not have any of that. In many ways Bissau remained small for white settlement, because of the lack of resources. It was not dissimilar to somewhere like Porto Amélia in northern Mozambique, the main port and city of the Cabo Delgado district of Northern Mozambique. The district was larger than Guinea, and produced some cotton and cashew nuts, but in less quantities than Moçambique district and as a result had even fewer whites, with the majority around the capital city.

I would say that climate would be a factor, but it's important to remember that by 1960 nearly 40% of Angola's whites lived in the low-lying tropical coastal cities Luanda, Lobito, and Benguela. In Mozambique too, 70% of the whites lived in coastal Lourenço Marques and Beira, rather than the highlands. Additionally, Dakar had some 30,000 whites on the verge of independence in 1960, so by the 1950s climate would not be a determining factor. Prior to 1888, the Portuguese suzerainty reached from the Casamance River to the Nunez (Nunes) River to the south. Portugal ceded these rights to France, in return for recognition of Portugal's claims to the "Pink Map". If Portugal does maintain a hold over the region, and extends Guinea slightly inland, then you could get the rich Bauxite mines to be a part of the country. You would have a territory of just over 1.2 million Africans in 1970 and perhaps 200,000 Europeans. I imagine that the bauxite mines would lead to mining towns in the interior, attracting Portuguese settlers, especially if a railroad is built. The important thing to remember is that in Guinea-Bissau Syrian and Lebanese merchants would be even more numerous, just as in other West African areas, filling much of the same role as Indians in Mozambique.

 

[Simon]

What were Franco-Portuguese and then Senegalese-Portuguese relations like? Looking at some maps of the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence the PAIGC seem to have controlled a lot of territory in the north so I was wondering whether a more tightly controlled border might have made things easier for the Portuegese.

Prior to 1888, the Portuguese suzerainty reached from the Casamance River to the Nunez (Nunes) River to the south. Portugal ceded these rights to France, in return for recognition of Portugal's claims to the "Pink Map". If Portugal does maintain a hold over the region, and extends Guinea slightly inland, then you could get the rich Bauxite mines to be a part of the country.

I may just be using the wrong search terms but does anyone have a map of where the main bauxite deposits are located as Google Images isn't cooperating. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 67076]

The problem with Guinea-Bissau was that unlike Angola it was economically poor, with few natural resources. It produced little else but groundnuts, and contained no mineral resources. Most of the commercial agriculture was dominated by the Portuguese CUF industrial group.

This I found a bit odd, because modern Guinea-Bissau exports some phosphates, limestone, granite, and some bauxite. Any way to speed up the development?

What were Franco-Portuguese and then Senegalese-Portuguese relations like? Looking at some maps of the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence the PAIGC seem to have controlled a lot of territory in the north so I was wondering whether a more tightly controlled border might have made things easier for the Portuegese.

Don't know much about the former but the Senegalese were very extremely anti colonialist so they blatantly supported and hid rebel groups in Guinea-Bissau, and played a major role in ensuring the rebels weren't wiped out by Portuguese troops.

I may just be using the wrong search terms but does anyone have a map of where the main bauxite deposits are located as Google Images isn't cooperating. Thanks.

Around French Guinea.

 

[Simon]

This I found a bit odd, because modern Guinea-Bissau exports some phosphates, limestone, granite, and some bauxite. Any way to speed up the development?

From doing some semi-related searches earlier it mentioned that the deposits weren't economically viable at the time, only after global prices have risen have they become profitable to exploit.

Don't know much about the former but the Senegalese were very extremely anti-colonialist so they blatantly supported and hid rebel groups in Guinea-Bissau, and played a major role in ensuring the rebels weren't wiped out by Portuguese troops.

Hhmm. In the past I have wondered about a larger Gambia Colony and Protectorate, and following The Gambia, with the Saloum and Casamance rivers as the border and then running inland roughly parallel to the Gambia river in the north and the current border in the south. That could allow the Portuguese to claim the land up to the river, and with perhaps an eastern border perhaps slightly further inland. Not to say that an independent The Gambia would be any more friendly but you never know and it would provide five extra years of quiet to the north until the British withdrew.

 

[Viriato]

While Senegal did provide support to the PAIGC, and allowed the rebels to use their territory as bases, the Republic of Guinea was much more supportive. President Léopold Sédar Senghor was seen as much more moderate and did have contact's with General Spinola during the 1970s. They hoped to persuade Marcelo Caetano to allow for a peaceful transition to self-rule in Guinea. Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea was much more in the Soviet camp and aided the PAIGC by being a conduit of arms from the Soviet Union. The Portuguese government did launch a covert operation with Guinean rebels to try and topple Touré in November 1970. The Portuguese were successful in freeing Portuguese POWs being held in Conakry, but ultimately failed in their attempt to stir up opposition to topple Touré.