How to get Portugal to colonise the Cape.

I think a bigger presence in India is needed for this. It is afterall the perfect stopover point. Plus the climate of the cape is great for growing European crops so it could easily be a port where ships on the way to India could get fresh supplies. Once potential is seen, the cape would need a few more people and a strong presence would soon be established to keep it.
 
Portugal ran its empire on a shoestring budget- it didn't have the resources to do anything else and was utterly sidelined whenever any European power got into position to compete directly.

The Portuguese set up shop only at places directly relevant to trade- funding and supplying a Cape colony was a needless expense. Men are cheap and colonies are expensive- if more men die on the longer voyage, so be it. The only point of the Empire was to make money and supply depots which aren't strictly necessary are just more debits in the ledger.
 
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