Portuguese Zambezia, or "The New Brazil".
Hi! This may be my biggest map yet, and i'm quite proud of it, it's more of a one shot than a timeline, although i'll post at least a second map, and maybe a third, exploring what happens to this colony, i can't give a date but i think it will happen.
The description is rather long (7,700 words) so i'll put it in spoilers, there are chapters and a tl;dr if you don't want to read it.
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POD: The 1822 Luanda revolt in angola succeeds for longer and brazil annexes it.
TL;DR: After losing Angola, Portugal focuses on Mozambique and get the Zambeze Bassin, Brazil loses Angola to abolitionist Britain and the settlers go to Namibia, which gets claimed by portugal, Portugal ends up with a smaller Pink map, with namibia instead of angola, gold rushes attract settlers, and eventually a few millions settler the colony, but africans are still oppressed and it ends up in a colonial war, that portugal struggles to win.
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On September 7, 1822, Dom Pedro declared Brazil's independence to great popular celebration, this shook the Cortes of Lisbon, but shortly after a smaller revolution would happen in another of Portugal's colonies when on October 3, learning from brazil's independence, a group of degredados (prisonners exiled to the colonies) in Luanda, the largest fort of Portuguese Angola allied with the local garrison and staged a revolt that successfully deposed the governor and was replaced by a junta presided over by the bishop, however disagreement between the degredados and the bishop, still loyal to Portugal would soon arise, and before the end of the month the disgruntled prisoners, who outnumbered the other Portuguese in the town, took direct control of the fort. Through an alliance with the Quissama the insurgents managed to secure their southern border, in the North they successfully convinced merchants of Kongo that an alliance with brazil, the world's largest importer of slaves that made these merchant's fortune, would be much fruitful, in turn they managed to make king Garcia V recognize the change of leadership in Luanda. They also travelled further east contacted Ondona of the Matambas, who while traditionally distanced from Portuguese , had recently experienced a recent period of stability and was willing to give support to the insurgents.
With their newfound allies, they successfully managed to drive off the pathetic invasion force the Portuguese sent in June 1823, indeed the bulk of the Portuguese fleet was still kept in Brazil where it was fighting inconclusively, and an insurgency by Dom Miguel in Vilafrancada further prevented Portugal to foster a significant fleet. By November 1823 Portuguese presence in Brazil's waters had ceased to exist, during the long year and a half until Portugal recognized Brazil's Independence, Brazilian ships were sent to Angola to assert their sovereignty and take control of the still loyal kingdom of Benguela.
1823-1861: Rise and fall of slavery in Brazilian Angola
1835-1860: Portugal's new hope and the conquest of the Zambeze.
1860-1910: Consolidations, revolts, rivalries and discoveries, the creation of the State of Southern Africa.
1910-1958: The Great War, economic growth and the dream of a New Brazil.
1958-1968: The colonial war and the shattering of the lusotropicalist myth.
Hi! This may be my biggest map yet, and i'm quite proud of it, it's more of a one shot than a timeline, although i'll post at least a second map, and maybe a third, exploring what happens to this colony, i can't give a date but i think it will happen.
The description is rather long (7,700 words) so i'll put it in spoilers, there are chapters and a tl;dr if you don't want to read it.
---------------------------------
POD: The 1822 Luanda revolt in angola succeeds for longer and brazil annexes it.
TL;DR: After losing Angola, Portugal focuses on Mozambique and get the Zambeze Bassin, Brazil loses Angola to abolitionist Britain and the settlers go to Namibia, which gets claimed by portugal, Portugal ends up with a smaller Pink map, with namibia instead of angola, gold rushes attract settlers, and eventually a few millions settler the colony, but africans are still oppressed and it ends up in a colonial war, that portugal struggles to win.
-----------------------------------
On September 7, 1822, Dom Pedro declared Brazil's independence to great popular celebration, this shook the Cortes of Lisbon, but shortly after a smaller revolution would happen in another of Portugal's colonies when on October 3, learning from brazil's independence, a group of degredados (prisonners exiled to the colonies) in Luanda, the largest fort of Portuguese Angola allied with the local garrison and staged a revolt that successfully deposed the governor and was replaced by a junta presided over by the bishop, however disagreement between the degredados and the bishop, still loyal to Portugal would soon arise, and before the end of the month the disgruntled prisoners, who outnumbered the other Portuguese in the town, took direct control of the fort. Through an alliance with the Quissama the insurgents managed to secure their southern border, in the North they successfully convinced merchants of Kongo that an alliance with brazil, the world's largest importer of slaves that made these merchant's fortune, would be much fruitful, in turn they managed to make king Garcia V recognize the change of leadership in Luanda. They also travelled further east contacted Ondona of the Matambas, who while traditionally distanced from Portuguese , had recently experienced a recent period of stability and was willing to give support to the insurgents.
With their newfound allies, they successfully managed to drive off the pathetic invasion force the Portuguese sent in June 1823, indeed the bulk of the Portuguese fleet was still kept in Brazil where it was fighting inconclusively, and an insurgency by Dom Miguel in Vilafrancada further prevented Portugal to foster a significant fleet. By November 1823 Portuguese presence in Brazil's waters had ceased to exist, during the long year and a half until Portugal recognized Brazil's Independence, Brazilian ships were sent to Angola to assert their sovereignty and take control of the still loyal kingdom of Benguela.
1823-1861: Rise and fall of slavery in Brazilian Angola
The loss of Angola was hard to swallow for portugal, and it further delayed its recognition of brazil, eventually it was agreed that Portugal would recognize it for the payment of an additional half a million pounds of damages by brazil, that were immediately given as loan by Britain. In 1826 Portugal had not only lost Brazil, it had also lost its second largest colony in Angola, but with the death of King João VI and the start of the Miguelite War, it really was not in a position to develop remaining parts of its empire, for nearly a decade it was left to rot and it was only by miracle that it was not lost, Degredados that used to be sent to Luanda were instead sent to Ziguinchor, the largest fort in Guinea.
In Angola Brazilians had the goal to Eventually make the colony an integral part of Brazil, but this would take a long time as at the time it was nothing but a string of forts along t the coast, so initially the Pre indépendance Portuguese administration was kept, Angola had historically been one of the main source of Brazilian slaves, and this position certainly continued, by 1830 over 20,000 slaves of Angola and it’s hinterland were being transported to Brazil in terrible conditions.
Angola’s terrible climate quickly took its toll on the Portuguese colonist and degredados, so that less than a decade after its revolt most of the original 2,000 Portuguese had been replaced by Brazilians. Brazil also inherited from the complex luso-African trading system that brought so many slaves.
The revolts Brazil faced in the first decades of its indépendance, in Pará, the Nordeste and Rio Grande left them with a large amount of political prisoners, the government would decide to continue Portugal’s degredado system by sending these to Angola, but while Portugal used to send hundreds of prisoners per year, Brazil would send thousands, thus the Brazilian population quickly grew to over 10,000, but as before, many died during the first years. However this influx of Brazilians would also attract some free men to the drier south of the country, where they established the town of nova fortaleza, just north of cape fria, which would grow to be the home of a few thousands over the next decade, this town would also attract fishermen and whalers who fish close to the rich skeleton coast, the waters close to Conceição Bay were particularly attractive so that a small fishing village appeared in the 1850s, although officially beyond the limits of Angola.
But Brazil’s hunger for slaves knew no limit, despite increasingly frequent small slave revolts, the Anglo-American 1842 Webster–Ashburton Treaty attempted to limit the transatlantic slave trade, and while it certainly did limit trade from other regions of Africa, Brazilians traders simply claimed they “relocated” citizens from one region of Brazil to another, the trade was uncurtailed, worse, it grew to unprecedented heights so that by the early 1850s, nearly 80,000 (- slaves from angola and central Africa came to Rio each year, completely destroying the local African population which was already affected by the growing Brazilian presence, this had been enough for Britain who in 1856 decided to start a wide scale anti slavery policing in the southern Atlantic, this, along with revolts in the Cassanga and Dembo regions of Angola pushed the Brazilian over the edge, after a British Ship of the West African Squadron was attacked by the Brazilian navy, Great Britain declared war to Brazil in 1859. The Royal Navy was swift, taking control of Luanda and Benguela in Africa as well as the Mouth of the Amazon, São Luis, Salvador and blockading Rio de Janeiro. A peace was reached less than 3 months before the start of the war. Brazil would immediately abolish slavery, give up all their Angolan possessions to Britain, pay reparations amounting to over a million pound and give up contested territory along the border of Guyana.
In Angola the owner change and the abolition of slavery would be devastating for the cruel economy in place, and most of the Brazilians and mixed race African became useless and decided to go back to Brazil, however the settlers of the thriving Nova Fortaleza didn’t want to go back to a Brazil in crisis, neither did they want to live in a. British colony, so they massively migrated to the Bay of Conceição several hundred kilometres south which already hosted a small fishing village whose population dramatically increased overnight. After Brazil, disgusted from all colonial venture, refused to recognise them they effectively became stateless. However they weren’t unnoticed by Portugal, that, after spending decades consolidating its power in the Zambeze and in need of a positive event in one of its harshest decade, decided to annex The Bay and the barren skeleton coast between the British cape Fria and the orange river, with hopes of linking it with its possessions in the upper zambeze.
In Angola Brazilians had the goal to Eventually make the colony an integral part of Brazil, but this would take a long time as at the time it was nothing but a string of forts along t the coast, so initially the Pre indépendance Portuguese administration was kept, Angola had historically been one of the main source of Brazilian slaves, and this position certainly continued, by 1830 over 20,000 slaves of Angola and it’s hinterland were being transported to Brazil in terrible conditions.
Angola’s terrible climate quickly took its toll on the Portuguese colonist and degredados, so that less than a decade after its revolt most of the original 2,000 Portuguese had been replaced by Brazilians. Brazil also inherited from the complex luso-African trading system that brought so many slaves.
The revolts Brazil faced in the first decades of its indépendance, in Pará, the Nordeste and Rio Grande left them with a large amount of political prisoners, the government would decide to continue Portugal’s degredado system by sending these to Angola, but while Portugal used to send hundreds of prisoners per year, Brazil would send thousands, thus the Brazilian population quickly grew to over 10,000, but as before, many died during the first years. However this influx of Brazilians would also attract some free men to the drier south of the country, where they established the town of nova fortaleza, just north of cape fria, which would grow to be the home of a few thousands over the next decade, this town would also attract fishermen and whalers who fish close to the rich skeleton coast, the waters close to Conceição Bay were particularly attractive so that a small fishing village appeared in the 1850s, although officially beyond the limits of Angola.
But Brazil’s hunger for slaves knew no limit, despite increasingly frequent small slave revolts, the Anglo-American 1842 Webster–Ashburton Treaty attempted to limit the transatlantic slave trade, and while it certainly did limit trade from other regions of Africa, Brazilians traders simply claimed they “relocated” citizens from one region of Brazil to another, the trade was uncurtailed, worse, it grew to unprecedented heights so that by the early 1850s, nearly 80,000 (- slaves from angola and central Africa came to Rio each year, completely destroying the local African population which was already affected by the growing Brazilian presence, this had been enough for Britain who in 1856 decided to start a wide scale anti slavery policing in the southern Atlantic, this, along with revolts in the Cassanga and Dembo regions of Angola pushed the Brazilian over the edge, after a British Ship of the West African Squadron was attacked by the Brazilian navy, Great Britain declared war to Brazil in 1859. The Royal Navy was swift, taking control of Luanda and Benguela in Africa as well as the Mouth of the Amazon, São Luis, Salvador and blockading Rio de Janeiro. A peace was reached less than 3 months before the start of the war. Brazil would immediately abolish slavery, give up all their Angolan possessions to Britain, pay reparations amounting to over a million pound and give up contested territory along the border of Guyana.
In Angola the owner change and the abolition of slavery would be devastating for the cruel economy in place, and most of the Brazilians and mixed race African became useless and decided to go back to Brazil, however the settlers of the thriving Nova Fortaleza didn’t want to go back to a Brazil in crisis, neither did they want to live in a. British colony, so they massively migrated to the Bay of Conceição several hundred kilometres south which already hosted a small fishing village whose population dramatically increased overnight. After Brazil, disgusted from all colonial venture, refused to recognise them they effectively became stateless. However they weren’t unnoticed by Portugal, that, after spending decades consolidating its power in the Zambeze and in need of a positive event in one of its harshest decade, decided to annex The Bay and the barren skeleton coast between the British cape Fria and the orange river, with hopes of linking it with its possessions in the upper zambeze.
1835-1860: Portugal's new hope and the conquest of the Zambeze.
In 1835 the liberal wars had come to a close, although Portugal would face internal instabilities for the next generation, it allowed the government to its last significant colony in Mozambique, and a lot had happened over the past 20 years, To the south the Mfecane had vastly changed the political landscape of rather region, the Nguni Gaza Empire had arisen, stretching from Natal to the south to the southern bank of the Zambeze, where the empire forced the various prazeros - mixed race luso-african fortified estates in the lower Zambeze valley, defended by Chikunda mercenaries - to pay tributes, similarly the Zulus had sacked the small Portuguese outpost in Delagoa Bay (Maputo Bay) , and Pre established states like the Ruzwi (in IRL Zimbabwe) were weakened, to the north the growing slave trade pushed Arabic and Swahilis slavers to go ever further inland, devastating the countryside along Lake Nyassa.
But Sa de Bandeira, Portugal’s prime minister in the late 1830s had huge ambitions for their ”Last Colony“, indeed he had the ambition to carve Mozambique and establish various zones, some for settlers to settle, other for companies to exploit, but he quickly came to the realisation that only a tiny part of the region was under nominal Portuguese control, and so he decided to start a campaign of conquest, subjugation and stabilisation that would define Portugal’s colonial policy for the next 30 years.
One of the most crucial alliance Portugal made, - and undoubtly its longest lasting - would be with the Bembas (in IRL northern Zambia ), during the growing slavery period of the first 30 years of the century - when the number of exported slaves grew by more than 5 times - they became rich by being at the end of the Arab-Swahili trade, but with the growing british anti slavery raids in the Atlantic and more importantly the Brazilian decision to import slaves only from Angola to limit losses to the British squadrons, slave trade was severely diminished which in turn weakened the Bemba, Portugal Took this opportunity to offer an alliance, where they would furnish them with rifles of much better quality than what they had and establish economic links, in turn the Bemba would help Portugal fight the Nguni armies in the middle Zambeze valley (Irl West Malawi and Mozambique and East Zambia) and establish Portuguese influence in the region, this alliance would prove successful and by the late 1850s Portugal controlled most of the middle Zambeze and areas north of it. Their alliance also allowed Portugal to become influential in the Kazembe held territoires west of the Bemba, including what would be later discovered to be ressource rich land between the Congo and zambeze bassin( irl Copperbelt)
For over a century the various prazos of the lower zambeze had been the main source of Portuguese Influence in the region, but by 1840, the growth of the Gaza Empire, the lack of Relations with the Portuguese mainland and their own expansionist ambitions meant that most were only nominally loyal to the Portuguese crown. Portugal this started campaigns to bring them back under its heel, they gave weapons to the chikunda warriors, helping their own expansion into the middle zambeze, more upstream than the prazos, in return they helped Portuguese troops subjugating the relunctant estates, and some were hard to beat, most notably those held by the Cru family, who fought for nearly a decade and caused the death of dozens of soldiers. But eventually by the early 1850s all prazos, along with the chikunda held areas and surrounding Lundu, Sena, Tonga tribes were firmly under Portuguese control.
When Portugal started its conquest, the old Lozi state, which controlled the fertile flood plains of the upper zambeze, was in a war with the Sotho Kololos, a war it had eventually lost by 1839, Portugal hopped it would prove to be an opportunity to support Lozi uprisings, but the Kololo king Sebetwane started careful inclusive assimilation policies that enjoyed considerable success, and spared the previous Lozi kings, faced with this, the governor, allong With the Bemba, devised a plan to assassinate Sebetwane, it was succesful, but they also killed the precious Lozi royal family, the struggle to the Kololo throne that followed pushed his son Sekeletu in a position of power, he was inept and didn’t follow his father’s policies, but without the Lozi royalty, the majority Lozi population had nobody to rally behind, so Portuguese traders offered them weapons and external help, now unified under the Portuguese crown, the Lozi succesfuly drove away the Kololo in 1857, with this event Portugal had finally managed to become the prominent power in the northern half of the zambeze bassin.
The southern half would take longer to conquer as the Gaza empire held, nevertheless Portugal found ways to undermine them, notably by giving weapons to the Chopi and Tonga tribes living inside the empire, their uprising allowed Portugal to take control of the inhambane region, similarly their alliance with the barue give them control over the hinterland of Sofala. Help from the Bemba gave them control over the right bank of the middle zambeze, and divisions among the Shona tribes allowed them to puseeeeh further (into IRL Mashonaland) but the more interior highlands of the south-south west would not be conquered until the 1870s.
But Sa de Bandeira, Portugal’s prime minister in the late 1830s had huge ambitions for their ”Last Colony“, indeed he had the ambition to carve Mozambique and establish various zones, some for settlers to settle, other for companies to exploit, but he quickly came to the realisation that only a tiny part of the region was under nominal Portuguese control, and so he decided to start a campaign of conquest, subjugation and stabilisation that would define Portugal’s colonial policy for the next 30 years.
One of the most crucial alliance Portugal made, - and undoubtly its longest lasting - would be with the Bembas (in IRL northern Zambia ), during the growing slavery period of the first 30 years of the century - when the number of exported slaves grew by more than 5 times - they became rich by being at the end of the Arab-Swahili trade, but with the growing british anti slavery raids in the Atlantic and more importantly the Brazilian decision to import slaves only from Angola to limit losses to the British squadrons, slave trade was severely diminished which in turn weakened the Bemba, Portugal Took this opportunity to offer an alliance, where they would furnish them with rifles of much better quality than what they had and establish economic links, in turn the Bemba would help Portugal fight the Nguni armies in the middle Zambeze valley (Irl West Malawi and Mozambique and East Zambia) and establish Portuguese influence in the region, this alliance would prove successful and by the late 1850s Portugal controlled most of the middle Zambeze and areas north of it. Their alliance also allowed Portugal to become influential in the Kazembe held territoires west of the Bemba, including what would be later discovered to be ressource rich land between the Congo and zambeze bassin( irl Copperbelt)
For over a century the various prazos of the lower zambeze had been the main source of Portuguese Influence in the region, but by 1840, the growth of the Gaza Empire, the lack of Relations with the Portuguese mainland and their own expansionist ambitions meant that most were only nominally loyal to the Portuguese crown. Portugal this started campaigns to bring them back under its heel, they gave weapons to the chikunda warriors, helping their own expansion into the middle zambeze, more upstream than the prazos, in return they helped Portuguese troops subjugating the relunctant estates, and some were hard to beat, most notably those held by the Cru family, who fought for nearly a decade and caused the death of dozens of soldiers. But eventually by the early 1850s all prazos, along with the chikunda held areas and surrounding Lundu, Sena, Tonga tribes were firmly under Portuguese control.
When Portugal started its conquest, the old Lozi state, which controlled the fertile flood plains of the upper zambeze, was in a war with the Sotho Kololos, a war it had eventually lost by 1839, Portugal hopped it would prove to be an opportunity to support Lozi uprisings, but the Kololo king Sebetwane started careful inclusive assimilation policies that enjoyed considerable success, and spared the previous Lozi kings, faced with this, the governor, allong With the Bemba, devised a plan to assassinate Sebetwane, it was succesful, but they also killed the precious Lozi royal family, the struggle to the Kololo throne that followed pushed his son Sekeletu in a position of power, he was inept and didn’t follow his father’s policies, but without the Lozi royalty, the majority Lozi population had nobody to rally behind, so Portuguese traders offered them weapons and external help, now unified under the Portuguese crown, the Lozi succesfuly drove away the Kololo in 1857, with this event Portugal had finally managed to become the prominent power in the northern half of the zambeze bassin.
The southern half would take longer to conquer as the Gaza empire held, nevertheless Portugal found ways to undermine them, notably by giving weapons to the Chopi and Tonga tribes living inside the empire, their uprising allowed Portugal to take control of the inhambane region, similarly their alliance with the barue give them control over the hinterland of Sofala. Help from the Bemba gave them control over the right bank of the middle zambeze, and divisions among the Shona tribes allowed them to puseeeeh further (into IRL Mashonaland) but the more interior highlands of the south-south west would not be conquered until the 1870s.
1860-1910: Consolidations, revolts, rivalries and discoveries, the creation of the State of Southern Africa.
By the 1860s, Portugal was slightly more stable, and with most of the coast of Mozambique under control, the first significant development took place. Portugal rebuilt an outpost in Delagoa Bay and named it Lourenço Marques, they improved the facilities at Sofala, and made efforts to prevent silting. The territories were divided, with the state directly controlling the regions adjacent to Mozambique island and Lourenço Marques, two companies - the Sofala company and Candido company - were outsourced the development in the Southern Sofala and manica region for the former, and Cabo Delgado to the Weatern shore of lake Candido (Nyassa - Malawi) for the former, while the Zambeze and interior region were put on a transitional system where Tribal Systems and Prazos would be abolished over the next 30 years, but put under the administration of the state for the time being. Portugal then shared a new work code in 1871 saying that all men above 14 fit to work would have to work for the state or portuguese companies, forcefully so if needed. Effectively many children and women were forced to work, many village chef refused and private militias often had to intervene, this along with regularly missed payment and small rations built up resentment in the population.
Settlements effort prior to the 1860s met virtually no success, the large majority of men preferring to go to Brazil, thus the european population in the Zambeze Bassin and Mozambique coast never exceeded 1,500, however the Anglo-Brazilian war had unforeseen consequences, while most thought the abolition of slavery would force Brazil to massively seek european immigration, it wasn’t immediate as the sudden abolition made large part of the economy collapse, this made brazil less attractive and diminished the Portuguese emigration to Brazil in the 1860s significantly, while most Portuguese instead went to other countries like Argentina or The U.S.A, a small number decided to try their chance in South East Africa. The now widespread use of Warburg's tincture allowed to prevent some of the effect of Malaria. Over the next decade nearly 10,000 Portuguese went to East Africa, although more than half returned home after a few years, most settled in the cities but an estimated 1,500 stayed in the land they were given, principally in the lower Zambeze, the flood plains of the upper zambeze and the highland south of the middle zambeze, that hosted most of the white farmers.
As everywhere in Africa at the time, Portuguese missionaries (mostly Franciscan and Dominican) established missions in the zambeze region, and also from Conceiçao Bay in 1870, the recently established farmer population in the zambeze attracted Many more and they were the only effective missionary presence in the region, as always they preached with humanist ideals in hope of “civilising the natives”, They also had success in Christianising the Bemba Kingdom although they faced more competition from lutherians german missionaries beyond Cape Delgado and evangelical Anglicans in Bechuanaland. At the same time, portuguese explorers charted the region and helped the country get an edge on its competitiors in term of knowledge of the region, Hermenegildo Capelo was the first to link the Indian and Atlantic coast in 1877, Antonio de Silva Porto was the first to discover the famous Maria falls (IRL Victoria Falls).
With the success Portugal found in Southern Africa over the last 40 years, many were hopeful that a “New Brazil” could be created from the region, extending from coast to coast and from Cabo Delgado to the Limpopo, while there were some Boer and missionary presence in southern Bechuanaland, it still permitted to control both sides of the zambeze and link the cost , the main black spot to this dream were the Ndebele, led by king Lobengula, between the Zambeze and the Limpopo, he refused any trade opening and Christianity, and had an army of over 15,000.
The invasion of the Ndebele would require over 7,500 Portuguese soldier, they would be divided in two forces, one stacking from the north, following the Zambeze and one from the south, following the Limpopo, as the Limpopo had less illness it was the prefered way, but the Transvaal opposes the Portuguese presence so close to their border, eventually it was agreed that the Transvaal would allow them to cross the region and give supplies in exchange of weapons which would become useful in the first Boer war and negotiations to start he construction of the Delagoa Bay-Pretoria Railway, nevertheless the accord only allowed for 5,000 soldiers to cross the region, so 2,500 others went through the Zambeze. The portuguese-Ndebele war of 1876 was fierce and Portugal suffered a few individual defeats, most notably in the Matopo hills where 500 Portuguese soldiers died, eventually after 7 months of fighting the the Ndebele were beaten, with some remaining force fleeing north, only to die from smallpox. In the end the Portuguese suffered over 1,500 combat losses and another thousand from illness. But the two coasts were linked and the entirety of the Zambezi bassin was controlled.
One of the more important question was the status of Delagoa Bay, With the discovery of diamond and gold mines in the orange river and Kimberley in 1866-1871 the South African Republuc (Transvaal) wanted a way to export its minerals without going through British territory, thus in 1873 the Boers offered the construction of a railway between Lourenço Marques and Pretoria, this alarmed the British who asked for international arbitration, however Germany and France both agreed that Portugal had a stronger presence and claim over the Bay. The railway would be built between 1875 and the 1884, during that time the Transvaal would come unde British control but work on it did not stop, however Britain forced a treaty to get control of the railway, which prevented arms from reaching Zulu and insurgent Boer warriors. After the Transvaal got its indépendance again and the discovery of gold in the rand, the railway would prove very profitable for Portugal, so that half of the revenues of the colony came from the region south of save river. Despite several attempt , in 1892, and later in the 1900s, From British to get control of the Bay, Portugal always refused and took care about settling it, during the second Boer war (1903-1905) Portugal complied with British demand to close the railway, but many Boer insurgents nevertheless crossed the border. Portugal signed an agreement where it would increasingly monitor the border in exchange for getting half of the traffic from the Transvaal go in the railway toward Lourenço Marques. This would tie the economy of the south-east of the colony to the South African one.
By the time of the Berlin Conference - first proposed by Portugal as way to get international recognition on its southern African colonies and sphere of influence, and then supported by Germany - Portugal had by far the strongest claim on the hinterland of any African region between north and South Africa. In 1885, 5,000 people, mostly fishermen and prospectors; lived on the skeleton coast - mainly in conceção - and some were starting to settle in the hinterland, over 3,500 Portuguese and Afro Portuguese were living in the zambeze river valley and some additional 1,500 were in small towns and farms in the tete highlands and around lake Candido. The bulk of the population - 15,000 - lived on coastal cities in Sofala, Quelimane, Mocambique and Lourenço Marques. In total 25,000 Portuguese and Brazilians lived at the time, along with a couple thousands Boers.
Conflict between Portugal and Britain Arose over bechuanaland, as Portuguese missionaries and trade was more influential in the north east while English one was more important in the south, many in the Transvaal also hoped they could annex the south, as they wanted to cross the Limpopo and saw the region as their natural land, despite Afrikaner talks with Portugal. The latter decided to strike a deal with Britain, who would renounce their claim on their skeleton coast between Cape fria and the orange river - which was of course Portuguese settled at the time - , in return bechuanaland would be divided along the lines of operation of missionary missions, while it gave the bulk of the territory to Portugal more han half of the population ended up in Britain’s control, more importantly it gave Britain a longer border with the Transvaal, making it possible to encircle it.
Portugal’s claim on the entire zambeze bassin was mostly unchallenged, with the notable exception of its westernmost part, which was closer to the Atlantic coast and unnavigable, and was given to British Angola, the northern border with German East Africa was put at the rovuma river without much trouble.
To the north Katanga - a British protectorate - was put at the border of the Congo and Zambezi bassin. The fate of the Bemba became a unknown variable, through their alliance with the Portuguese they managed to get one of the most advanced and organised army of subsaharian Africa, and their isolation would make any invasion costly. More importantly it was located at the crossroad of English (in Katanga) and German (in east Africa) influence, with the french (in north Congo) and Portuguese not far, although weaker, after much debate Portugal proposed to keep it indépendant, and in 1887 the AbaBemba kingdom became recognised by Germany, England and Portugal (although France wouldn’t for another decade), with king Sampa Kapalakashia as its head of state.
What really started the scramble for Southern Africa was the discovery of gold in the Rand in 1886, soon dozens of thousands of British would come to the the Transvaal, while heavy machinery was transported on rail from Delagoa Bay to Johannesburg. In Portuguese Southern Africa this discovery gave hope that another gold rich reef was on the northern side of the Limpopo River, this was accented by the centuries old Rumors of the incredible riches of the Mutapas, between 1890 and 1900, at least 3,000 Portuguese prospectors went to Africa each year, With a peak of 9,000 in 1895, whin represented the near entirely of the emigration outside of Brazil, in total 70,000 people went to Africa, and although 60% returned to Europe, the white population of Portuguese Africa more than doubled during that decade, reaching 60,000 by 1900. By the turn of the century all Portuguese gold mines had a gold output worth nearly 1.5 million pounds per year , although it was still less than a tenth of the output of the Rand. At the same time a large amount of diamond was discovered on the southern skeleton coast, on the mouth of the orange rivers, and a smaller scale rush happened when 15,000 Portuguese and Brazilians emigrated there between 1895 and 1905, a larger number stayed here so that by 1910 the white and mixed race population of the region reached 25,000, which was significant since only 70,000 natives lived in that region west of the Kalahari, many of the miners were single men, so that by 1960 the non mixed African population of the region represented less than a third of the total population.
More important than the gold revenue was the effect the rush did to the public perception of the colony, after nearly a century without Brazil, without most of its colonial empire that allowed Portugal to be more than a small country, A new colony could attract Portugal’s hope and future growth, this “New Brazil” would be in southern Africa, and just like Brazil its period of change would be a gold rush, the events of the late 19th century changed the perception of the colony from a deadly backwater for prisonniers to a relatively attractive rich and virgin colony. The rush also developped the highlands south of the zambeze, which were fertile and had a more hospitable climate than the rest of the colony .
During most of the early 20th century Southern Africa would stay between the second and third destination for migrant, largely behind Brazil but comparable to Argentina to America. Between 1900 and 1920 an average of 10,000 Portuguese migrants went to Southern Africa each year, approximately 25% of the total emigration, about 3/4 stayed, retention rate comparable or even better than migrants to Brazil. Many of the migrants were either from rural northern Portugal or came from families That recently emigrated to Porto or Lisbon, as such they had about as many children as Portuguese who stayed, so that by 1920 there were 300,000 Portuguese in Southern Africa (about 10 times the IRL Portuguese population in Angola and Mozambique in 1920).
During the few decades following the Berlin Conference there were a few notable rebellions in Portuguese Southern Africa, notably a rebellion by the Gaza Nguni in 1893 ( they were initially subdued in the 1860s), two revolts of the Barue in 1894 and 1911. The Yao of the north east were not entirely defeated by the Berlin conference, but were conquered in the early 1890s, at the cost of a few dozen Portuguese lives, the Herero of the West rose up in 1904, but were cracked down upon, in an event that killed a few thousands of them. The largest uprising was the chimerunga of 1896 in the land of the Ndebele, a reaction to the influx of prospectors along with the influence of religious leaders, the svikiros, but the overwhelming number of prospectors and the rebels’s lack of coordination made them loose , in the end 10,000 African were killed while less than 200 european died. No significant uprising beyond a few strikes happens in the colony after 1911 and until the late 50s, the presence of Europeans being too large.
During the late 19th and 20th century, one of Portugal’s largest export to its African colony were alcoholic beverages , while alcohol had been a traditional import in Angola and Mozambique since the Portuguese first came on their coast, it grew even more important as their culture and influence spread inland, and it became immensely profitable, by 1900 over 40% of all alcohol produced in Portugal was exported to its colonies and Portuguese Southern Africa would stay the largest importer of alcohol during the century, reaching 75% by the 1960s. Per capita consumption of alcohol by Africans in Portuguese colonies was over 20 times higher than in their french or English counterparts, and before the gold rush it was estimated that 10% of all settlers in the colony engaged exclusively in alcohol trade with natives, despite efforts to curb alcohol sales in 1902 and 1921 it would continue and stay extremely profitable for Portuguese companies, while further destroying the social structures of native societies.
Following the gold rush, large amount of land started to be taken over by Europeans, in 1897 a decree was announced which allowed fixed zones to be set aside for the exclusive use of African, the practical result of this decree was to provide Europeans with a legal vehicle for taking the choice plateau area, between 1902 and 1930, only 500 km2 were set aside for natives while over 30,000 km2 were given to settlers, primarily in the tete and Mdebele highlands, this often caused a collapse of the Native agriculture and forced them to integrate the colonial economy
Settlements effort prior to the 1860s met virtually no success, the large majority of men preferring to go to Brazil, thus the european population in the Zambeze Bassin and Mozambique coast never exceeded 1,500, however the Anglo-Brazilian war had unforeseen consequences, while most thought the abolition of slavery would force Brazil to massively seek european immigration, it wasn’t immediate as the sudden abolition made large part of the economy collapse, this made brazil less attractive and diminished the Portuguese emigration to Brazil in the 1860s significantly, while most Portuguese instead went to other countries like Argentina or The U.S.A, a small number decided to try their chance in South East Africa. The now widespread use of Warburg's tincture allowed to prevent some of the effect of Malaria. Over the next decade nearly 10,000 Portuguese went to East Africa, although more than half returned home after a few years, most settled in the cities but an estimated 1,500 stayed in the land they were given, principally in the lower Zambeze, the flood plains of the upper zambeze and the highland south of the middle zambeze, that hosted most of the white farmers.
As everywhere in Africa at the time, Portuguese missionaries (mostly Franciscan and Dominican) established missions in the zambeze region, and also from Conceiçao Bay in 1870, the recently established farmer population in the zambeze attracted Many more and they were the only effective missionary presence in the region, as always they preached with humanist ideals in hope of “civilising the natives”, They also had success in Christianising the Bemba Kingdom although they faced more competition from lutherians german missionaries beyond Cape Delgado and evangelical Anglicans in Bechuanaland. At the same time, portuguese explorers charted the region and helped the country get an edge on its competitiors in term of knowledge of the region, Hermenegildo Capelo was the first to link the Indian and Atlantic coast in 1877, Antonio de Silva Porto was the first to discover the famous Maria falls (IRL Victoria Falls).
With the success Portugal found in Southern Africa over the last 40 years, many were hopeful that a “New Brazil” could be created from the region, extending from coast to coast and from Cabo Delgado to the Limpopo, while there were some Boer and missionary presence in southern Bechuanaland, it still permitted to control both sides of the zambeze and link the cost , the main black spot to this dream were the Ndebele, led by king Lobengula, between the Zambeze and the Limpopo, he refused any trade opening and Christianity, and had an army of over 15,000.
The invasion of the Ndebele would require over 7,500 Portuguese soldier, they would be divided in two forces, one stacking from the north, following the Zambeze and one from the south, following the Limpopo, as the Limpopo had less illness it was the prefered way, but the Transvaal opposes the Portuguese presence so close to their border, eventually it was agreed that the Transvaal would allow them to cross the region and give supplies in exchange of weapons which would become useful in the first Boer war and negotiations to start he construction of the Delagoa Bay-Pretoria Railway, nevertheless the accord only allowed for 5,000 soldiers to cross the region, so 2,500 others went through the Zambeze. The portuguese-Ndebele war of 1876 was fierce and Portugal suffered a few individual defeats, most notably in the Matopo hills where 500 Portuguese soldiers died, eventually after 7 months of fighting the the Ndebele were beaten, with some remaining force fleeing north, only to die from smallpox. In the end the Portuguese suffered over 1,500 combat losses and another thousand from illness. But the two coasts were linked and the entirety of the Zambezi bassin was controlled.
One of the more important question was the status of Delagoa Bay, With the discovery of diamond and gold mines in the orange river and Kimberley in 1866-1871 the South African Republuc (Transvaal) wanted a way to export its minerals without going through British territory, thus in 1873 the Boers offered the construction of a railway between Lourenço Marques and Pretoria, this alarmed the British who asked for international arbitration, however Germany and France both agreed that Portugal had a stronger presence and claim over the Bay. The railway would be built between 1875 and the 1884, during that time the Transvaal would come unde British control but work on it did not stop, however Britain forced a treaty to get control of the railway, which prevented arms from reaching Zulu and insurgent Boer warriors. After the Transvaal got its indépendance again and the discovery of gold in the rand, the railway would prove very profitable for Portugal, so that half of the revenues of the colony came from the region south of save river. Despite several attempt , in 1892, and later in the 1900s, From British to get control of the Bay, Portugal always refused and took care about settling it, during the second Boer war (1903-1905) Portugal complied with British demand to close the railway, but many Boer insurgents nevertheless crossed the border. Portugal signed an agreement where it would increasingly monitor the border in exchange for getting half of the traffic from the Transvaal go in the railway toward Lourenço Marques. This would tie the economy of the south-east of the colony to the South African one.
By the time of the Berlin Conference - first proposed by Portugal as way to get international recognition on its southern African colonies and sphere of influence, and then supported by Germany - Portugal had by far the strongest claim on the hinterland of any African region between north and South Africa. In 1885, 5,000 people, mostly fishermen and prospectors; lived on the skeleton coast - mainly in conceção - and some were starting to settle in the hinterland, over 3,500 Portuguese and Afro Portuguese were living in the zambeze river valley and some additional 1,500 were in small towns and farms in the tete highlands and around lake Candido. The bulk of the population - 15,000 - lived on coastal cities in Sofala, Quelimane, Mocambique and Lourenço Marques. In total 25,000 Portuguese and Brazilians lived at the time, along with a couple thousands Boers.
Conflict between Portugal and Britain Arose over bechuanaland, as Portuguese missionaries and trade was more influential in the north east while English one was more important in the south, many in the Transvaal also hoped they could annex the south, as they wanted to cross the Limpopo and saw the region as their natural land, despite Afrikaner talks with Portugal. The latter decided to strike a deal with Britain, who would renounce their claim on their skeleton coast between Cape fria and the orange river - which was of course Portuguese settled at the time - , in return bechuanaland would be divided along the lines of operation of missionary missions, while it gave the bulk of the territory to Portugal more han half of the population ended up in Britain’s control, more importantly it gave Britain a longer border with the Transvaal, making it possible to encircle it.
Portugal’s claim on the entire zambeze bassin was mostly unchallenged, with the notable exception of its westernmost part, which was closer to the Atlantic coast and unnavigable, and was given to British Angola, the northern border with German East Africa was put at the rovuma river without much trouble.
To the north Katanga - a British protectorate - was put at the border of the Congo and Zambezi bassin. The fate of the Bemba became a unknown variable, through their alliance with the Portuguese they managed to get one of the most advanced and organised army of subsaharian Africa, and their isolation would make any invasion costly. More importantly it was located at the crossroad of English (in Katanga) and German (in east Africa) influence, with the french (in north Congo) and Portuguese not far, although weaker, after much debate Portugal proposed to keep it indépendant, and in 1887 the AbaBemba kingdom became recognised by Germany, England and Portugal (although France wouldn’t for another decade), with king Sampa Kapalakashia as its head of state.
What really started the scramble for Southern Africa was the discovery of gold in the Rand in 1886, soon dozens of thousands of British would come to the the Transvaal, while heavy machinery was transported on rail from Delagoa Bay to Johannesburg. In Portuguese Southern Africa this discovery gave hope that another gold rich reef was on the northern side of the Limpopo River, this was accented by the centuries old Rumors of the incredible riches of the Mutapas, between 1890 and 1900, at least 3,000 Portuguese prospectors went to Africa each year, With a peak of 9,000 in 1895, whin represented the near entirely of the emigration outside of Brazil, in total 70,000 people went to Africa, and although 60% returned to Europe, the white population of Portuguese Africa more than doubled during that decade, reaching 60,000 by 1900. By the turn of the century all Portuguese gold mines had a gold output worth nearly 1.5 million pounds per year , although it was still less than a tenth of the output of the Rand. At the same time a large amount of diamond was discovered on the southern skeleton coast, on the mouth of the orange rivers, and a smaller scale rush happened when 15,000 Portuguese and Brazilians emigrated there between 1895 and 1905, a larger number stayed here so that by 1910 the white and mixed race population of the region reached 25,000, which was significant since only 70,000 natives lived in that region west of the Kalahari, many of the miners were single men, so that by 1960 the non mixed African population of the region represented less than a third of the total population.
More important than the gold revenue was the effect the rush did to the public perception of the colony, after nearly a century without Brazil, without most of its colonial empire that allowed Portugal to be more than a small country, A new colony could attract Portugal’s hope and future growth, this “New Brazil” would be in southern Africa, and just like Brazil its period of change would be a gold rush, the events of the late 19th century changed the perception of the colony from a deadly backwater for prisonniers to a relatively attractive rich and virgin colony. The rush also developped the highlands south of the zambeze, which were fertile and had a more hospitable climate than the rest of the colony .
During most of the early 20th century Southern Africa would stay between the second and third destination for migrant, largely behind Brazil but comparable to Argentina to America. Between 1900 and 1920 an average of 10,000 Portuguese migrants went to Southern Africa each year, approximately 25% of the total emigration, about 3/4 stayed, retention rate comparable or even better than migrants to Brazil. Many of the migrants were either from rural northern Portugal or came from families That recently emigrated to Porto or Lisbon, as such they had about as many children as Portuguese who stayed, so that by 1920 there were 300,000 Portuguese in Southern Africa (about 10 times the IRL Portuguese population in Angola and Mozambique in 1920).
During the few decades following the Berlin Conference there were a few notable rebellions in Portuguese Southern Africa, notably a rebellion by the Gaza Nguni in 1893 ( they were initially subdued in the 1860s), two revolts of the Barue in 1894 and 1911. The Yao of the north east were not entirely defeated by the Berlin conference, but were conquered in the early 1890s, at the cost of a few dozen Portuguese lives, the Herero of the West rose up in 1904, but were cracked down upon, in an event that killed a few thousands of them. The largest uprising was the chimerunga of 1896 in the land of the Ndebele, a reaction to the influx of prospectors along with the influence of religious leaders, the svikiros, but the overwhelming number of prospectors and the rebels’s lack of coordination made them loose , in the end 10,000 African were killed while less than 200 european died. No significant uprising beyond a few strikes happens in the colony after 1911 and until the late 50s, the presence of Europeans being too large.
During the late 19th and 20th century, one of Portugal’s largest export to its African colony were alcoholic beverages , while alcohol had been a traditional import in Angola and Mozambique since the Portuguese first came on their coast, it grew even more important as their culture and influence spread inland, and it became immensely profitable, by 1900 over 40% of all alcohol produced in Portugal was exported to its colonies and Portuguese Southern Africa would stay the largest importer of alcohol during the century, reaching 75% by the 1960s. Per capita consumption of alcohol by Africans in Portuguese colonies was over 20 times higher than in their french or English counterparts, and before the gold rush it was estimated that 10% of all settlers in the colony engaged exclusively in alcohol trade with natives, despite efforts to curb alcohol sales in 1902 and 1921 it would continue and stay extremely profitable for Portuguese companies, while further destroying the social structures of native societies.
Following the gold rush, large amount of land started to be taken over by Europeans, in 1897 a decree was announced which allowed fixed zones to be set aside for the exclusive use of African, the practical result of this decree was to provide Europeans with a legal vehicle for taking the choice plateau area, between 1902 and 1930, only 500 km2 were set aside for natives while over 30,000 km2 were given to settlers, primarily in the tete and Mdebele highlands, this often caused a collapse of the Native agriculture and forced them to integrate the colonial economy
1910-1958: The Great War, economic growth and the dream of a New Brazil.
When the first Great War broke out, Portugal was initially neutral, but following skirmishes in East Africa and the expectation that Britain’s ally would go to war against Germany, Portugal entered the war in October 1915, while most of of the Portuguese troops were sent to France, about 10,000 were sent to Africa, alongside 10,000 conscripted settlers and 40,000 African soldiers, against them was the colonel Von lettow Vorbeck, a master of guerrilla warfare he managed to inflict severe losses to the the British forces and easily play around them, Portuguese troops under general Gil managed to take Lindi in summer 1916 and tried to expand inland, but a counterattack by the german capitan Loof in October of that year prevented them to go further, without succeeding at removing them from Lindi.
The Portuguese were succesful at keeping Von lettow north of the Romuva through 1917, beating them in ngomano in November, but when British troops arrived at the port of pomba in January 1918, Portuguese troops then retreated, after winning a few small victories the german troops split , with one group led. Capitain Koehl staying north of the Luri river, while Von Lettow went south, the British troops in Pemba managed to beat Koehl’s army’s and secure the north of the river, trapping Von lettow south, the Portuguese troops, now in known territory them engaged The german army, and after several weeks of intense guerilla warfare from both sides, Von lettow was finally beaten and surrendered in Metro in may 1918. The remaining East African german forces would surrender in the following weeks.
The settler and African Portuguese troops were lauded for their skills, as was Von lettow, Portugal managed to keep he territory it controlled at the end of the war , keeping Lindi and pushing its northern border by a couple hundred km into fertile low plains and pleasant highlands near lake candido, which was now an entirely Portuguese lake.
Following the Great War however Portugal managed to learn that South Africa has considered annexing the Delgado Bay region during the war, this was a motivation for the country to start subsiding larger scale settlement, rather than leaving it to to companies and private ventures. Furthermore Portugal was experiencing a period of economic and political instabilities and the weak Monarchy sought to increase support, especially as lifting hundreds of thousands of peasants out of poverty by sending them to Africa could make them view the monarchy well, and it the settlement effort would appeal to the Portuguese national history and identity.
Between 1920 and 1940 nearly 300,000 durably settled Southern Africa, mostly thanks to government incentives, but also because Brazil became less attractive in the 1930s due to immigration restriction and a slower economy. During the 1930s Southern Africa even became the main destination for Portuguese migrant, overtaking Brazil for the first time since the 16th century. By 1940, it was estimated that the population of Portuguese ancestry (including mixed race people) had reached 1,000,000, 3/4 of them lives south of the zambeze - east of the kalahari or in eastern coastal cities , Another 100,000 lived on skeleton Coast and its hinterland , where they represented 60% of the population (significantly more mixed race than in the rest of the country), and another 150,000 mostly in the upper zambeze food plains, as colonial administrators and mining operators in the Copperbelt or in the highlands of lake Candido.
Portuguese immigration to the colony wasn’t the only kind, beside the odd Christian Goan in the 19th century; another wave would define the white community in the colony, starting in the 1920s Portugal opened immigration to various Europeans , the unstable climate of central and Eastern European in the 1930s, and particularly in the late 40s after the Eastern European wars meant that many poles, Czech, Hungarians tried to immigrate there, particularly as Portugal had less strict restriction than the Anglos and Afrikaners in South Africa , many Italian and Spaniards , appealed by the economic and political instability in their country tried to immigrate too, the number of application was staggering - nearly 4 millions! , many were unsuited or not serious, and Portugal was unwilling to accept more foreign migrant than here already were Portuguese, nevertheless 1.5 million would emigrate between 1925 and 1955, while return rate were high initially they became much lower in the late 40s as their home country in Eastern Europe had been devastated by the wars, in the end a million would stay durably during that period of time, and by 1955 40% of white in the colony were not Portuguese or if Portuguese descent. This immigration would lower significantly after the start of the colonial war, although would still represent a couple dozen thousand a year. Project to send large number of Jews were also proposed, with some Zionist imagining an israel on the zambeze, but The Portuguese colonial administration was relunctant and Jews were not particularly attracted to the place, nevertheless a few dozen thousands still emigrated there, as part of the larger Eastern European emigration, and by 1968 represented a bit under 1% of the white population.
For many native African living under Portuguese rule life was harsh, similar to many places in colonial Africa the introduction of paid labour break off the social environments of pre established tribes, getting a paid work became necessary for young men to marry, and they sought colonial work to become less reliant on the tribal structures dominated by the elders, but this naturally led to desocialization, in turn the labourers became more reliant on the colonial structures such as the the cantinas, typically goan or mesticos owned wholesale markets.
The life of colonial labourer was in many points similar to other colonies, but some distinction remained, first the wages were particularly low, often paid on a yearly basis and sometime only in clothes, the wages only allowed to cover basic survival need , at least until the 1940s. Another particularity was that many of the mining bassin, the northern copperbeltregion and in the hinterland of the skeletons coast had were initially depopulated, this forced companies and colonial administration to move dozen of thousands of men from more populated region there, as in the rest of the colony it was mostly done through forced labour, men had to cross hundreds of km in poorly organised travel with too small rations before reaching the lines where they would be exploited in torrid conditions , in the mines fatal accident often reached 1% per year per person.
Similar situations happened near the South African border, where dozen of thousands of young men would migrate to work in the transvall’s mines, making the bulk of the South African Labour there. The sudden loss of men had huge impacts on the African societies, while the women traditionally did most of the agricultural day to day subsistance work, the men did surplus agricultural work, fishing and generally prepared reserves for period of dearth, the loss of many young men made the societies much more vulnerable to famines.
Agricultural forced labourers didn’t live better, they were often requested to grow non traditional food like rice or maize, this initially forced them to grow their typical subsistance food alongside it, but the high quotas of companies eventually forced them to adopt the colonial food they produce as their staple, these were often more succeptible to the irregular rainfall, but the colonial government often didn’t want to spend on Irrigation system in African farms, preferring to favour the few, quite unproductive white farms.
The forced labour system was more widespread in the Portuguese colonies than most other colonies, this led to an international condemnation following an investigation in 1926, however it would take many years for the system to be restricted, with corporal punishment only being officially abolished in the late 40s, and forced labour in 1951. The system had however made a large part of the African population reliant on the colonial structures by the time, and little changed after the abolition.
The period following the 1920s saw large economic growth, partially thanks to the increasing exploitation of the copperbelt mines, the tobacco and chrome industries also grew considerably, particularly in the mashonaland region south of the zambeze, coffee from the inhambane and northern candido region started to be exported massively, and by the 50s the colony was the 5th coffee exporter. Deep mines were created in the vampo and santa maria region in the west. The transcontinental railway was finished in 1931, bringing the two coasts much closer. The Cariba and Cahora Bassa dams were built between 1941 and 1946, creating the eponymous lakes, the hydroelectrical plants were the largest in Southern Africa and powered the new millions of settlers, at the cost of displacing dozen of thousands of africans.
Many of the Portuguese settlers had very little education, in the 1930s, 90% of the Portuguese settlers had no more than the equivalent of fourth grade education in the U.S., the system of colonial economic segregation however allowed them to avoid manual exploitive work (in farms, in mines), which was considered dirty and better left to Africans, less than 1% of the Portuguese population engaged in civil services or liberal activities requiring significant education, the majority worked in the commercial sector, as small shop owners. The influx of hundred of thousands of other Europeans settler highlighted this, as Portugal had an education system not any better than imperial Russia, it was shock to see that even Ukrainian were better educated than the majority of settlers, let alone Czech or Germans, this was one of the reason behind the extensive education reforms in Portugal and its colonies of the late 30s, at a time where the kingdom was emerging from three decades of political instabilities. The native Africans in the colony benefited little from the reforms however, with less than 5% ever going to school. The colonial companies were finally abolished in 1923.
The increasingly large settler population along with the feeling of cultural superiority were some of the reasons behind the passing of the indigenato laws in the 1920s, under it all Africans were considered "uncivilized" , and so legally second class citizens, if they were not judged to have totally adopted the idealized Portuguese style of life, requirements to obtain it were absurdly complex, often needing knowledge of Portuguese culture and history the average white didn't have - whites were automatically considered as "civilized", so that by the time the system was repealed in 1959 less than 0.7% of the native African population were considered as "assimilados" - "civilized", there was also discrimination within the African community toward the few who did reach that status.
African nationism appeared during the interwar, influenced by the African National Congress which was founded in 1912 in south africa. the most notable one was the União Africano, organised in 1914 in Lourenço Marques, initially cracked down upon and isolated because it was radical, however as the conditions of africans in cities became worse it got larger and larger, including strikes in Sofala, Nova Lisboa and Lourenço marques in the 30s and 40s. clandestine newspaper like O Brado Africano (the african voice) were widely distributed. However the colonial police, the Polícia de Vigilância e Defesa Ultramarina (PVDU) were particularly effective at restricting the spread of the organisations, particularly they managed to entirely isolate the União Africano from the ANC or other movements in the neighboring British colonies. Meanwhile the Portuguese government claimed its colonies were different, race blind and egalitarian, many in the government and in the white press connected themselves to the new lusotropicalism theory, claiming that the Portuguese were better colonizers than other European nations.
The Portuguese were succesful at keeping Von lettow north of the Romuva through 1917, beating them in ngomano in November, but when British troops arrived at the port of pomba in January 1918, Portuguese troops then retreated, after winning a few small victories the german troops split , with one group led. Capitain Koehl staying north of the Luri river, while Von Lettow went south, the British troops in Pemba managed to beat Koehl’s army’s and secure the north of the river, trapping Von lettow south, the Portuguese troops, now in known territory them engaged The german army, and after several weeks of intense guerilla warfare from both sides, Von lettow was finally beaten and surrendered in Metro in may 1918. The remaining East African german forces would surrender in the following weeks.
The settler and African Portuguese troops were lauded for their skills, as was Von lettow, Portugal managed to keep he territory it controlled at the end of the war , keeping Lindi and pushing its northern border by a couple hundred km into fertile low plains and pleasant highlands near lake candido, which was now an entirely Portuguese lake.
Following the Great War however Portugal managed to learn that South Africa has considered annexing the Delgado Bay region during the war, this was a motivation for the country to start subsiding larger scale settlement, rather than leaving it to to companies and private ventures. Furthermore Portugal was experiencing a period of economic and political instabilities and the weak Monarchy sought to increase support, especially as lifting hundreds of thousands of peasants out of poverty by sending them to Africa could make them view the monarchy well, and it the settlement effort would appeal to the Portuguese national history and identity.
Between 1920 and 1940 nearly 300,000 durably settled Southern Africa, mostly thanks to government incentives, but also because Brazil became less attractive in the 1930s due to immigration restriction and a slower economy. During the 1930s Southern Africa even became the main destination for Portuguese migrant, overtaking Brazil for the first time since the 16th century. By 1940, it was estimated that the population of Portuguese ancestry (including mixed race people) had reached 1,000,000, 3/4 of them lives south of the zambeze - east of the kalahari or in eastern coastal cities , Another 100,000 lived on skeleton Coast and its hinterland , where they represented 60% of the population (significantly more mixed race than in the rest of the country), and another 150,000 mostly in the upper zambeze food plains, as colonial administrators and mining operators in the Copperbelt or in the highlands of lake Candido.
Portuguese immigration to the colony wasn’t the only kind, beside the odd Christian Goan in the 19th century; another wave would define the white community in the colony, starting in the 1920s Portugal opened immigration to various Europeans , the unstable climate of central and Eastern European in the 1930s, and particularly in the late 40s after the Eastern European wars meant that many poles, Czech, Hungarians tried to immigrate there, particularly as Portugal had less strict restriction than the Anglos and Afrikaners in South Africa , many Italian and Spaniards , appealed by the economic and political instability in their country tried to immigrate too, the number of application was staggering - nearly 4 millions! , many were unsuited or not serious, and Portugal was unwilling to accept more foreign migrant than here already were Portuguese, nevertheless 1.5 million would emigrate between 1925 and 1955, while return rate were high initially they became much lower in the late 40s as their home country in Eastern Europe had been devastated by the wars, in the end a million would stay durably during that period of time, and by 1955 40% of white in the colony were not Portuguese or if Portuguese descent. This immigration would lower significantly after the start of the colonial war, although would still represent a couple dozen thousand a year. Project to send large number of Jews were also proposed, with some Zionist imagining an israel on the zambeze, but The Portuguese colonial administration was relunctant and Jews were not particularly attracted to the place, nevertheless a few dozen thousands still emigrated there, as part of the larger Eastern European emigration, and by 1968 represented a bit under 1% of the white population.
For many native African living under Portuguese rule life was harsh, similar to many places in colonial Africa the introduction of paid labour break off the social environments of pre established tribes, getting a paid work became necessary for young men to marry, and they sought colonial work to become less reliant on the tribal structures dominated by the elders, but this naturally led to desocialization, in turn the labourers became more reliant on the colonial structures such as the the cantinas, typically goan or mesticos owned wholesale markets.
The life of colonial labourer was in many points similar to other colonies, but some distinction remained, first the wages were particularly low, often paid on a yearly basis and sometime only in clothes, the wages only allowed to cover basic survival need , at least until the 1940s. Another particularity was that many of the mining bassin, the northern copperbeltregion and in the hinterland of the skeletons coast had were initially depopulated, this forced companies and colonial administration to move dozen of thousands of men from more populated region there, as in the rest of the colony it was mostly done through forced labour, men had to cross hundreds of km in poorly organised travel with too small rations before reaching the lines where they would be exploited in torrid conditions , in the mines fatal accident often reached 1% per year per person.
Similar situations happened near the South African border, where dozen of thousands of young men would migrate to work in the transvall’s mines, making the bulk of the South African Labour there. The sudden loss of men had huge impacts on the African societies, while the women traditionally did most of the agricultural day to day subsistance work, the men did surplus agricultural work, fishing and generally prepared reserves for period of dearth, the loss of many young men made the societies much more vulnerable to famines.
Agricultural forced labourers didn’t live better, they were often requested to grow non traditional food like rice or maize, this initially forced them to grow their typical subsistance food alongside it, but the high quotas of companies eventually forced them to adopt the colonial food they produce as their staple, these were often more succeptible to the irregular rainfall, but the colonial government often didn’t want to spend on Irrigation system in African farms, preferring to favour the few, quite unproductive white farms.
The forced labour system was more widespread in the Portuguese colonies than most other colonies, this led to an international condemnation following an investigation in 1926, however it would take many years for the system to be restricted, with corporal punishment only being officially abolished in the late 40s, and forced labour in 1951. The system had however made a large part of the African population reliant on the colonial structures by the time, and little changed after the abolition.
The period following the 1920s saw large economic growth, partially thanks to the increasing exploitation of the copperbelt mines, the tobacco and chrome industries also grew considerably, particularly in the mashonaland region south of the zambeze, coffee from the inhambane and northern candido region started to be exported massively, and by the 50s the colony was the 5th coffee exporter. Deep mines were created in the vampo and santa maria region in the west. The transcontinental railway was finished in 1931, bringing the two coasts much closer. The Cariba and Cahora Bassa dams were built between 1941 and 1946, creating the eponymous lakes, the hydroelectrical plants were the largest in Southern Africa and powered the new millions of settlers, at the cost of displacing dozen of thousands of africans.
Many of the Portuguese settlers had very little education, in the 1930s, 90% of the Portuguese settlers had no more than the equivalent of fourth grade education in the U.S., the system of colonial economic segregation however allowed them to avoid manual exploitive work (in farms, in mines), which was considered dirty and better left to Africans, less than 1% of the Portuguese population engaged in civil services or liberal activities requiring significant education, the majority worked in the commercial sector, as small shop owners. The influx of hundred of thousands of other Europeans settler highlighted this, as Portugal had an education system not any better than imperial Russia, it was shock to see that even Ukrainian were better educated than the majority of settlers, let alone Czech or Germans, this was one of the reason behind the extensive education reforms in Portugal and its colonies of the late 30s, at a time where the kingdom was emerging from three decades of political instabilities. The native Africans in the colony benefited little from the reforms however, with less than 5% ever going to school. The colonial companies were finally abolished in 1923.
The increasingly large settler population along with the feeling of cultural superiority were some of the reasons behind the passing of the indigenato laws in the 1920s, under it all Africans were considered "uncivilized" , and so legally second class citizens, if they were not judged to have totally adopted the idealized Portuguese style of life, requirements to obtain it were absurdly complex, often needing knowledge of Portuguese culture and history the average white didn't have - whites were automatically considered as "civilized", so that by the time the system was repealed in 1959 less than 0.7% of the native African population were considered as "assimilados" - "civilized", there was also discrimination within the African community toward the few who did reach that status.
African nationism appeared during the interwar, influenced by the African National Congress which was founded in 1912 in south africa. the most notable one was the União Africano, organised in 1914 in Lourenço Marques, initially cracked down upon and isolated because it was radical, however as the conditions of africans in cities became worse it got larger and larger, including strikes in Sofala, Nova Lisboa and Lourenço marques in the 30s and 40s. clandestine newspaper like O Brado Africano (the african voice) were widely distributed. However the colonial police, the Polícia de Vigilância e Defesa Ultramarina (PVDU) were particularly effective at restricting the spread of the organisations, particularly they managed to entirely isolate the União Africano from the ANC or other movements in the neighboring British colonies. Meanwhile the Portuguese government claimed its colonies were different, race blind and egalitarian, many in the government and in the white press connected themselves to the new lusotropicalism theory, claiming that the Portuguese were better colonizers than other European nations.
1958-1968: The colonial war and the shattering of the lusotropicalist myth.
Everything changed on February 17, 1958 when coffee plantations worker near Matisaka rebelled, killing 63 white settlers, over the next two weeks the revolt spread across the northern Candido and Rovuma regions, which killed over a thousand settlers, graphic images of raped and mutilated settlers inflamed the rage of the Portuguese public and the portuguese army started a wide, indiscriminate counter insurgency action, in the end over 50,000 africans were killed by the army before the uprising was put down in June.
This date marks the start of the Portuguese colonial wars, which by 1968 have wagged for a decade, in southern africa the first years after the initial uprising were calmer, but the insurgency became much worse when the northern british colonies of Angola, Katenga and Tanganyika became independant in 1961 and 1962, weapons were smuggled through the northern border and the various organisation, soon gathered into two rival ones, the União das Populações de Zambezia - the armed wing of the União Africano - and the Frente de Libertação Africana, organised themselves in the nsurgencies were particularly strong along the northern border in Cololo, Cabompo and Rovuma. The Abemba kingdom was somewhat pro-portuguese, as it feared being surrounded by revolutionary countries. On the opposite the southern border with south africa was secure, and the western part of the country saw nearly no fighting.
Despite the best effort, and raids in the neighboring countries which hosted the rebel organizations, Portugal couldn't pacify the northern region entirely, while they managed to keep the fighting outside of the white settled cities it had become a stalemate in isolated regions near the border. Worse were the terrible defeat of the Portuguese army in the swamps of Guinea, where they controlled only the cities of Ziguinchor and Bissau. The thousands of Portuguese deaths came at a moment when the relations between the mainland and the colonies were already strained. In 1948 Portuguese southern Africa finally gained recognition at the Portuguese assembly ( they only enjoyed limited self rule, and only for 15 years by this point), this caused a shift to the right of the politics of the country, the Christian National Party was reelected continuously between 1952 and 1968, this caused increasingly common protests and strike in the south of Portugal. The party also offered subsidized emigration to the colony, thinking it was better to keep the Portuguese in the empire than letting them go to other western European countries, nearly 1.5 millions Portuguese emigrated between 1948 and 1968 this way. Larger part fo the budget was spent on the colonies than on portugal - Southern Africa having overcome the mainland in term of GDP by 1960 - , all of this made large part of the population think the colony had become the tail wagging the Portuguese dog, in a situation in the end not too dissimilar to the United Kingdom of Brazil and Portugal 150 years earlier. The poltical activism was increased, ironically, by the fact that the education reforms a generation earlier made more young portuguese conscious of the situation.
In the colony the army realized the situation wasn't sustainable as it currently was, it decided to try to "win the heart of the natives", with very mixed results, the Indigenato system was repealed in 1959, but despite extension of the education and wages increase, it wasn't enough for most, who had been living in oppression for all their lives. In the north, beyond the Zambezi, the army gave up on their hope to getting the Africans on their side peacefully, and started a large resettlement program, thinking that isolating Africans would prevent them from getting 'influenced" by rebels, stating in 1963 nearly 1.5 millions were resettled in ad-hoc villages, the effects were disastrous for many as they were forced to change their agricultural habits, were forced to leave their cattle if they had any, it severely harmed the pre existing tribal social organization and the proximity in the villages made illness spread much more easily, in most case the resettlement efforts were counter productive and only made the africans more resentful of the Portuguese. Many also decided to flee to other countries, and several hundred thousands were estimated to flee toward Angola, Katanga or Tanganyika each year.
Surprisingly one of the other answers of the army was the construction of an extensive road system, thinking that the roads would extend the reach of the army, during the decade of the war thousands of km of paved road were built, and by 1968 the northern part of the country had a better road system than the wealthier and more white populated south, all this investment did not go into food or education or medical care for the millions of African affected by the war.
But it wasn't enough, and over the past years more and more in the government and general staff realized they had to let go some of the empire, the first to go would be Guinea, where Portugal never broke the stalemate, it was put into a transition government in late 1967 and is planned to become independent in 1969. Goa was also given sovereignty earlier this year, although with a pro-Portuguese authoritarian government and as a member of the new "Portuguese Community", recognizing the authority of Lisbon and dependent on portugal's army and economy. In southern Africa some begin to think that the northern part of the country should become independent, but still half a million white people live north of the Zambezi, and relocating them south would be an expensive operation. As it stands, according to the 1966 mid-decade estimate, about 25.1 Million people live in the colony, 3.8 millions being white or mixed race (15% of the population), 3.1 millions white and mixed race live south of the Zambezi while 8.5 millions native African live south of the river.
In this extremely tense context the colonial exhibition of 1968 seems anachronistic, while not as horrible as belgian ones in the 50s, most observers weren't credulous, the "Mdebele warriors" in the exhibition were underpaid assimilados from Sofala, the coffee was extracted from war torn highlands near Candido, Diamonds of the orange were extracted by miners in terrible conditions, Goan spices were delayed because the freight had been taken over in a protest against the puppet government. Others bury their head in the sand, not wanting to realize that the settler's wealth come from the oppression of dozens of millions. Many international observers don't give the current situation more than five years, What would happen after? Rapatriating 4 millions would be impossible when portugal has 8 millions people, and more than a third of the white never set a foot on the mainland, South Africa, which is slowly and carefuly extending its franchise under the continued united party rule, would become unstable with such a large inflow of migrants. A partition of the country seems most plausible, but the international community may not recognize it while in portugal many conservative fear that the loss of its voting base in the colonies would create an immense socialist backlash in the mainland.
Most realize the status quo is unstable, but nobody wants to suffer the consequences of any change, and those who ignore the problems are the most dangerous as they could ignite a powder keg, the sweet lies of lusotropicalism and the dreams of a New Brazil were never more distant than today.
This date marks the start of the Portuguese colonial wars, which by 1968 have wagged for a decade, in southern africa the first years after the initial uprising were calmer, but the insurgency became much worse when the northern british colonies of Angola, Katenga and Tanganyika became independant in 1961 and 1962, weapons were smuggled through the northern border and the various organisation, soon gathered into two rival ones, the União das Populações de Zambezia - the armed wing of the União Africano - and the Frente de Libertação Africana, organised themselves in the nsurgencies were particularly strong along the northern border in Cololo, Cabompo and Rovuma. The Abemba kingdom was somewhat pro-portuguese, as it feared being surrounded by revolutionary countries. On the opposite the southern border with south africa was secure, and the western part of the country saw nearly no fighting.
Despite the best effort, and raids in the neighboring countries which hosted the rebel organizations, Portugal couldn't pacify the northern region entirely, while they managed to keep the fighting outside of the white settled cities it had become a stalemate in isolated regions near the border. Worse were the terrible defeat of the Portuguese army in the swamps of Guinea, where they controlled only the cities of Ziguinchor and Bissau. The thousands of Portuguese deaths came at a moment when the relations between the mainland and the colonies were already strained. In 1948 Portuguese southern Africa finally gained recognition at the Portuguese assembly ( they only enjoyed limited self rule, and only for 15 years by this point), this caused a shift to the right of the politics of the country, the Christian National Party was reelected continuously between 1952 and 1968, this caused increasingly common protests and strike in the south of Portugal. The party also offered subsidized emigration to the colony, thinking it was better to keep the Portuguese in the empire than letting them go to other western European countries, nearly 1.5 millions Portuguese emigrated between 1948 and 1968 this way. Larger part fo the budget was spent on the colonies than on portugal - Southern Africa having overcome the mainland in term of GDP by 1960 - , all of this made large part of the population think the colony had become the tail wagging the Portuguese dog, in a situation in the end not too dissimilar to the United Kingdom of Brazil and Portugal 150 years earlier. The poltical activism was increased, ironically, by the fact that the education reforms a generation earlier made more young portuguese conscious of the situation.
In the colony the army realized the situation wasn't sustainable as it currently was, it decided to try to "win the heart of the natives", with very mixed results, the Indigenato system was repealed in 1959, but despite extension of the education and wages increase, it wasn't enough for most, who had been living in oppression for all their lives. In the north, beyond the Zambezi, the army gave up on their hope to getting the Africans on their side peacefully, and started a large resettlement program, thinking that isolating Africans would prevent them from getting 'influenced" by rebels, stating in 1963 nearly 1.5 millions were resettled in ad-hoc villages, the effects were disastrous for many as they were forced to change their agricultural habits, were forced to leave their cattle if they had any, it severely harmed the pre existing tribal social organization and the proximity in the villages made illness spread much more easily, in most case the resettlement efforts were counter productive and only made the africans more resentful of the Portuguese. Many also decided to flee to other countries, and several hundred thousands were estimated to flee toward Angola, Katanga or Tanganyika each year.
Surprisingly one of the other answers of the army was the construction of an extensive road system, thinking that the roads would extend the reach of the army, during the decade of the war thousands of km of paved road were built, and by 1968 the northern part of the country had a better road system than the wealthier and more white populated south, all this investment did not go into food or education or medical care for the millions of African affected by the war.
But it wasn't enough, and over the past years more and more in the government and general staff realized they had to let go some of the empire, the first to go would be Guinea, where Portugal never broke the stalemate, it was put into a transition government in late 1967 and is planned to become independent in 1969. Goa was also given sovereignty earlier this year, although with a pro-Portuguese authoritarian government and as a member of the new "Portuguese Community", recognizing the authority of Lisbon and dependent on portugal's army and economy. In southern Africa some begin to think that the northern part of the country should become independent, but still half a million white people live north of the Zambezi, and relocating them south would be an expensive operation. As it stands, according to the 1966 mid-decade estimate, about 25.1 Million people live in the colony, 3.8 millions being white or mixed race (15% of the population), 3.1 millions white and mixed race live south of the Zambezi while 8.5 millions native African live south of the river.
In this extremely tense context the colonial exhibition of 1968 seems anachronistic, while not as horrible as belgian ones in the 50s, most observers weren't credulous, the "Mdebele warriors" in the exhibition were underpaid assimilados from Sofala, the coffee was extracted from war torn highlands near Candido, Diamonds of the orange were extracted by miners in terrible conditions, Goan spices were delayed because the freight had been taken over in a protest against the puppet government. Others bury their head in the sand, not wanting to realize that the settler's wealth come from the oppression of dozens of millions. Many international observers don't give the current situation more than five years, What would happen after? Rapatriating 4 millions would be impossible when portugal has 8 millions people, and more than a third of the white never set a foot on the mainland, South Africa, which is slowly and carefuly extending its franchise under the continued united party rule, would become unstable with such a large inflow of migrants. A partition of the country seems most plausible, but the international community may not recognize it while in portugal many conservative fear that the loss of its voting base in the colonies would create an immense socialist backlash in the mainland.
Most realize the status quo is unstable, but nobody wants to suffer the consequences of any change, and those who ignore the problems are the most dangerous as they could ignite a powder keg, the sweet lies of lusotropicalism and the dreams of a New Brazil were never more distant than today.
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