Portugal was the first European country to embark on the “voyages of discovery.” With this early advantage, she made inroads into the West African coast, exploring as J.D Fage describes from “Cape Bajador to the mouth of the Congo” between 1434 and 1482. At the height of European colonialism, the Portuguese empire comprised of Cape Verde, Portuguese Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Angola and Mozambique.
Defining Portuguese colonial policy
It has been difficult to establish a clear-cut definition of Portuguese colonial policy in Africa. This is because it contained elements of the policies employed by other European powers such as Britain, France, Belgium and Germany. To arrive at a concise definition of this policy therefore, historians have tried to examine the similarities between Portuguese colonial rule and the clearly defined policies of the other powers; and also the economic ties binding Portugal to her colonies.
Like that of the other European powers, Portuguese colonialism was characterized by forced labor. Apologists for this system widely called it a good thing and as John Gunther observes, they insisted it was an essential element in the “civilizing process.” With forced labor came flogging which was very peculiar with the Germans. Like the “kipande” badges in British Kenya, the I.D cards in Belgian Rwanda or the “Passes” in apartheid South Africa, Africans in Portuguese colonies were required to carry a book to be signed every day by their employers.
In the area of administration, Portuguese rule bore striking resemblances to French “Direct Rule” and Belgian “Paternalism” especially as far as administrative centralization was concerned. Press censorship, police repression and the suppression of all forms of democracy were the instruments of this centralization. Based on this combination of economic, political and administrative policies employed by other powers, Portuguese colonialism came to be called “Assimilado” or “Civilizado.”
Angola and Mozambique: Experiments in everlasting rule
Unlike other colonial powers who foresaw African independence and either sluggishly prepared for it or tried to delay it for as long as possible, Portugal nursed the dream of ruling Africa forever. This experiment was tested in Angola and Mozambique. The 1951 constitution, officially made Portugal an “Afro-European” power. As a result, Angola and Mozambique became Portuguese “provinces, very much like De Gaulle’s “France d’autre mere” or overseas France.
These provinces were run by the “Ministerio do ultramar” in Lisbon which was in turn placed under the ruthless Dr. Antonia de Oliveria Salazar who has been noted for his repressive rule in Africa. The only structure that carried a semblance of democracy was the “Governor General’s Council” comprising five official members and five non-official members. Mozambique also sent two deputies to Lisbon on the pattern of French colonial administration.
The Legacy of Portuguese colonialism in Africa
Walter Rodney summarizes Portuguese colonial rule in Africa in very few words. “The Portuguese stand out because they boasted the most and did the least.” Angola remained a Portuguese colony for about 500 years, but after independence, all this country could show for was a bloody civil war. “After close to half a thousand years,” says Rodney, “not a single medical doctor had been trained in Portuguese Mozambique.” As for Guinea Bissau, “Portugal confessed open neglect of this territory.”
The recent chaos in Guinea is a sad reminder of the instability which is rampant throughout Portuguese Africa. Angola graduated from its 30-year civil war only with the death of Jonas Savimbi in 2002. However, peace still remains a distant dream in Guinea Bissau as seen in the recent butchery of President Nino Veira. Like in the rest of Africa, this spiral of violence traces its origins back to colonialism.
See also German, French and Belgian colonialism in Africa
Sources
Birminham, David. Frontline Nationalism in Angola and Mozambique, 1992.
Fage, J.D. A History of West Africa, 1967.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth, 1990.
Gunther, John. Inside Africa, 1955.
Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, 1990.
