PORTUGUESE COLONIES: HISTORY, DEVELOPMENT AND DECLINE - HISTORY - 2025

The Portuguese colonies were a vital part of the Portuguese Empire, which was made up of Portugal as a country plus all its territories, settlements and colonies since the 15th century, driven by the discovery of America and the rivalry with the Spanish and English.

Knowing a little about the history of the most important Portuguese colonies, the close relationship with the universal history of other empires such as Spanish is revealed. Had it not been for the discovery of a new world, we may never have known Brazil in the way it is known today.

Anachronistic map of the Portuguese Empire (1415-1999)

From the first territory that would become a Portuguese colony, Ceuta in 1415, located in North Africa, to Macao, which today is an official part of China since 1999, the objectives that motivated the expeditions in search of colonization were evident.

The beginning of colonization

Ceuta was the first territory that would become a Portuguese colony after "its conquest" against a Muslim stronghold in 1415. With approximately 200,000 thousand men, Portugal took control of the city in one day.

In 1453 Portugal suffered an economic delay due to the fact that the Islamists closed their passage both by sea and by land, which prevented the maintenance of commercial activities until a new route was found.

As a result, Portugal took over part of India, which was under its mandate until 1960. On this route the mercantile, military and transit activities that Portugal lost because of the Islamists were established.

But the establishment of a Portuguese colony in the territory of India did not stop only as a trade stop. The Lusitanian country began to teach the religion according to the Roman Catholic Church in the territory, which was maintained until 1812.

At the same time, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to settle in Africa. This gave them the right to be the last to withdraw from these lands in the late 1900s, after several bloody wars and independence revolutions.

Cape Verde

The colonization of Cape Verde occurred in 1456, in São Tomé in 1472, in Guinea in 1474 and of Goa in 1498. It was considered a period of economic splendor due to the fact that Portugal imported natural and mineral resources. In addition, the empire used natives to profit from the sale of slaves to neighboring countries.

Angola

By 1482 they reached Angola, which provided them with a source of natural resources at all levels. Oil deposits, diamonds, gold, iron, copper and again the slave trade, a "trade" that was on the rise.

Mozambique

In 1505, Mozambique was occupied by the Portuguese to settle in a province that had previously belonged to the Islamists. They made this territory a vital part of their empire. The base of this colony was gold, silver and slaves.

By 1878 a decree for the abolition of slavery in Mozambique was published, a decree that did not achieve significant changes because Africans were subjected to working long hours for very little money. However, Portuguese schools, hospitals and the roads that connect Mozambique to Zimbabwe to this day were built in order to establish Portuguese families there permanently.

Despite the decree of abolition of slavery and the construction of structures for the quality of life of the Portuguese, these last resources were not available to those who were not Portuguese.

Mozambique was destined to create mining and sugar industries among others, and of course its inhabitants were forced to work in a degrading situation.

For the year 1891, the places that the Portuguese would maintain in the future within southern Africa were agreed with the English, changing the status from a Portuguese province to a Portuguese colony in 1910.

Nationalist groups began to fight for the liberation of Mozambique, but after years of assassinations, uprisings in arms and guerrillas, in 1975 it declared itself an independent country.

Additionally, there were other establishments that never became Portuguese colonies, such as Nagasaki, which was only a strategic port for the sale of tobacco, spices, bread, textiles, etc.

Discovery of America and the effect on colonization

By the 15th century, the era of discoveries opened. Since the discovery of the New World, the Spanish, English and Portuguese competed for control of the lands.

Brazil was discovered in 1500 and by 1502 the exploitation of its natural resources had begun. What gives the new country its name is the presence of a tree that years later would be a national emblem due to its many uses. Among them, its use to make high-quality furniture. This finding allowed obtaining raw material that in Europe was very expensive.

Conquest of Ceuta

Brazil allowed a very significant advance for the Portuguese over their rivals, because although it did not have mineral deposits, it was rich in other natural resources. Among these valuable natural products we find sugar cane, cassava, tobacco, plantations and eventually the discovery of diamonds.

Taking advantage of the African colonies, Portugal transferred thousands of slaves to work in the Rio de Janeiro country, which allowed productivity and profits to be remarkable.

Decline of Portuguese colonies

In 1530, not only are the Spanish, the English and the Portuguese dividing up the land. Countries like the Netherlands or France, which had previously been more cautious in this colonizing boom, are coming together to take advantage of it. This created disputes, from which Portugal was greatly affected because they were gaining ground.

To make matters worse, in 1548 the Turks joined this commercial battle, opening the spice trade in the Mediterranean and undoing the monopoly that the Lusitanians had.

Another front that affected Portugal had to do with its alliance with Spain, a country facing the Netherlands. Of course, the northern country took a position against this alliance and rivaled Portugal as well.

Receiving attacks from so many fronts and keeping its colonies so far from each other, Portugal was in a very difficult situation to maintain its colonies, especially after the opening through the coastal areas of many of the countries that wanted to take over their territories.

Factors against

There were many factors against it. First, the Portuguese colonies were expanded only in coastal areas, very distant from each other and had no contact with their ruler in Portugal. The beginning of the decay of the colonies and the empire was unstoppable.

Perhaps the loss of control of the spice market, jewel in the Portuguese crown, was the beginning of the end. The end of the spice monopoly takes a toll on its economic production, and is evidenced in the desertions of its armed military forces.

As a consequence of the desertions, it was a matter of time to notice the shortage of soldiers, of population in the colonies and especially of Portuguese businesses.

In locations like Mozambique or Goa, where there were no minimum sanitary conditions, the lack of soldiers and the capital to stay there was more noticeable. Transport routes began to pay the consequences, being hampered by other groups.

The supply bases for the adjacent colonies were not close to each other to call for support, in addition to making it difficult to supply food, merchandise and weapons for the soldiers.

Most of the Portuguese empire, particularly in the east, relied mostly on its colonies and settlements for the trade in spices, products, or slaves. But by not having the number of soldiers necessary to defend and maintain each colony, they found themselves faced with the loss of territories in favor of the Dutch.

In 1622 the city of Hormuz gave way to an Anglo-Persian unification and shortly afterwards the same happened with Hong Kong, also in favor of the British.

By 1641, the number one rival was neither the Spanish nor the English, but the Dutch who would take Malacca (state of Malaysia) from him. In the same way, Portugal saw Ceylon, Cananor or Cochín lose, among others.

Agreements

At this point it was time to make agreements. In 1654 they managed to establish the first agreement of the time with England, being a commercial treaty. A few years later, they ensure peace between the two countries through a marriage between Carlos II and Catalina de Braganza.

Macao was the last Portuguese colony, representing one of the most important businesses. It was the territory where the Portuguese surpassed the Dutch during colonization. An agreement was later reached with China to occupy Macao in exchange for annual settlement payments.

In the 20th century, Timor, a colony in territory that would become an annex to Indonesia many years later, surrendered to the Dutch, unleashing a series of events that followed the invasion of Goa and Daman and Diu by India.. With this, more than 450 years of Portuguese mandate were completed.

By 1975, Timor declared its independence from Portugal shortly before becoming Indonesian territory. This was an impetus for China to renegotiate its status with respect to the island of Macao, which was handed over to it in its entirety in 1999.

Cultural legacy

The Portuguese colonies had a low cultural impact because their occupants only had commercial intentions. Only in some cases the Roman Catholic religion was imposed and indoctrination methods were carried out.

References

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