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Portugal's main driving forces in colonizing Africa were their commercial motives and their crusading spirit.

Christians and Islam were involved in a religious war. Henry the Navigator, along with Portugal as a whole, wanted to halt the Islamization of Africa by approaching them from the rear and stopping them there.

Another huge reason for the colonization of Africa by Portugal was for resources: Sugar, minerals, diamonds, and other agriculture. There is also an aspect of growing colonies and establishing trade as not to be beaten by other colonizing powers.

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Artificial Colonial Borders (Post-Berlin Conference, 1884–85):
Portugal solidified its claims over Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé & Príncipe. Borders were drawn by European powers with little regard for indigenous boundaries, prioritizing imperial convenience and trade access.

Angola and Mozambique’s Fragmented Territories:
Internal boundaries grouped rival ethnic and linguistic communities under single colonial administrations, particularly in Angola. This forced unification bred long-term social and political fragmentation post-independence.

Fluid Frontiers Until the Late 19th Century:
Before formal borders were fixed, Portuguese control was often limited to coastal enclaves. Inland expansion into Angola and Mozambique intensified in the late 1800s under pressure to defend colonial claims from British and German encroachment.

Border Fixing Through Military and Diplomatic Means (Post-1900):

Portuguese authorities militarized borders in resource-rich areas to protect economic assets like diamond fields (Angola) and plantations (Mozambique). Borders were fortified especially after 1960 to suppress independence movements.

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Northwest Africa:

Ceuta (Morocco) – 1415

First overseas conquest by Portugal; served as a key trade base.

Tangier (Morocco) – 1471

Captured after failed earlier attempts; returned to England in 1661 as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry.

Mazagan (El Jadida, Morocco) – 1502 (fortified 1514)

Major fortified city; held by Portugal until 1769.

West Africa (Atlantic Coast):

Arguin Island (Mauritania) – 1445

Early gold and slave trading post.

Senegal River (Senegal) – 1455

Trade established in gum arabic, gold, and slaves.

Cacheu (Guinea-Bissau) – 1588

Important Portuguese base for slave trade; fortified post.

Bissau (Guinea-Bissau) – 1692

Military and administrative base; became capital of Portuguese Guinea.

São Domingos (Guinea-Bissau) – Late 1600s

Regional trading center under Portuguese control.

Gulf of Guinea & Gold Coast

Elmina (Ghana) – 1482

First major European fortified settlement in Sub-Saharan Africa (Fort São Jorge da Mina); key gold and later slave trade hub.

Axim (Ghana) – 1515

Fort São António established for gold trade.

Central Africa:

Congo Kingdom (modern DR Congo/Angola) – Diplomatic relations started in 1483

Portugal established Christian missions, trade, and influence.

Luanda (Angola) – 1575

Founded by Paulo Dias de Novais, became the capital of Portuguese Angola.

Benguela (Angola) – 1617

Second major port city in Angola for slave exports.

Cabinda (Angola enclave) – 1783

Recognized as under Portuguese control via treaties.

Southeast Africa:

Mozambique Island (Mozambique) – 1498 (Vasco da Gama’s first landing); permanent settlement in 1507

Became administrative capital of Portuguese East Africa.

Sofala (Mozambique) – 1505

Gold-trade post seized from the Swahili-Arab network.

Quelimane, Sena, and Tete (Mozambique) – 1530s-1600s

Interior settlements established for trade in ivory, gold, and slaves.

Other Islands & Strategic Posts:

São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea) – 1470s

Colonized as plantation economies using enslaved labor.

Annobón (Equatorial Guinea) – 1474

Settled as part of the Portuguese island holdings.

Fernando Pó (Bioko, Equatorial Guinea) – 1472

Discovered and named by Fernão do Pó; used intermittently.

Ascension Island & Saint Helena (South Atlantic) – Early 1500s

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Maintaining Control: Education in Mozambique 

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Maintaining Control: Education in Mozambique 

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Between the years of 1498 to 1975, Mozambique was under Portuguese rule. The table above provides information on the number of African students in Mozambique schools from 1955 to 1959.

While the numbers are ticking up over the years, there is a clear and dramatic drop between the numbers of students enrolled in adapted teaching and those in high school (240,813 to 231).

There are many more African students enrolled in Technical or Seminary education, rather than receiving an Academic education (10-40 students).

What are the priorities of those controlling what students are enrolled in?

Putting an emphasis on Manual Labor and Religion (which was used as a means to control).

Limiting job opportunities?

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“Portuguese Priests Baptizing Africans,” a watercolor by Giovani Antonio Cavazzi da Montecuccolo, 1687, depicts the three steps in the process of converting Africans to Christianity. On the left, the priest sitting down preaches to Africans about Christianity. In the middle, a priest baptizes an African man. The priest on the right continues to preach to converted Africans about Christianity.

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After many fruitless attempts to halt the Muslims from spreading Islam to all of Africa, Portugal decided to challenge them from the rear. They landed on islands along the way to the West African coast and areas of what is now Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Ghana, and Benin to build churches and the convert the native Africans to Christianity. Their success varied depending on the area; there was both pushback and integration of them into existing African culture.

ACTIVITY: Read Benin's Use of Religion Against Portuguese Colonization.

Women had an important role in spreading Portugal's religion. Family and Religion were seen as interdependent. After seeing their influence on society, the focus of the settlers was directed towards converting African women so that they could help solidify Christianity's integration into society.

"The African woman must be made a dyanmic force whose interests center in the home and family…the effort for integration must be directed…toward attracting native women to our culture.”

The Portuguese had a "self-acknowledged Christian paternalism to the African." They hoped to civilize the territories they touched by integrating their religion, and eventually their colonial policies and strategies on them.

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Sort the events to the best of your ability and create a timeline.

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Angola – Diamonds and Forced Labor (1917–1970s):

Angola’s diamond wealth, especially under the Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), became central to Portugal’s colonial economy.

Diamang, backed by the state and foreign capital, monopolized mining zones in northeastern Angola.

Indigenous populations were forcibly resettled and subjected to harsh labor under the indigenato system.

The region’s borders were militarized to protect mining zones from internal resistance and foreign interest.

Mozambique – Agriculture and Mineral Routes (Late 19th–20th Century):

Mozambique’s fertile Zambezi Valley and inland mineral transport corridors were exploited through plantation systems managed by settler and corporate interests.

Cash crops like cotton and sugar dominated, driven by coerced labor through villagization.

Colonial borders were adjusted to secure ports (Lourenço Marques, Beira) and railways for export flow, emphasizing Mozambique’s role as a resource conduit to Indian Ocean trade.

São Tomé and Príncipe – Sugar and Cocoa (15th–20th Century):

São Tomé became one of Africa’s largest sugar producers in the 16th century using enslaved African labor.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, it shifted to cocoa, with Portuguese plantations relying on contract laborers, often coerced from Angola and Cape Verde.

The islands were isolated from mainland African politics but functioned as key export hubs, maintaining distinct colonial boundaries geared toward economic mono-production.

Guinea-Bissau – Cashew, Groundnuts, and Bauxite (20th Century):

Though considered peripheral, Guinea-Bissau held agricultural value (cashew, groundnuts) and potential mineral resources (bauxite).

Land was expropriated from indigenous peoples, and forced labor systems supported plantation agriculture.

Colonial borders here were more arbitrary, shaped by local resistance and weak infrastructural investment, making them fragile and often shifting during military campaigns.

Cape Verde – Limited Resources, Strategic Role (15th–20th Century):

Despite scarce arable land and resources, Cape Verde was essential as a transatlantic resupply and labor-sourcing hub.

The islands were a launching point for slave routes and later used as labor reserves for plantations in São Tomé and Angola.

Its fixed borders reflected more maritime interests than resource abundance, showing Portugal’s naval and logistical priorities in Atlantic Africa.

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This is an example of the series of cast brass plaques that historically hung on the wooden pillars of the Benin royal palace. This particular work reflects the association made by the Edo people between the Portuguese. The Kingdom of Benin, a powerful West African kingdom, engaged in a complex relationship with Portuguese colonizers from the late 15th century, initially marked by trade and cultural exchange. 

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Taxation: The Portuguese colonial administration implemented taxes, such as the hut tax (introduced in 1907) and later the poll tax (1919), to compel African populations into the monetary economy and wage labor. These taxes forced individuals to seek employment, often under exploitative conditions, to meet tax obligations.

Forced Labor Systems: In regions where cash tax payments were unfeasible due to low monetization, the colonial authorities resorted to forced labor as a means of tax payment. This practice was prevalent in less developed areas, where individuals unable to pay taxes in cash were compelled to work on plantations or infrastructure projects for minimal or no wages.

Legal Framework for Coerced Labor: The 1899 Indigenous Work Regulation codified various forms of forced labor, including "compelled," "corrective," "public interest," and "hired" labor. These regulations mandated that those not voluntarily engaging in work could be compelled by authorities, effectively institutionalizing forced labor under the guise of moral and social obligations.

Regional Variations in Taxation and Labor: The implementation of taxation and labor control varied across Portuguese colonies:​

Ex:

Southern Mozambique: Characterized by labor migration to South African mines, with the colonial state profiting from migration taxes and deferred wages

Central Mozambique: Dominated by concession companies that collected taxes and utilized forced labor for plantation agriculture.​

Northern Mozambique: A peasant-based economy with late colonial presence, where forced cotton cultivation was imposed, diverting labor from food production.

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The Inaccessibility of Education- Location

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The Inaccessibility of Education- Location

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“Elementary schools exist in those areas of Portuguese Africa where there is a sufficient white or assimilated population to justify them.”

If someone does not live in one of these areas where it is "justified" to have a school, education can be difficult to acquire even just based on location.

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The Inaccessibility of Education- Language

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The Inaccessibility of Education- Language

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“Portuguese is the exclusive medium of instruction from first grade onwards, as well as a subject in primary and secondary education”, even though at the time of independence from Portugal in 1975, only 7 per cent of Mozambicans spoke Portuguese, and 93 per cent were illiterate”

“There is also considerable political will within the current government, although the [low] level of attention devoted to the bilingual program (e.g. lack of resources in African languages) may lead one to conclude otherwise.” (ibid., p. 68)”

Pilot Bilingual Program proposed in 2017- very little resources/money/attention were given to it, even though there were many Africans who expressed a large amount of interest in it.

"“At the end of the experiment, ‘two school directors reported that families in PEBIMO communities had taken in children from relatives or friends in anticipation of their being able to attend [future] bilingual classrooms'."

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The Inaccessibility of Education- Selection

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The Inaccessibility of Education- Selection

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“Since the fifteenth century the Portuguese have followed an informal policy of individual assimilation— that is, the social and political acceptance without strong prejudice of Africans who were able to obtain an education and who chose to accept Portuguese cultural values.”

However this creates a loop: in order to obtain an education, you must have the resources as well as knowledge of Portuguese. However, most people needed schooling to learn Portuguese and open up opportunities.

"It almost seems that the system itself is a discouraging force, and one may conclude that education for the African does not occupy a notable place in Portugal’s policies of assimilation."

"Education for the African in the Portuguese colonies is progressively selective."

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Map of territories under the colonial power

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Map of territories under the colonial power

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Share out answers to any of these questions:

If you were to look at this from the colonizers' perspective, what could be some benefits of the locations they colonized?

Does capitalism play a role? If yes, how?

Do you think that control and opportunity for resources were the strongest motivators for Portugal's colonization of these territories? Why or why not?

Do you think the actions of other colonial powers at the time affected Portugal's actions in colonizing certain areas of the continent?

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Settlers took wives and eventually contributed to a mixed population in their territories. Many regions also saw mass amounts of immigration from poor regions of mainland Portugal in the 1960s. In 1961, the white population in Angola shot up from 45,000 to 160,000. Similarly, it shot up from 27,000 to 70,000 in Mozambique; both jumps due to immigration.

Cape Verde was uninhabited when first discovered by the Portuguese. In 1582 had 1608 whites, 400 freed slaves, 13,000 slaves.

Thinking/Reflection Question: What trend do you notice? What might the social dynamics be in a racially imbalanced society?

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What does "Portugalization" mean? How does it connect to "Detribalization?"

"In a system where 'Portugalisation' and 'nationalization' meant that the key to economic betterment implied a process of 'detribalisation' and 'assimilation' to the Portuguese way of life, those who were left aside were completely marginalized both culturally and economically. And since the assimilation policy of the Portuguese colonial state was largely a failure... those left aside were in fact the overwhelming majority"

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Chalk Talk: What are some ideas you have about the long term impact on languages? What about the long term impact on schools?

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Chalk Talk: What are some ideas you have about the long term impact on languages? What about the long term impact on schools?