Portugal: Difference between revisions

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===== Mozambique =====
The Mozambique coast was first explored in the late 15th century by Portuguese voyages in the search of routes to India. Later in the 16th century, the first permanent settlements in the region were established. The colonization of Mozambique had the primal objective of keeping control of trading routes to the East Indies, as well for the search of gold and other minerals in the interior of the country. The plantations of sugar also had a key role in the colony’s economy. But it was only in the late 19th century when Portuguese rule took control effectively on the interior. The competition with Britain to have control of the Zambezi river basin made Portugal put effort into exploring and claiming the region. By 1900, the colony of Mozambique expanded into the interior of the continent to the point of reaching Lake Malawi. In the beginning of the 20th century, Mozambique borders British East Africa to the north, the Zambezi Protectorates to the west and the British South African protectorates to the southwest.
 
===== Namibia =====
Composed for the most part by hot deserts, Namibia wasn’t of interest to European nations until the late 19th century. The Portuguese first claimed the Namibian coast since the beginning of their explorations of the continent, but no mission efforts to establish permanent settlements in the region were taken, so, for centuries, Namibia was untouched by Europe. Competing with Britain, and fearing at some point the Cape Republic might get the territory, Portugal sent expeditions to the region in the late 19th century, and discovered rich mineral deposits in the interior of the Namibian Desert. After the discovery, the Portuguese government quickly started settlement missions in the area.
 
===== Zambezian Protectorates =====
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===== North Atlantic and Gulf of Guinea =====
TheExplorations North Atlantic is wherein the PortugueseNorth colonial ambitions first started. Madeira Island was the first overseas territory occupiedAtlantic and colonized by Portugal. The island was discovered by sailors in 1418, but only in 1425 the occupation of the land started. Also in the 15th century, sailors reached the archipelago of Azores in the 1430s. Later explorations along the Gulf of Guinea made Portugal reach Cape Verde, São Tomé e Príncipe and Bioko in the late 15th century. The majority of these islands, with the exception of Bioko, didn't had any human inhabitant until European arrival, so it was necessary to bring enslaved individuals from the Africa mainland to serve as the work force. The economy of those islands were based on plantations of sugar, cocoa, shiping activities and slave trade.
 
Portuguese Guinea is the largest holding in the region, and the only one which is not an island. The Portuguese presence in the coast of Guinea dates since the XIV century, when outpost for trade, especially slave trade, with the natives were build. In the late 19th century, Portugal expanded into the African interior, reaching the Niger River basin. By 1900, Portuguese Guinea bordered Swedish Guinea, Genoese Guinea, Spanish Guinea, French Niger and many African states such as the Tukulor Empire.
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===== Macau =====
Macau was established by a deal between Portugal and Ming China in 1557. Portugal could annex a small portion of the coast and build a port for their ships, in exchange, China would receive an annual payment. Portugal kept the payment until the mid-19th century, when the Kingdom of Canton was established. Macau, for a certain time, was the most important European port in East-Asia, this importance made it susceptible for foregin attacks, especially from the Dutch, which invaded the port several times during conflicts with Portugal.
 
=== United kingdom with Brazil ===
 
==== The Luso-Brazilian Compromise (1922) ====
In the early 20th century, only the British colony of Carolina and the Territory of Brazil were the major European holdings in South America, until the instauration of the Act of Home Rule in Carolina in 1914. The end of the colonial rule in Carolina sparked once again the feeling of nationalism and independence in Brazil, many republican authors, republican associations and communard societies across Brazil started to advocate for the end of Portuguese rule in the continent. These ideals gained more force after Brazil got hit directly by the economic crisis in Europe during most of the 1920s.
 
The economic crisis hit Brazil severely, coffee customers across the world, Brazil’s most important economic partners, started to reduce the purchase of the product, thus the many coffee plantations started to suffer from overproduction and devaluation of the prices. Many businesses closed and unemployment skyrocketed. In this context, opposition to the semi-colonial government of Brazil started to gain force. Many saw the problem as consequences of the crown heavily influencing the political and economic decisions, and from August 1922 to November of the same year, protests demanding more political freedoms, and in the most radical cases, total independence, started to happen.
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* A common Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for diplomacy and foreign policy, comprised from both Portuguese and Brazilian integrants;
* Brazil would engage in every conflict which Portugal is involved;
* Brazil would have the right to vote infor the PortugueseLuso-brazilian Parliament in decisions of nationwide effects.
 
== See also ==
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