Page 200 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

portuguese empire 1501

interest of Portugal over Brazil, provokes a series of con- an alliance with Britain that dated back to 1372. In
spiracies among social elites who had acquired Enlight- 1886 Portugal obtained French and German recognition
ened (relating to a philosophic movement of the for its claims to a trans-African colony extending from
eighteenth century marked by a rejection of traditional Angola to Mozambique, but British rival claims led to an
social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on ultimatum issued by the British to the Portuguese in
rationalism) thought while studying in Europe. These 1890. Caught between proimperial public opinion and
conspiracies rarely flared into rebellion because of fears the threats of the British Navy, the ultimatum crisis top-
that revolt would lead to a slave insurrection. pled the Lisbon government. Subsequent agreements
The French emperor Napoleon’s 1807 invasion of with Britain (1891, 1899) recognized existing Portu-
Portugal prompted the prince regent Dom John (from guese colonies, which covered almost one-tenth of Africa.
1816, King John IV) to flee to Brazil under the protec- Throughout their African colonies the Portuguese suf-
tion of the British Navy.This transfer of the court marked fered casualties in campaigns against the Germans during
the first time in world history that a colony housed the World War I. During the 1920s the League of Nations
government of the mother country, and the Crown denounced the forced labor practices that had replaced
favored Brazil with decrees abolishing mercantilist pro- slavery in Portuguese colonies by the turn of the century.
hibitions on manufacturing and opening its ports to all As minister of colonies, António de Oliveira Salazar
nations—a move welcomed by the market-hungry (1889–1970) in 1930 announced the Colonial Act,
British.When an 1815 decree designated the empire the which reemphasized the colonial tradition by centraliz-
“United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves,” ing administration and unifying the imperial economy
Brazil enjoyed a status equal with Portugal. against foreign capital. In 1951 Salazar attempted to
The colonists’ enthusiasm for a resident monarch deflect anti-imperialist criticism by reorganizing the
cooled as cheap British machine-made goods flooded colonies into the “overseas provinces” of a “single and
Brazil’s handicraft market and as the nobles and bureau- indivisible” state.The regime increasingly directed invest-
crats who accompanied the court brought new competi- ment and white emigration from Portugal to the African
tion for jobs. The spark for independence, however, colonies, thus worsening racial tensions.
came from Lisbon, when in 1820 liberal revolutionists
demanded the return of the king to Lisbon. He Decolonization
appointed his son Pedro regent and returned to Portugal. After winning independence from the British in 1947
Seeking a return to a subordinate Brazil tied to Portugal India began pressing claims against Portuguese enclaves
by a commercial monopoly, the revolutionists demanded on the subcontinent. Portuguese authorities violently
that Pedro also return. Pedro refused and, acting on his responded to nonviolent resisters crossing into Goa from
father’s parting advice, declared the independence of India in 1955, and diplomatic relations were severed.
Brazil on 7 September 1822.Thus, a liberal revolution in Indian troops seized Goa, Diu, and Daman in 1962.
Portugal triggered a Brazilian revolution more conserva- Salazar’s enduring opposition to decolonization
tive and less bloody than other independence move- sparked renewed independence movements, troop rein-
ments in the Spanish colonies at the time. forcements, and expensive wars in Africa beginning in
1961. General António de Spínola, a veteran of these
The Enduring wars, promoted negotiated self-government as an alter-
Afro-Asian Empire native to continued violence in his 1974 book, Portugal
Brazilian independence shifted the heart of the Portu- and the Future. A 1975 military coup involving General
guese empire to Africa, with smaller possessions remain- de Spínola followed in Portugal, bringing independence
ing in western India, East Timor, and Macao.A new policy to Portuguese Guinea. All other Portuguese colonies in
favored African colonial expansion, which would threaten Africa became independent the next year.The Portuguese