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Portuguese Guinea
Overseas Province of Guinea Província Portuguesa de Guiné | |
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Status | Dependency of Portuguese Cape Verde (1588–1879) Colony of the Portuguese Empire (1879–1951) Overseas Province of Portugal (1951–1973) State of the Portuguese Empire (1973–1974) |
Capital | Bolama (1852–1942) Bissau (1942–1974) |
September 24, 1973
Guinea-Bissau/Founded
The Portuguese use slave labour to grow cotton and indigo in the previously uninhabited Cape Verde islands. They then trade these goods, in the estuary of the Geba river, for slaves captured in local African wars and raids.
In the 1500s, Portugal colonized the present-day west African country of Guinea-Bissau, and the two southern African countries of Angola and Mozambique. The Portuguese enslaved many people from these countries and sent them to the New World. Gold and diamonds were also extracted from these colonies.
Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau gained independence in 1975. All three countries were underdeveloped, and civil wars in the decades after independence took millions of lives. More than a million refugees from these three countries emigrated to Portugal after independence and strained the Portuguese economy.
In Mozambique, reached in the 15th century by Portuguese sailors searching for a maritime spice trade route, the Portuguese settled along the coast and made their way into the hinterland as sertanejos (backwoodsmen).
The former Portuguese territories in Africa became sovereign states with Agostinho Neto (followed in 1979 by José Eduardo dos Santos) in Angola, Samora Machel (followed in 1986 by Joaquim Chissano) in Mozambique and Luís Cabral (followed in 1980 by Nino Vieira) in Guinea-Bissau, as heads of state .