History of the Portuguese in Africa

Objectives

a)Be able to identify the major political, economical, social and cultural processes which shaped Portuguese expansion in Africa, from the 15th to the 20th century.
b)Make sense of the domestic and international dynamics which underpinned Portuguese expansion in Africa, in different historical junctures.
c)Be able to analyze the main characteristics of Portuguese presence in Africa, taking into account the continuities and innovations represented by such presence vis-à-vis the local contexts.
d)Be familiar with the major historical interpretations concerning the various topics of the course.
e)Be familiar with the recommended bibliography and be able to work with historical sources related to the topics of the course.
f)Be able to employ a proper vocabulary and concepts in oral and written communications.
g)Acquire the necessary knowledge to advance to a more in-depth study of the modern and contemporary periods.

General characterization

Code

711051120

Credits

6

Responsible teacher

Available soon

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

None

Bibliography

ALEXANDRE, Valentim e DIAS, Jill (coord.) – O Império Africano. 1825-1890. Vol. X da Nova História da Expansão Portuguesa (dir. A. H. de Oliveira Marques e Joel Serrão). Lisboa: Estampa, 1998
BETHENCOURT, Francisco e CHAUDHURI, Kirti (coord.) – História da Expansão Portuguesa. Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, 1998, 5 volumes
MARQUES, A. H. de Oliveira (coord.) - – O Império Africano. 1890-1930. Vol. XI da Nova História da Expansão Portuguesa (dir. A. H. de Oliveira Marques e Joel Serrão). Lisboa: Estampa, 2001
PÉLISSIER, René – As Campanhas Coloniais de Portugal, 1844-1941. Lisboa: Estampa, 2006
SMITH Gervase Clarence – The Third Portuguese Empire (1825-1975). Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985

Teaching method

A combination of lectures by the teacher and scheduled interventions by the students, followed by discussion among all the participants in the class. Occasional screening of documentaries or films and study visits. Tutorial meetings with students to help them with the drafting of their essays.

Evaluation method

Exam (50%) and written essay (50%).

Subject matter

1.Africa in the context of Portuguese overseas expansion (15th-18th centuries): a general overview.
2.The end of the ‘Brazilian empire’ and the origins of the ‘African imperial cycle’ (1822-1850).
3.The abolitionist campaigns and the slave trade: external pressures and domestic resistance.
4.The ‘modernizers’: Sá da Bandeira and Andrade Corvo projects for the empire and their critics
5.Portugal and the “scramble”: expectations, opportunities and frustrations.
6.The crisis of the Ultimatum and the Anglo-Portuguese treaty of 1891.
7.The era of the chartered companies and the ‘pacification campaigns’. Mouzinho de Albuquerque and the ‘Generation of 1895’.
8.Neo-Mercantilism and the question of African forced labor. The colonial societies at the turn of the century.
9.The First Republic (1910-1926) and its impact on the colonies. The white settlers: projects and realities. The Great War in Portuguese Africa.
10.Portuguese Africa in the aftermath of the Great War. The regime of the High Commissioners in Angola and Mozambique. The crisis of the Republic and the colonial question.
11.The Dictatorship and the Colonial Act of 1930. Salazar, the New State and the making of a new imperial ‘consensus’.
12.Portuguese Africa between the wars: economy and society. The ‘imperial mystic’. The ‘native and missionary policy’ of the New State.
13.The impact of World War II: the colonial boom. The international context of the post-war and the ‘moral crisis’ of European colonialism.
14.Portuguese Africa and the ‘Wind of Change’. The African nationalist movements and the white population. The first colonial ‘emergencies’.
15.The colonial war: the Portuguese military effort, the international context and the African guerrillas.
16.Marcelo Caetano and Angola’s ‘economic miracle’. The military and the colonial impasse.
17.The ‘Carnation’s revolution’ in the colonies: the political dynamics and the social responses. The transfer of power. The exodus of the European populations.
18.The ‘imperial hangover’ and Portuguese society: the integration of the ‘retornados’. Portugal and the evolution of post-colonial relations: from the early cooperation agreements to the CPLP.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: