Figure 1.--This photograph was taken in Mansambo, a village in Guinea Bissau (1969). At the tume Guinea Bissau was still a Portuguese Colony. Most African countries had already achieved independence. Many of the new independent African nations had a lot of problems. This photograph shows how poor Guinea Bissau was, even by African standards. Guinea Bissau wasengaged in a prolonged war of independence. This village school had a very poor, aklmost non-existent structure. And the children not onlu have no books or school supplies, but do not even have clothing. Schools in Portugal were, of course, not this primitive, but Portugal had one of the poorest educational systems in Europe. This is one factor in the economic problems the country is currently experiencing.

Portuguese navigators moving south looking for a sea route to the East first reached Guinnea (1446). The rivers of Guinea attracted the interest of Portuguese exploters because they could safely move into the interior. Ay the same time the offshore islands of Cape Verde offered greater security than the mainland. Thus they were among the first locations in Sub-Saharan Africa to be explored as navigators moved south along the African coast. Few trading posts were established after the initial discovery. A more extensive commercial exploitation of the area began later (17th century). Portugal established a captaincy-general (1630). Portugal founded the Atlantic slave trde and Bissau was a major slave trading center. Portuguese merchants working with local chiefs and Arab slave traders entered the slave trade. Expanding colonial activity in the Caribbean and Brazil created a demand for slaves. Captives from Guinea were shipped to the Americas from the Cape Verde Islands. Cacheu became a major slave center and a small Portuguese fort still exists there. The Alantic slave trade declined as the British deployed the Royal Navy to stop the commerce (19th century). Bissau was founded as a military outpost and slave-trading center (1765). It developed as the major commercial center of Portuguese Guinea. Boundaries were fixed with the surrounding French colonies. Nationalist actibities appeared (1960s). Many nationalists wanted union with the Cape Verde Islands. The country's already limited infrastructure was damaged by civil war (late-1990s).

Portuguese Navigators (15th century)

Portuguese navigators moving south looking for a sea route to the East reached Guinnea at a fairly early stahe of the country's maritime outreachb (1446). Guinea id\s located ar a fairly norther point, brfore the bite of the Gulf of Guinea and just as the coasr of West Africa begins to receded east. The rivers of Guinea attracted the interest of Portuguese exploters because they could safely move into the interior. Ay the same time the offshore islands of Cape Verde offered greater security than the mainland. Thus they were among the first locations in Sub-Saharan Africa to be explored as navigators moved south along the African coast. Few trading posts were established after the initial discovery.

Slave Trade

Portugal founded the Atlantic slave trde and Bissau was a major slave trading center. Portuguese merchants working with local chiefs and Arab slave traders entered the slave trade. The Guinea Coast during tghe 15th-19th century is associated largely associated with slavery. he slave trade was long established in West Afric with Arab slave traders controlling the Saharan slave trade. For the most part the Arab slave traders obtained caotives in the interior and the trade did not reach the tribes of the Guinea coast and the coastal economy. Before that period the slave trade, centuries old in the interior of Africa, is not yet a significant feature of the coastal economy. It was more profitable to obtain captives from areas closer to the slave markets. This began to change after the Portuguese reached the Guinea coast (1446). This changed with the arrival of the Portuguese. Sone the Guinea coast began to be called the Slave Coast with the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade. The Portuguese used slave labour to grow cotton and indigo on the Capr Verde Islands. This was a secure location and in the previously uninhabited Cape Verde islands. The Portuguese used the harvests to trade for slaves and other goods in the Geba river estuary. These were people captured in local wars and raids. Gradually the slaves began to be sold in Europe and then the Americas (16th century). At first the numbers were limited. Portuguese influence was still confined to the coastal area. The African rulers in Guinea profited greatly from the developing slave trade. They refused to allow the Poertuguese or other Europeans further inland than the their fortified coastal settlements where the trading was conducted. The Portuguese presence in Guinea was thus for three centuries limited basiclly to the port of Bissau. Expanding colonial activity in the Caribbean and Brazil created a demand for slaves especially as sugar becane an important crop. Captives from Guinea were shipped to the Americas from the Cape Verde Islands. Cacheu became a major slave center and a small Portuguese fort still exists there. Bissau was founded as a military outpost and slave-trading center (1765). It developed as the major commercial center of Portuguese Guinea. The Alantic slave trade declined as the British deployed the Royal Navy to end the Atlantic slave trade (19th century). Portugl was not cooperative despite its long association with Britain.

Commercial Exploitation

A more extensive commercial exploitation of the area began later (17th century). Portugal established a captaincy-general (1630). The British attempted to establish a rival foothold on an offshore island, at Bolama (1790s). The Portuguese managed to consolidate their position in Bissau to maintain control over the adjoining coastline which became known as Portuguese Guina.

Scramble for Africa (late-19th century)

The European Scrabble for Africa began in the mid-19th century as Europeans developed the military capability to expand their control inland. This move inland was fueld by escalating European colonial competition (1880s). Britain which already had West African colonies, including nearby Gambua, lost interest in the region as it ended its own slave trade (1807) and worked to end the slave trade of other contries. Portugal's main colonial rival became the French after the Napoleonic Wars. Portuguese Guinea was surrounded by French territories, Senegal and French Guinea, as Colonial powers began to expand their control inland. There were no armed confrontations with the French. The issue with the French became the precise demarcation of the borders. This was settled by neogtiation between the two countries during 1886 and 1902-05. Theending of the slave trade actually saved Potygal's colonial presence. Portuguese Guinea ws just not profitable enough to fight over. Te tax reveue hat Portugal could exract was not even suffucent to cover the cost of Portugal's military pesence.

Portuguese Colony (1886-1974)

What became Portuguese Guinea was the region that was part of the Kaabu Empire, a Mandinka kingdom, and a former province of the Mali Empire. Portuguese interest in the areas was due gold and the slave trade. Portugal seized control of the area (1792). It was north of French dominated Guinea and south of British Gambia. The area was incorporated into Portuguese Guinea (1870). Portugal used the same policies in Guinea as in their other larger colonies in southern Africa (Angola and Mozambique). Portugal at first exercised control over only a narrow coastal area even though they claimed the interior as well. As the Scramble for Africa developed in earnest, Portuguese military forces campaigned against the local African principalities. Portugal was not a wealthy country and thus not a military power (19th century). This endangered its colonial empire. Portugal's precarious financial position and military weakness threatened its ability to retain its colonies. António José Enes, Minister of Marine and Colonies, decided on tax reforms and granted commercial concessions in Guinea, mainly to foreign companies, in an effort to increasing exports (1891). 【Clarence-Smith, pp. 82–85.】 The idea was to obtain the funds needed for a gradual expansion of control that would provide tax revenue from trade and the native people. 【Bowman, pp. 98–99.】 There was a modest increase in revenue, but this did not even cover the cost of the Portuguese military presence. Portugal persisted, however, both as a matter of national prestige, but hoping for possible future benefits. And income from Guinea did increase, primarily from rising peanut prices and a new Hut tax. 【Pélissier, pp. 140–41.】 João Teixeira Pinto used the revenue along with Askari (native) troops to impose Portuguese rule and crush resistance by destroying villages and seizing cattle. The cost of military operations even using Askari troops brought the colony back to budget deficits. The military campaigns were finally completed during World War I. Portugal gained full control of the mainland after brutal pacification campaigns (1912–15). Only sporadic fighting continued during the early-20th century. The off-shore Bijagós Islands were a rare area that was not pacified until 1936. World War I increased prices for commodities which again benefited the colony, but the post-War slump and Depression meant that the colony was of little economic value to Portugal, but it did supply a substantial quantity of vegetable (peanut) oil. The colony is best described as a 'neglected backwater'. Portugal did little to fight the upsurge in sleeping sickness (1940s-50s). But Portugal was able to rule Guinea with only limited local opposition until after World War II and the emergence of nationalist movements in its colonies. Portugal did little to develop its colonies, except resources which could be exploited and the related necessary infrastructure. Portugal made very limited efforts to establish institutions such as schools in Guinea Bissau, even after World War II when other European colonial powers were making belated efforts to improve colonial governance. This was not entirely racist colonial policy. Education in Portugal itself was woefully behind European standards. It is not clear if Portugal would have spent substantial funds if the colony was profitable. The fact that it was not profitable ensured that there would not be major funding for development programs. Portugal passed a constitutional amendment making Guinea-Bissau an overseas province (1952).

Independence War (1961-74)

Nationalist activities appeared in Guinea Bissau after World War II (1950s). Amílcar Cabral, from the Cape Verde islands, and Rafael Barbosa founded the Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC--African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde) (1956). Cabral conceived of a political effort to achieve independence, but was able to make little progress while British and French colonies were being granted independence. The first major action organized by PAIGC was a dock-workers strike in Bissau (August 3, 1959). The Portuguese colonial police brutally repressed the strike. More than 50 people were killed. The action became known as the Pijiguiti Massacre. The massacre only served to increase popular support for PAIGC. The PAIGC as aesult of this and other Portuguese actions decided to adopt guerrila tactics. The Portuguese had about 30,000 well armed troops in Guinea Bissau. PAIGC was able to recruit some 10,000 guerillas, but they were at first poorly trained abnd armed. They had one major advantage, safe haves in the now independent countries of Senegal and Guinea. Gradually PAIGC begins to gain control over the country side. The Portuguese maintain control over the coastal and estuary towns. The Portuguese military effort become increasingly expensive. Cabral established a government in exile in Conakry, the capital of neighbouring Guinea (1972). He was assassinated outside his home in Conakry (1973).

Left-wing Portuguese Military Coup: The Carnation Revolution (April 1974)

The Carnation Revolution (Revolução dos Cravos) was the left-wing military coup in Lisbon, Portugal launched (April 25, 1974) which overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship. The coup was launched by the Movimento das Forças Armadas (Armed Forces Movement--MFA). The MFAwas a secret cell of military officers opposed to the regime. An unanticipated popular campaign of civil resistance join the coup plotters. The Carnation Revolution received its name from the fact that no shots were fired. And when the popular uprising followed, people put carnation flowers into the muzzles of rifles and on the uniforms of the soldiers. The colonial wars had become both expensise and unpopular. The new MFA government in Lisbon immediately decided not to continue proping up the country's collapsing colonial empire. The MFA grants independence to Portugugal's African colonies. Portuguese Guinea becomes the first to recieve its independence (September 1974). Portuguese East Africa is next, becpming Mozambique (June 1975). The Republic of Cape Verde became independent (July 1975). Angolan parties knowing that independendence descended intgo civil war to determine who would control the new country was granted independence (November 1975). The Portuguese now celebrate the national holiday of Freedom Day on 25 April every year to celebrate the revolution.

Sources

Bowman, Joye L. "Legitimate Commerce and peanut production in Portuguese Guinea", The Journal of African History Vol. 28, No. 1 (1987), pp. 87-106

Clarence-Smith, W.G. The Third Portuguese Empire (1975).

Pélissier, René. História da Guiné (1989).

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Created: 1:28 AM 5/26/2013
Last updated: 5:12 PM 8/10/2025