Portugal and Africa FROM THE PUBLISHER
This book opens with an account of the great explorers of the fifteenth century and looks at the imperial tradition which led Europeans to seek goldmines on both shores of Africa, to plant sugar and cotton on Africa's islands, and to carry away Africa's field-hands as slaves for the new colonies of the Americas.. "Although Portugal lost much of West Africa and South Africa to the Dutch in the seventeenth century, it retained important trading harbours in Central Africa.. "In the 1960s the 'African Revolution' reached the frontiers of both Portuguese Angola and Portuguese Mozambique and long wars of liberation broke out which eventually drove Portugal to abandon its political hold on Africa. In 'Lusophone' Africa, where people spoke Portuguese, urban lifestyles remained quite different from those of 'Anglophone' Africa, linked to London, or 'Francophone' Africa, which preserved French colonial traditions.
SYNOPSIS
In fifteen essays, Birmingham examines the complex relationship between Africa, particularly Angola, and Portugal. He describes how Portuguese ambitions, embodied in Portuguese ships, moved down the Atlantic coast of Africa, trailing mines and plantations, to eventually become the "slave bridges" from Africa to Europe and the Americas. In their wake was a convention of white settlements, followed by others of nations seeking empire, which led to complex interracial relationships and political, social and economic tensions that evolved over five hundred years. Birmingham examines, in particular, how these intricacies of convention and expectation relate to Angola's collapse in a series of cataclysmic wars. Endnotes serve as a bibliography. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Gives an account of the great explorers of the 15th century and looks at the imperial tradition which led Europeans to plunder the natural and human resources of Africa. Looks at Portugal's loss of much of Africa to the Dutch in the 17th century, and its retention of trading harbors in Central Africa, which in the 20th century became the focus of immigrant colonies of white settlers. Discusses relations between white settlers and their black hosts and the emergence of "colored" communities, and shows how Portuguese cultural traditions and language persisted long after Portugal was forced to abandon its political hold on Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. The author is a professor of modern history at the University of Kent, UK. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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