PortugueseGuinea had been part of the Sahel Empire, and the local Landurna and Naula tribes traded in salt and grew rice.
Though the coast had been under firm Portuguese control for the past four centuries, it was not until the Scramble for Africa that any interest was taken in the inland part of the colony.
PortugueseGuinea was administered as part of the Cape Verde Islands colony until 1879, when it was separated from the islands to become its own colony.
One of the first acts of his son Edward (in Portuguese Duarte-1433-38) was to promulgate the "Lei Mental" which enacted that these properties should only descend in the direct male line of the grantee, on the failure of which they reverted to the Crown.
The opening of the ports of Brazil to foreign ships ruined Portuguese commerce, the separation of the colony diminished the prestige of the mother country, which was reduced to a miserable plight by the long war, and internal feuds were added to external troubles.
The last half-century of the Portuguese Monarchy, embracing the reigns of Pedro V (1853-61), Louis I (1861-89), and Charles I (1889-1908), was one of internal peace and increasing material prosperity.
Feeds |
Contact