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Portugal's Crazy Plan For An African Super Colony In 1885
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Mar 31, 2025
Become a member on Patreon & get your name in the credits + exclusive content! https://www.patreon.com/generalknowledge In this video, I explore Portugal’s ambitious plan in the 1880s to create a massive African super colony by connecting Angola and Mozambique. Known as the "Pink Map," this proposal aimed to link the Atlantic and Indian Oceans under Portuguese control. However, the British, pursuing their own Cape-to-Cairo railway vision, rejected Portugal’s claim, leading to a diplomatic crisis. The other European Powers, present at the Berlin Conference of 1884 also refused Portuguese claims as they failed to meet the criteria of de facto occupation and administration of the territory. After continuing to pursue the idea, the British ultimatum of 1890 humiliated Portugal and contributed to the eventual fall of its monarchy. By learning about this and exploring an hypothetical or alternative history scenario where they would have succeeded, we are able to understand the historical context of the time, learn about the key explorers of the region, European colonial rivalries, and the long-term consequences of Portugal’s failed plan. What if Portugal had succeeded? Would it have changed African history or even preserved the Portuguese monarchy? TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Portugal's 'Super Colony' Plan 00:20 Portugal as the First European Colonizer 00:59 African Colonies of Angola and Mozambique 02:04 British Refusal of Portugal's plan 03:05 The Ultimatum & Collapse of Portugal's Monarchy 03:49 The Initial Idea of Connecting the Colonies 04:16 Why it was "Crazy" 05:06 Why they wanted to do it 05:28 Scientific Expeditions into the territory 06:05 Initial successful negotiations with the British 06:30 The Berlin Conference & criteria for colonization 07:57 Portugal's insistence on annexation 08:51 Why the British became upset 09:16 Britain's Ultimatum & Portuguese Humilliation 10:04 What if they had succeeded?
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0:00
Take a look at this map from around 1880. At the top in Old Portuguese it reads Portuguese territory
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in Africa. Above it in parentheses is an important detail, Xbos, meaning draft. This is because it
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doesn't show the territory that the Portuguese actually controlled in the region, it shows the
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territory that they wanted. Portugal established colonies in Africa before any other European
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nation. They led the conquest of Silta in North Africa and then moved on through the coast
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perfecting Arab inventions like the triangular sail or the astrolabe to navigate better at sea
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They explored the African coast all the way around the Cape of Good Hope and established a sea route
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to India and the rest of Asia. On the way, they set up outposts called Feturiash, trading posts
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and fortresses combined to assert influence and trade goods. In more significant and easier to
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conquered territories, they established full-on colonies. The two most significant in Africa being
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Angola and Musambique, on the west and east coasts of the southern part of the continent, respectively
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In the 1880s, as Europe prepared to meet in Berlin to discuss Africa, delimiting the control lines
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and de facto colonies of each European colonial power, the Portuguese had an idea. What if we
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could unite our colonies of Angola and Mozambique, creating a lander bridge across the continent
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uniting the Atlantic and Indian oceans. They based their claim on the fact that they were
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the ones to discover the territory and the fact that they had recently explored it
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sending expeditions between the two colonies. Imagine being in one of those expeditions
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just traversing across a completely unknown territory. Such a territory could give the
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Portuguese tremendous benefits at a global scale. But if you know a little bit about colonial history
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you know that Portugal didn't get this territory. They kept Angola and Mozambique, but the land
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between them was instead given to the British. The British refused to acknowledge Portugal's
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claim to the territory because they were not based on effective occupation, which to be fair were the
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terms of the Berlin Conference. It was the criteria that you had to fill in order to be
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assigned a territory in Africa. The thing is, the British also didn't have that much effective
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occupation of the territory. Cecil Rhodes, founder and leader of the British South African Company
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had sent some expeditions into the territory and pressured the British to take official control
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but some claimed the real reason they didn't want to support Portugal's claim was because of their own goal. While Portugal aimed to connect the Atlantic and Indian Ocean
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the British had a far more ambitious plan, to connect their North African colony of Egypt
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to their colony of South Africa, connecting Cape Town to Caeru through a trans-African railway
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This wasn't immediately achieved with the Berlin Conference as Germany got some East African colonies
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that were only to be made British after World War 1 but still they didn want another obstacle to get over In 1890 the British issued an ultimatum to Portugal forcing the Portuguese to cave and effectively humiliating the Portuguese monarchy which arguably paved the way for its eventual collapse So in this video I want to explore these topics
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Understanding how the Portuguese wanted to create a supercolony across the continent
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how the British and other European powers refused humiliating Portugal, how those events contributed
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and arguably led to the collapse of the Portuguese monarchy and how history may have been different
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for Portugal and Africa if they had in fact succeeded in their claim
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So let's start at the beginning. This whole story revolves around the map I showed you
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It's colloquially called the Pink Map. I have a vivid memory of being in a history class in
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primary school and learning about this. The map started being prepared in 1885 to represent that
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claim of Portuguese sovereignty over a land corridor connecting the already Portuguese
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colonies of Angola and Musumbik. The area included most of modern day Zimbabwe, as well as parts of
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Zambia and Malawi. While one may look at maps of these two countries, Angola and Musumbik
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and think, okay, it wasn't that much extra land, they just wanted a little bit between it
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it was a reasonable request, you need to remember that Portugal didn't have a de facto rule over
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these entire territories. In the first half of the 19th century, Portugal held total control
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over only a small number of coastal settlements on either side. Most of the other territories
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were completely independent of Portugal's control. There's even a quote from British consul in
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in Moçambique in 1884, Henry O'Neill, who stated, To speak of Portuguese colonies in East Africa is to speak of a mere fiction, a fiction colorably
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sustained by a few scattered seaboard settlements, beyond whose narrow, literal, and local limits
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colonization and government have no existence. Knowing that this was true between 1840 and 1869
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Portugal aimed to expand their territories of de facto control. They were threatened by the
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activities of other European powers in the region, which may lead us to think if their
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claim was meant to be outrageous in order to keep what they in fact wanted and also
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thought was reasonable, but their expeditions into the interior do make us think that it
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was a real claim. The Lisbon Geographical Society created a commission to send commercial and scientific
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expeditions into the deep African territories. Portuguese explorer Alexandre de Serpapinto led three of them
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The first was from Mozambique to the eastern Zambezi in 1869, to the Congo River and upper Zambezi from Angola in 1876
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and the last in 1877, crossing Africa from one side to the other
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In 1877 as well, two other explorers, Hermine Gil do Capelo and Roberto Evans
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led to additional expeditions from one side of the continent to the other
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At the same time that these explorers braved into the African unknown
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the Portuguese government aimed to start bilateral negotiations with the British And the craziest part the British seemed to be initially okay with it There was a draft treaty in 1884 which would have included British recognition of Portuguese
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sovereignty over the mouth of the Congo in exchange for freedom of navigation on the
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Congo and Zambezi rivers. But the Berlin Conference of 1884 and 1885 ended these talks
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This was because one of the articles of the conference stated that European powers required
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that effective occupation of areas to be able to claim them, rather than historical claims on early
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discovery or recent claims based on exploration, which were precisely the two arguments that
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Portugal wanted to use. It made evident to the British that the law was on their side
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and there was no need to negotiate, even with their friendly and oldest ally. The Portuguese
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tried to get around it by appointing a consul in the Sultanate of Danzibar with the mission of
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securing the allegiance of native chiefs in the area, but failed to do so because the British
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succeeded instead. These efforts aimed to fulfill Article 35 of the conference, which stated that
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colonial rights could only be acquired over previously uncolonized lands if the power
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claiming them had established sufficient authority there to protect existing rights and free trade
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This implied making treaties with local rulers and establishing a colonial administration
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The Portuguese, failing to achieve local treaties, made a last effort for effective administration
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by sending a soldier, Joaquim Carlos Paiva de Andrada, to establish colonial towns there
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one in Beira, one in Zumbo, another in Manica, and a fourth in Manicalent
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But not only were these not enough to claim the entire desired territory
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they also were short-lived because the British sent some forces from South Africa to kick them out
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And showing a strange refusal to accept their fate, after all European powers refused their claims, the Portuguese continued to insist upon the supercolony proposal
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In 1885, the Portuguese foreign minister published the so-called Pink Map. They held bilateral talks with France and Germany, trying to pressure the British
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Neither power claimed the land, so they agreed to recognize Portuguese claims in exchange for their own gains elsewhere
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To France, Portugal relinquished a claim to an area in Guinea. to Germany they adjusted the border with German East Africa in favor of the Germans
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sacrificing other claims for the Germans and French in exchange for one that the French or
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Germans couldn't give them and one they even later refused to recognize. Thinking they were
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now backed by the other two European powers, Portugal resumed negotiations with the British
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attempting to get them to agree to the idea again while continuing to move troops and expeditions
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into the territory. Perhaps angry at Portuguese insistence, angry that they held talks with the
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French and Germans behind their backs or just wanting to defend their own interests, the British
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were done with the issue for good. In 1890, British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury issued a memorandum
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to the Portuguese government with an ultimatum. The Portuguese were to withdraw all troops from
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the region and lose their claim, otherwise there would be war between the countries
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The Portuguese king Carlos I accepted the ultimatum Internally this was seen as humiliating to the Portuguese because it had been such a big cause for so long Out of their own insistence it caused anti demonstrations and riots
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in Portugal. It's very strange. Why did they keep insisting on it? They failed at the negotiations
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with the British, failed to convince the conference and meet its rules, failed to negotiate with the
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locals and then bet the regime's reputation on something that was clearly unattainable
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Portuguese Republicans used it as an excuse to attack the government and staged a failed coup d'etat in Porto in 1891
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followed by a growth in their movement and the culmination of the assassination of the king and his heir in 1908
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and a successful revolution in 1910 that put an end to the monarchy and the country forever
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But what if they had succeeded? What if those early negotiations with the British were successful
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What if the conference had allowed them to keep the territory? The sad reality is it probably wouldn't have made that much of a difference
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Portugal's territorial control in Africa would have been slightly larger, sure, but
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the interior of Angola and Mozambique were never that developed as it was
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Sure, maybe they would have had more resources and the country would have benefited economically
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from the colonial empire a little more. Maybe their role in World War I would have been more significant in fighting the Germans
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in Africa, although it still was in northern Mozambique. Maybe after the war, some of East Africa would have gone to them, further expanding their
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super colony but I think this is unlikely, decolonization would have arrived regardless
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as it did for every other European power. The only other main change that I think this could
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have caused would be the continuing of the Portuguese monarchy. Sure, it had many other
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structural issues and it wasn't just caving to the ultimatum that led to its collapse
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but achieving such a diplomatic victory might have turned the tide for the royalists. Maybe this was
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the reason why they were so insistent on it. Portugal could have remained a monarchy until
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today as was the case with Spain. Maybe they would have avoided their military and then
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authoritarian dictatorial regime that refused to decolonize and created a colonial war that
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destroyed the country from within. And if so, would this super colony achieve independence
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as separate countries or would it have achieved it as one super African country? Perhaps the
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potential success of Portugal's insistence on this territory could have led to the creation
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of an African super country in modern times, being the most rich, developed and successful
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nation in the continent. But sadly, we will never know. So that is the history of Portugal's crazy idea for an African super colony in the year
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of 1890. What do you think about this? Would you have liked to see it happen? Do you think
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the Portuguese were smart in the way they pursued it? Let me know in the comments
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Thank you so much to my patrons for supporting me directly over on Patreon and thank you to
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you for just watching this video. I will see you next time for more general knowledge
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Today's Moomin' Cup is this one. It's a snow Moomin' Cup. It's a winter Moomin' Cup
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And yeah, they're just, it's Moomin' and it's like one girl and then there's another girl
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and a squirrel. And it's called
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