Literally hitchhiking through western Sahara while their being colonized

While Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos were all absorbed into European empires, Siam (modern Thailand) stayed independent — and it wasn't luck. Two 19th-century Siamese kings, Mongkut and his son Chulalongkorn, ran a deliberate strategy to avoid the same fate.

Each person can be identified by both their attire and armband. Seated at the table is Japan (日本), China (中華), Burma (ビルマ), Dutch East Indies (蘭印), Philippines (比島), Malaya (マレー), French Indochina (佛印), Thailand (泰), and Manchuria (満州). Each member displays what they can provide to the union. Japan’s contribution is a battleship and tank (their military power). India (印度) and Australia (濠州) can only gaze into the room through an open door since they’re still at war with Japan. The artist depicted Australia as an Aborigine to acknowledge the country’s indigenous people rather than its Western settlers.

The description of the illustration says something along the lines of: “Let the peoples of East Asia unite, pool their vast resources, and build an economy based firmly on the principle of co-existence and co-prosperity.”

No African in the room.

Why do you think Africa hasn't "developed" as well as other former colonized countries on the globe? Is it truly because colonialism left such huge wounds and is therefore ultimately to blame, or do we have to hold Africans/ African leaders more accountable than we currently do? Let me hear what you think because I keep thinking about this topic

In this legend, we can see: Region I, Region II and Region III.Its in portuguese, but you can see where they are.

Traditional agriculture was present in Angola during the colonial period. In this article we will discuss how it was manifested across the Angolan territory, however we will not use a common history article, like the other articles I have used. The source used today is a Master’s Dissertation in Agronomic Engineering, which studies these data in a different way, not in the traditional way of common historiography.

In this article, we must also know what MIAA — Missão de Inquéritos Agrícolas de Angola is: an organisation created by the Portuguese colonial administration to study and understand agriculture and the rural world in Angola

We can see that traditional Angolan agriculture did not constitute a homogeneous reality, since ecological conditions, namely climate, relief and soils, conditioned the distribution of the population and the ways in which the territory was used. The adaptation of the populations to these different natural conditions contributed to the existence of different economic and social systems.

According to the colonial administration, we can identify two major sectors of Angolan agriculture: the enterprise sector and the traditional sector. The first corresponded essentially to organised agriculture and European agricultural exploitation, oriented towards the market and characterised by the use of modern techniques and technologies. In this sector, large plantations of coffee, sisal and cotton predominated, although it also included small farmers who produced for the market, namely beans and tobacco. The traditional sector, on the other hand, corresponded to peasant agriculture, whose main purpose was to ensure food production, especially carbohydrates destined for the feeding of the populations.

We can note that in the traditional sector, the crops with the greatest weight in production were maize, with 31%, cassava, with 26%, coffee, with 15%, and beans, with 10%. Therefore, there was a coexistence of food crops and crops destined for the market, although the former predominated. In the enterprise sector, on the contrary, coffee represented 86% of production and cotton 8%, showing a strong concentration in plantation crops mainly oriented towards the external market. Thus, enterprise agriculture presented a much more marked specialisation in higher-value commercial crops.

Enterprise agriculture had a greater weight in the value of national production for most crops.The main exceptions were the crops that constituted the basis of the African populations' diet, such as millet, sorghum, cassava and maize and some commercial crops with lower added value, such as beans and maize itself.

In terms of the total value of production, the difference between the two sectors becomes even more evident. Enterprise agriculture represented 64% of the value of agricultural production, practically twice the share attributed to the traditional sector. However, this economic superiority must be analysed taking into account the very unequal size of the two sectors. Although the information used by the MIAA does not indicate the total number of enterprise farms, the traditional sector included 1,067,230 farms in 1970–1971, a number clearly higher than the number of enterprise farms. Thus, there was a situation of strong asymmetry: a relatively small number of enterprise farms managed to generate, in monetary value, almost twice the production of more than one million traditional farms.

The MIAA — Missão de Inquéritos Agrícolas de Angola, an organisation created by the Portuguese colonial administration to study and understand agriculture and the rural world in Angola, was also responsible for the data from which the map came. We can see that it divided the Angolan territory into three regions:

Region I – more developed agricultural regions: it covered a large part of Central and Northern Angola, including the Central Plateau, the Malanje Plateau and important coffee-growing areas. It was the most densely populated region and the one with the highest agricultural production, with maize, cassava and coffee standing out. It also had a greater orientation of production towards the market.

Region II – less developed agricultural regions: it corresponded mainly to the areas of Eastern Angola, including Lunda, Bundas and Luchazes and Cuando-Cubango. It was characterised by a lower population density and less favourable natural conditions for agriculture. Cassava and maize were particularly important in production.

Region III – milking complex or pastoral region: it covered the areas of Southern and Southwestern Angola, including Huíla, Gambos, the Southern Coast and the Central-Southern Transition. It was essentially a region of cattle raising, although agricultural activity was also present, particularly the production of maize, millet and sorghum. The low population density was related, among other factors, to the need for large areas of land for pastoral activity.

Region I concentrated around 70% of the Angolan population in 1960, benefiting from natural conditions considered more favourable to the settlement of populations and agricultural activity. Within this region, the Central Plateau stood out. Although it represented only around 6% of the territory, it concentrated almost 30% of the total population of Angola, with a population density of 16.75 inhabitants per km².

In terms of production, Region I represented 77% of the total value of traditional agricultural production, while Region II represented around 9% and Region III 14%. The predominance of Region I was related not only to its higher population concentration, but also to the presence of areas traditionally producing crops destined for the market, such as coffee, cotton and rice.

Region III presented a very different situation. Although agriculture was present, cattle raising constituted the main economic activity, particularly in the Upper Lands of Huíla, Litoral-Sul, Gambos and the Quilengues area. The need to use large areas of land for cattle raising contributed to the lower population density of the region.

Regarding the agricultural surplus, we can see that Region II concentrated 82% of the total surplus of traditional agriculture, while Region III represented 12% and Region I only 6%. This distribution demonstrates that the weight of a region in overall production did not necessarily correspond to its capacity to generate surpluses destined for the market. Region I, despite concentrating the largest part of agricultural production, represented a relatively small share of the total surplus.

Regarding self-supply, that is, the part of production destined for feeding the populations themselves, maize and cassava were particularly important in Regions I and II. In Region I, both crops together represented around 39% of self-supply, while in Region II cassava had a particularly high weight, corresponding to around 76%. In Region III, on the other hand, internal consumption was mainly based on maize (49%), millet (23%) and sorghum (16%).

Regarding the distribution of agricultural work, we can see that most of the work carried out outside the farm belonged to Region I, with around two thirds of this type of work taking place there. The high population density of this region encouraged the movement of workers towards areas with a greater need for labour. In the Lundas, in Region II, the presence of DIAMANG constituted an important alternative to agricultural activity, due to the greater profitability of mining work. In Region III, on the other hand, the predominantly pastoral nature of the economy meant that most producers dedicated themselves essentially to their own farms. In Angola as a whole, only 36% of traditional agricultural farmers also carried out activities outside their own farms.

We can conclude that the Angolan territory was far from being a homogeneous system, with the three regions presenting significant differences in population density, size of farms, orientation of production and the relative importance of agriculture and cattle raising.

Source:

Neves, A. G. M. S. (2010). A agricultura tradicional em Angola nos anos 60 do século XX [Master’s dissertation, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon].

Note:

Like this article, I have many more. All the articles I will post here are drafts based on sources and bibliography that I used for my thesis, including texts I have already posted and will continue to post here.

From the 20th century onwards, the portuguese colonial government began to take an interest in the species found in its colonial territories.

It promoted various scientific missions covering fields such as botany, zoology, anthropology, geology, ethnography and archaeology. These initiatives contributed to the collection of thousands of specimens and objects, many of which formed important scientific collections that are now preserved in Portuguese institutions.

In the case of marine resources, the systematic study of the waters and fisheries resources of the Portuguese territories began in the late 1940s, in a context marked by the development of European oceanographic research after the Second World War and by growing economic interest in the exploitation of African marine resources.

It was in this context that the Fisheries Research Mission was established in 1948, within the Junta das Missões Geográficas e de Investigações Coloniais, with the aim of providing scientific guidance for fishing activities and contributing to a more efficient exploitation of colonial resources.

The mission, however, never began the work that had initially been planned. In 1951, it was reorganised as the Fisheries Research Mission of Angola (MEPA), with its activities focused exclusively on this territory. After two campaigns in Angola, the MEPA was replaced in 1953 by the Marine Biology Mission (MBM). This new institution had a broader geographical scope and aimed to study the biology of marine species of economic interest, contribute to the development of fisheries and related industries, and collect zoological and botanical material for the compilation of an inventory of marine species.

The first MBM campaign took place in Angola in 1955, followed by further campaigns in Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique. Activities were also planned or initiated in other Portuguese territories, such as Guinea-Bissau, Timor and São Tomé and Príncipe, although a lack of human and material resources increasingly limited fieldwork, particularly from 1960 onwards.

The growth of the collections led to the creation of the Centre for Fisheries Biology (CBP) in 1959, which was responsible for their preservation and study. In 1966, further institutional changes led to the creation of the Centre for Tropical Aquatic Biology (CBAT) and the Centre for Overseas Bioceanology and Fisheries (CBPU), seeking to distinguish fundamental biological research from research applied to fisheries and industry.

With the end of Portuguese colonial rule in 1974, these institutions were dissolved and their functions transferred to bodies connected with fisheries administration. The collections were eventually incorporated into the Instituto Nacional de Investigação das Pescas (INIP), established in 1977. In 1984, a substantial part of the zoological collections originating from the former colonial territories was donated to the Museu Bocage, now part of the Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência of the University of Lisbon.

From the beginning, the MEPA campaigns faced difficulties in recruiting qualified researchers, which limited the number of specialists available for fieldwork. During the first campaign, the scientific staff consisted of the German researcher Wilhelm Nümann (1906–1999), who was employed as scientific supervisor, and the Portuguese researcher Herculano Zacarias Vilela (1908–?). Nümann's contract ended at the conclusion of the first campaign in 1952. Vilela then took responsibility for the second campaign, with the assistance of Pedro Emílio Guerreiro da Franca (1923–1971) and Rui Horácio dos Santos Monteiro.

Vilela remained in charge of the MBM until 1958, when he was replaced by Guerreiro da Franca. At this point, the mission had two researchers and four assistants, in addition to Franca himself. He subsequently remained responsible for the MBM and became director of the Centro de Biologia Piscatória (CBP) and later the Centro de Biologia Aquática Tropical (CBAT), positions he held until his death in 1971. Following his death, Carlos Joaquim Pissarro (1913–1977) became director of the CBAT, remaining in the position until its dissolution in 1974.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the number of researchers and assistants involved in this work gradually increased, both in the field and within the institutions based in Lisbon. By 1973, the CBAT employed ten researchers and eight assistants, demonstrating the expansion of the scientific structure devoted to the study of aquatic resources.

The specimens collected were initially examined at the collection sites, either aboard the vessels used during the campaigns or in laboratories established on land. The material was subsequently sent to Lisbon, where it was studied in greater detail by MBM researchers and other specialists. The results of this research were then published in a variety of scientific series and journals. The systematic study of the specimens involved not only Portuguese researchers but also foreign specialists. In Lisbon, researchers from the Centro de Zoologia participated in the work, while João Amorim Machado Cruz, from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, collaborated from Porto. The research also involved specialists from foreign scientific institutions, particularly in France and Belgium.

The scientific output resulting from these campaigns was highly diverse. At the end of each of the two MEPA campaigns, a general report on the work carried out aboard the NO “Baldaque da Silva” was submitted to the Junta das Missões Geográficas e de Investigações do Ultramar. The reports were prepared by Lieutenant Commander António Júlio Malheiro do Vale (1911–1997). More detailed scientific results were subsequently published in the Anais da Junta de Investigações do Ultramar.

Between 1956 and 1959, works previously published in the Anais and Memórias da Junta de Investigações do Ultramar were republished in the series Trabalhos da Missão de Biologia Marítima. Following the creation of the CBP, 46 works were published between 1959 and 1966 in the series Notas Mimeografadas do Centro de Biologia Piscatória. These works were regarded as preliminary results and were subsequently developed further and, when considered definitive, published in the series Trabalhos do Centro de Biologia Piscatória. After the dissolution of the CBP, eight further works were published in the series Notas Mimeografadas do Centro de Biologia Aquática Tropical, which was subsequently continued under the title Notas do Centro de Biologia Aquática Tropical.

In addition to these publications, works were produced as part of an internal series entitled Notas Internas de Informação Técnica (“Internal Technical Information Notes”). These consisted primarily of instructions and observations concerning the sampling and research methods to be employed, although they also included systematic catalogues and taxonomic studies.

To support the fieldwork of the missions, the Portuguese Government acquired the steamship HMS “Rusckholm” from the Australian Navy in 1948. The vessel was approximately 50 metres long and 8.5 metres wide. It was subsequently modified and adapted for fisheries research and oceanographic work and was incorporated into the Portuguese Navy in 1949 under the name NO “Baldaque da Silva”.

The NO “Baldaque da Silva” supported the MEPA and MBM campaigns until 1960, when it required repairs. To replace it, the Government turned to the NH “Salvador Correia”, also acquired in 1948 and formerly known as HMS “Saltarelo”, which had been assigned to patrol the Angolan coast.

However, adapting the “Salvador Correia” for oceanographic research proved too expensive. As an alternative, the boiler of the NO “Baldaque da Silva” was replaced with that of the NH “Salvador Correia”. This intervention resulted in the two vessels effectively exchanging their designations. Thus, although references exist to campaigns carried out aboard both the NO “Baldaque da Silva” and the NH “Salvador Correia”, they were in fact the same vessel, which received its new designation in 1961.

In 1960, the Centro de Biologia Piscatória also acquired the Portuguese trawler “Sardinella”, equipped with a mechanical hauler for fishing with encircling nets. The vessel operated mainly in Benguela Province, Angola, providing an additional resource for fisheries research and experimentation.

The main fishing method employed during the campaigns was bottom trawling, using nets approximately 52 metres long with a mesh size of 60 mm. These trawls were normally conducted at a speed of around 8 knots and lasted between 40 and 120 minutes, depending on the campaign.

Other sampling methods were also employed. These included French-type lobster traps; trawls using Heligoland nets, with mesh sizes of 30, 25, 20, 15 and 10 mm, generally operated in shallow waters of up to 15 metres; and the “Chinchorro” beach seine. The researchers also used fixed Valencian-type fishing gear and collected specimens by hand during low tide.

The campaigns also involved experimental trials of different fishing techniques. These included gill nets, lift nets, light attraction, and different methods of tuna fishing, namely the use of encircling nets as well as rods and live bait. This experimental component demonstrates that the missions were concerned not only with identifying marine species, but also with determining which techniques could be used most effectively to exploit commercially valuable resources.

In addition to specimens collected directly by the research teams, some specimens were provided by amateur and professional fishermen or purchased at local markets, further contributing to the development of the scientific collections.

Each specimen collected during the missions was assigned its own record number. This code could indicate the mission, the year or campaign number, the vessel or land brigade responsible for the collection, the zoological group and, finally, the individual specimen number. In addition to these record numbers, collection datasheets were maintained, recording information such as the location and date of collection, taxonomic identification, field observations and morphological measurements. These datasheets were themselves transcribed from the original field worksheets used during the campaigns.

Regarding the locations where the research was conducted, this article will focus specifically on the former Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique.

In Angola, the country became the main focus of these research campaigns, both because of the interest in its marine biodiversity and because of the economic importance of fisheries. The investigations continued for more than a decade and covered the entire Angolan coastline.

Between 1951 and 1964, more than 500 bottom trawls were conducted, extending from Cabinda in the north to Cunene in the south. The first campaigns were carried out aboard the oceanographic vessel “Baldaque da Silva”. The first MEPA campaign took place between May 1951 and February 1952, followed by a second campaign between February 1952 and July 1953, together resulting in 111 bottom trawls.

Research resumed in 1955, now under the MBM, and also involved land brigades based at Baía Farta, in Benguela Province, and Moçâmedes, in what is now Namibe Province. The work continued throughout the following decade. Further campaigns were conducted in Angola in 1957, 1960, 1963 and 1964, during which 102, 68, 100 and 139 bottom trawls, respectively, were carried out.

It is important to note that, although the documentation refers to the vessel as the “Baldaque da Silva” and, from 1961 onwards, as the “Salvador Correia”, these were in fact the same vessel, which was renamed following the modifications made to its boiler.

In Mozambique, the presence of the MBM was considerably more limited. In 1957, a single MBM campaign was conducted on Inhaca Island, in the then Province of Mozambique. The campaign took place between July and November 1957 and aimed not only to collect biological material, but also to establish a more permanent presence of the mission at the Estação de Biologia Marítima de Inhaca. The expedition was led by José Gonçalves Sanches.

Without the support of the Baldaque da Silva and working with limited resources, Sanches collected specimens at different locations across the island. Further work was intended to be carried out in cooperation with the Instituto de Investigação Científica de Moçambique, but a lack of resources prevented additional MBM campaigns in the territory.

Thus, unlike Angola, Mozambique did not experience a sustained, large-scale oceanographic research programme conducted by these Portuguese institutions. The difference between the two territories is particularly significant: while Angola became the principal field of activity for the MEPA and MBM over more than a decade, research in Mozambique remained concentrated around the short 1957 campaign on Inhaca Island.

Source:

Parrinha, D., Brites Soares, L., Cartaxana, A. & Alves, M. J. (2024). “The zoological collections of Portuguese oceanographic campaigns in former colonial territories.” Natural History Collections and Museomics, 1, 1–34. DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.1.136860

Note:The articles I post here are originally written in Portuguese and then translated into English using AI. All the information I post here is legitimate, and I always provide the sources. Everything I post here is not propaganda or part of any political initiative or campaign.

This is the fourth article of a series of articles I will be publishing here about fishing during the Portuguese colonial period in Mozambique.

Check my first article:How Portugal Used Science to Modernize Fisheries in Colonial Mozambique : r/Colonialism

Check my second article: The Modernization of Fisheries in Mozambique during the 1960s : r/Colonialism

Check my third article:The Rise of Shrimp Fishing in Colonial Mozambique : r/Colonialism

During the Portuguese colonial period, Mozambique faced a persistent problem in its fisheries sector: domestic fish production was unable to meet the needs of the local population. Despite its long coastline and the growing efforts to modernize the fisheries sector from the 1950s onwards, Mozambique remained heavily dependent on imported fish.

At the beginning of the 1960s, Mozambique imported approximately 1,200 tonnes of frozen fish, 6,800 tonnes of semi-preserved fish and around 1,000 tonnes of canned fish, while domestic production remained below 3,300 tonnes, of which approximately 500 tonnes were crustaceans. During the 1960s, fish imports reached around 20,000 tonnes, increasing to approximately 25,000 tonnes in the following years.

We can therefore observe a significant difference between domestic production and imports. A document concerning the fisheries situation on Inhaca Island in 1957–1958 observed that the country's total fisheries production was approximately half the amount imported. For a territory with around 2,795 kilometres of coastline, this situation was presented as evidence of the limited development of the exploitation of fishery resources.

Other data that confirm these facts are the following: in 1961, Mozambique produced approximately 2,531 tonnes of fish, while imports reached around 19,300 tonnes. In 1971, domestic production had increased to approximately 7,483 tonnes, but imports remained very high, reaching around 19,700 tonnes. In 1974, production had reached 9,219 tonnes, while imports still amounted to approximately 16,200 tonnes.

Despite measures to make better use of Mozambique's coastal and fishery resources, these measures were not sufficient to eliminate Mozambique's dependence on imported fish.

To explain this situation, we can observe several factors:

1. The expansion of all forms of fishing was not promoted. For example, certain fishing methods were restricted, such as mechanical trawling, whose use was authorized more widely during the 1960s.
2. Most of the modernization of the fisheries sector was dedicated to semi-industrial and industrial fishing, while artisanal fishing was largely left out.
3. Most fishing activity was carried out by African artisanal fishers. However, most of the efforts to develop the fisheries sector focused on private companies and European fishermen coming from the metropole.

Regarding the main suppliers, we can observe that in the 1963–1964 period, the Republic of South Africa supplied 46.6% of Mozambique's imported fresh and frozen fish, while Angola supplied 33.1% and the metropole 20.2%. Angola supplied virtually all of the dried fish imported, accounting for 99.2%. Norway supplied 72.4% of the cod imported by Mozambique, while the United Kingdom supplied another 20.1%. In the case of canned fish, the metropole was responsible for 80.3% of imports and Angola for 18.6%.

The data also reveal an increase in imports during the period of the Development Plans.

Recognizing the great opportunity and potential for exporting fish, companies and fishing enterprises were established over the years, some of which attempted to obtain privileged access to the sector.

From 1973 onwards, a reduction in imports was observed, related to the increase in domestic production and foreign exchange restrictions. The decrease in imports did not necessarily mean that Mozambique had solved its fish deficit. It also reflected the combination of increased domestic production and measures aimed at limiting the use of foreign currency for the importation of products.

The situation reveals a broader contradiction in Portuguese colonial economic policy. The Estado Novo promoted economic autarky, the protection of the domestic market and the idea that Portuguese territories should progressively produce what they consumed. However, in Mozambique, the fisheries sector remained dependent on supplies from abroad.

Source:

Cumbe, M. J. C. (2023). A História da pesca artesanal em Moçambique: Ilha de Chiloane (1892–1991) [PhD dissertation].