An Oral History of the Portuguese Colonial War

The monumentalization of the Portuguese Colonial War: Commemorating the soldier’s efforts amid the persistence of imperial imaginaries

“…Creating a disconnect between what the military duties of each of these men were and the conduct of the war, from which they were alienated, avoids any discussion of the political nature and justness of the war. In effect, the depoliticization of the conflict can work for many former combatants as a strategy when faced with the difficulty they feel in accepting and giving meaning to their (mandatory) participation in a conflict that they now understand to have been morally and historically reprehensible (Campos, 2017).…”

Portugal’s prominence in malaria research

“…In fact, while most African nations gained their independence from European countries during the 1950s and 1960s, Portugal’s dictatorship held on to and suppressed its African overseas territories, which led to armed uprisings in Angola and Guinea‐Bissau in 1961, and in Mozambique in 1964 (Miller, 1975). During the ensuing colonial wars, thousands of Portuguese soldiers were sent to these countries, where they were exposed not only to the horrors of war, but also to malaria (Campos, 2017). The Portuguese military actions in Africa finally came to an end in 1974 after the peaceful Carnation Revolution, which established democracy in Portugal and ended the colonization of all Portuguese‐held African territories.…”

Maritime Histories, Indian Ocean and Port-Towns

“…46 A large number of Portuguese descendants were incorporated as soldiers for the wars of expansion of the English in Madras, 47 Bombay and also in Calcutta, where there were about 180 Luso-Indians of Bengal fighting as soldiers for the English in 1750s. 48 As marriageable English ladies were not available in India, at that point of time the English East India company servants, following either Anglicanism or Presbyterianism, began to take wives from the Indo-Portuguese community. 49 In the evolving system of partnership many of the Indo-Portuguese traders were allowed to have commercial establishments in these Presidency towns like Manoel de Souza, one of the leading brothers of an Indo-Portuguese family who had his commercial base in Bengal in 1790s while his another brother was conducting business in Madras (Antonio de Souza) and the third (Miguel de Lima e Souza) in Bombay, playing vital role in the trade emanating from the three presidency towns (Pinto, 2003).…”