Republicanism - Colonial question Flashcards
Why did WW1 pose a threat to Portugal’s colonies?
- Angola and Mozambique bordered German territories
- The British government used Portuguese territories as tools for negotiation during peace talks with Germany
Why were military operations in Africa in the early 19th century particularly difficult?
Tropical diseases, unfavourable climate, hygienic and nutrition issues for soldiers
What were the key issues leading to a lack of colonial development upon the emergence of Republicanism?
- Cycles of violence within colonial dynamics - (peace, resistance, peace in dealing with local communities)
- Lack of fiscal and labour policy in the colonies
- Agricultural policy saw new transformations of slavery, leading to no potential for economic development, but rather archaic forms of maintaining wealth
How was slavery continued in Portugal after multiple processes of abolition internationally?
- Continued legalization of forced labour (employment against will, with the threat of death or destitution)
- Legal mechanisms created to fortify agricultural policy and bind Africans to forced labour - notably payment of hut tax which tended to take up the majority of workers’ income.
- Case of ‘Cacau escravo’ in Sao Tome - reports of forced agricultural labour in cocoa plantations and cases of mistreatment by landowners
Why did the colonial question become more aggravated under the early stages of republicanism?
- New ambiguity surrounding Portugal’s ‘humanizing’ and ‘civilizing’ facade of colonization, which some saw as coercive attempts to falsify history
- Calls from Portuguese authorities in colonies to take action to modernise, including Freire de Andrade who was representing the country in the league of nations
- New need to generate capital to fund agricultural projects - manpower was then maximised through repressive means of forced labour
Why were the colonies central to the Republican vision of Portugal?
- Colonies were used as projections of national and political identity, thus maintaining them validated the Republican regime
- Costa consistently claimed that the Portuguese were colonizers ‘par-excellence’ with incontestable authority, and this ‘special knowledge’ reinforced colonial importance in the national imaginary
How did the Portuguese engineer socio-cultural differentiation in the colonies?
- Repressive developmentalism claimed the need for civilization of the colonized, as part of their ‘human progression’
- Continuation of the indigenato law - defined difference between settler citizen and native subject through race
- Forced labourers were sometimes paid with clothes rather than money, consolidating their subordination
Why was decentralization of the colonies a pressing need for the republic?
- In times of instability (particularly with the emergence of war) decentralization could ensure close control of colonial development to pursue objectives
- Period of the republic was marked by events in the colonies - extension of world war in the colonies needed to play out well for the state, and supporting their development was central to this
- Potential to better reap the benefits of colonies - more means of enforcing tax, rationalizing methods of recruitment
How did the 1911 Republican constitution create opportunities for decentralization?
- Decentralization became an ideological vessel of Republican imaginary
- Aimed for a politico-constitutional of the metropole-colony system
How did the 1911 constitution attempt to decentralize colonial administration?
- Budget grants for public works
- ‘Pacifying’ military operations
- New agrarian policy established
- Regulations for indigenous work
- Fixation of taxes to prevent mistreatment
Why were original attempts to decentralize deemed to fail?
- Overseas policy remained inconsistent with imperial decisions
- Economy still focused on exploiting manpower to sustain plantation economy and public works - for vested interests
- Chefes de Posto still had unsupervised authority - ran districts and terrorised the natives, in the eyes of British investigators
- State of permanent war between authorities and natives remained in certain localities
- Portuguese politicians still upheld the ‘civilizational’ needs of the colonized and focused on human progression
- A slave trade was denied, colonization still under the facade of ‘social justice’ and progression
Why did the German threat increase in 1916?
- After Portugal entered WW1, the Germans moved African military operations to the north of Mozambique
How did Portugal react to a new German presence near its colonies?
- Mobilization of local troops in Mozambique and Angola
- 3000 strong opoeration in Angola, 1500 militants with Portuguese support in Mozambique
- Portuguese troops were sent over to support weak forces and prepare for conflict against German intervention
What new challenges arose for colonial development post WW1?
- constant instability in both metropole and overseas governments + changes of governor generals in colonies
- Shortages of human and material resources
- Increased local resistance
- Colonial question further aggravated by involvement in WW1
- Border disputes in post-war negotiations (aftermath of Battle of Naulila)
How did international criticism surrounding Portuguese colonialism develop post-war
- Portugal now viewed as having ‘analogous conditions’ for slavery
- Lack of colonial development combined with new international focus on native populations
- Hygiene issues apparent in the colonies
- Native unrest in colonies no longer seen as purely a ‘local affair’
- New critical actors within the state and internationally
How did Portugal use a dual strategy in dealing with the League’s criticsm?
- Its membership to the League of Nations was used as an argument for Portugal to induce reform and maintain its colonies
- new ‘duty’ to promote the moral and material progression of the colonies
- Portugal could continue its ‘civilizing oeuvre’ despite criticism
What did a British Government report in 1918 suggest about the attitude of Portuguese colonial authorities towards the natives?
- Suggested multiple uses of violence to recruit local manpower, with accounts from Gremios and Public companies
- Captain Parminter, one investigator, notices the unsupervised quality of chefes de Posto, who ran districts and terrorised the natives - state of permanent war between authorities and natives
How did the Portuguese react to the British report?
- Portuguese LoN delegats saw claims as ‘largely unfounded’, saying that rebellions in the colonies were a result of ‘German manouveres’ in diplomatic relations
How did Portugal react to new international criticism surrounding its colonial administration?
- In 1919, it created a new government ministry for colonial affairs, with new high commissioners sent to the colonies. These included well-established politicians including Norton de Matos and Brito Camcho
What powers were high commissioners given in a new decentralized system?
- Control of military forces
- New treasury administrations for each province, with their own budgets
- Promotion of new policies relating to indigenous labour - commissioners had monopoly over labour development
Why did new forms of decentralization fail to progress colonial development?
- Legal modalities related to forced labour remained and economy still relied on plantation agriculture
- Legal basis was not removed until 1962 - racist rhetoric persisted to suggest its humanist values
- Colonial policy focused on public works, which sustained repressive recruitment measures and lack of social policies.
Why did new forms of decentralization fail to progress colonial development?
- Legal modalities related to forced labour remained and economy still relied on plantation agriculture
- Legal basis was not removed until 1962 - racist rhetoric persisted to suggest its humanist values
- Colonial policy focused on public works, which sustained repressive recruitment measures and lack of social policies.
