Map: A Portuguese Empire That Never Was (Mapa cor-de-rosa)
Jul 7, 2017 10:26:35 GMT
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Post by lordroel on Jul 7, 2017 10:26:35 GMT
Map: A Portuguese Empire That Never Was (Mapa cor-de-rosa)
The Pink Map (Portuguese: Mapa cor-de-rosa), also known as the Rose-Coloured Map, was a document prepared in 1885 to represent Portugal's claim of sovereignty over a land corridor connecting their colonies of Angola and Mozambique during the "Scramble for Africa". The area claimed included the whole of what is currently Zimbabwe and large parts of modern Zambia and Malawi.
The original Mapa Cor-de-rosa, showing an unbroken chain of Portuguese territory from the Angolan to the Mozambican coasts.
By 1913, no more than seven European powers held colonial sway over almost all of Africa. Only two states remained independent: Liberia, founded in the early 19th century as a refuge for freed American slaves in the west; and the ancient empire of Abyssinia (nowadays known as Ethiopia) in the east.
A map of Africa in 1913 as it looked like a year before the outbreak of World War I
In the intervening years, the colonial ambitions of Portugal and Britain clashed in the southern interior of Africa. The British master plan for a string of colonies from ‘Cape to Cairo’ finally compelled the Portuguese to venture inland from Angola and Mozambique, coastal colonies they’d held for centuries, and unite them into a grand Afro-Portuguese empire.
Lisbon sent out explorers into the projected interior of its future mega-colony. That the names Capelo, Ivens and Serpa Pinto don’t ring out like the one of their British rival Livingstone is no comment on their achievements, but rather a sign that theirs was the losing side in the tug of war over southern Africa.
Portugal attached the Pink Map to its colonial treaties with France and Germany, countries that were not involved in the area concerned - covering present-day Zimbabwe, Malawi and most of Zambia. Britain, the one country it did have to convince, was too powerful to not have its way. In 1890, London issued an ultimatum, demanding Portugal retreat from the area and abandon claims of sovereignty. Or: a break-off of diplomatic ties and, ultimately, war.
The Portuguese territory indicated on the Pink Map shown in clearer contrast, and in relation to other Portuguese holdings in Africa (Sao Tome, Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde).
King Carlos I of Portugal meekly agreed - damaging the reputation of the monarchy so irreparably that the Mapa Cor-de-rosa affair was still considered a factor 20 years later, when the Republican Revolution of 1910 overthrew the monarchy. A century on, the Portuguese still aren’t entirely over the Ultimatum. In the fighting words of the chorus to their national anthem, written in the heady days after the Ultimatum: “Às armas, às armas!/Sobre a terra, sobre o mar,/Às armas, às armas!/Pela Pátria lutar!/Contra os canhões, marchar, marchar!” (English translation: To arms, to arms!/Over land, over sea,/To arms, to arms!/For the Fatherland, fight!/Against the cannons, march, march!”). Even though the enemy remains unnamed, it's obvious to the Portuguese who they are: the perfidious British, who had stabbed their oldest ally in the back.
The Pink Map (Portuguese: Mapa cor-de-rosa), also known as the Rose-Coloured Map, was a document prepared in 1885 to represent Portugal's claim of sovereignty over a land corridor connecting their colonies of Angola and Mozambique during the "Scramble for Africa". The area claimed included the whole of what is currently Zimbabwe and large parts of modern Zambia and Malawi.
The original Mapa Cor-de-rosa, showing an unbroken chain of Portuguese territory from the Angolan to the Mozambican coasts.
By 1913, no more than seven European powers held colonial sway over almost all of Africa. Only two states remained independent: Liberia, founded in the early 19th century as a refuge for freed American slaves in the west; and the ancient empire of Abyssinia (nowadays known as Ethiopia) in the east.
A map of Africa in 1913 as it looked like a year before the outbreak of World War I
In the intervening years, the colonial ambitions of Portugal and Britain clashed in the southern interior of Africa. The British master plan for a string of colonies from ‘Cape to Cairo’ finally compelled the Portuguese to venture inland from Angola and Mozambique, coastal colonies they’d held for centuries, and unite them into a grand Afro-Portuguese empire.
Lisbon sent out explorers into the projected interior of its future mega-colony. That the names Capelo, Ivens and Serpa Pinto don’t ring out like the one of their British rival Livingstone is no comment on their achievements, but rather a sign that theirs was the losing side in the tug of war over southern Africa.
Portugal attached the Pink Map to its colonial treaties with France and Germany, countries that were not involved in the area concerned - covering present-day Zimbabwe, Malawi and most of Zambia. Britain, the one country it did have to convince, was too powerful to not have its way. In 1890, London issued an ultimatum, demanding Portugal retreat from the area and abandon claims of sovereignty. Or: a break-off of diplomatic ties and, ultimately, war.
The Portuguese territory indicated on the Pink Map shown in clearer contrast, and in relation to other Portuguese holdings in Africa (Sao Tome, Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde).
King Carlos I of Portugal meekly agreed - damaging the reputation of the monarchy so irreparably that the Mapa Cor-de-rosa affair was still considered a factor 20 years later, when the Republican Revolution of 1910 overthrew the monarchy. A century on, the Portuguese still aren’t entirely over the Ultimatum. In the fighting words of the chorus to their national anthem, written in the heady days after the Ultimatum: “Às armas, às armas!/Sobre a terra, sobre o mar,/Às armas, às armas!/Pela Pátria lutar!/Contra os canhões, marchar, marchar!” (English translation: To arms, to arms!/Over land, over sea,/To arms, to arms!/For the Fatherland, fight!/Against the cannons, march, march!”). Even though the enemy remains unnamed, it's obvious to the Portuguese who they are: the perfidious British, who had stabbed their oldest ally in the back.