Southern Africa
Most of Africa beyond the Mediterranean was little known and mostly ignored by the majority of the western civilizations, except for trade in exotic goods, until the late fourteenth and early 15th century AD. Great civilizations grew, became old and despotic, and died, only to be replaced by new, vigorous civilizations. The beginning of the Renaissance period, a greater demand for spices, and the discovery of America, all blended to focus attention on Africa. Nowhere was this attention more apparent than among the Portuguese.
Southern Africa was first "discovered" by Portuguese seamen, searching for a sea route to the spice treasures of India and the Far East. Vasco da Gama is credited with making the first voyage around the southern tip of Africa and up to India, but before him, more than a dozen Portuguese seaman had made voyages of discovery along the African coast. The Portuguese were after the spices of India and the Far East, however, and made few permanent settlements in Africa at that time. Trade with Africa was slow, and the few colonies that Portugal did establish did not provide the excitement - or the wealth - of Spain's New World empire, or the wealth that could be made from the spice trade.
Adequate seaports, where ships could stop and be refitted as they sailed from India to Portugal, were in great demand, and many early colonies were also fine harbors - Lourenco Marques, Quelimane, Luanda, and others. These harbors, and the colonies that grew from them - Angola on the western African coast and Mozambique on the eastern coast - anchor the northern boundary of South Africa.
Little in the way of colonialization took place in Africa until the middle of the 18th century, when western Europe suddenly realized that all the "new" land was taken, and the only area where new colonies could be "created" was in Africa. Colonial expansion was more in search of resources for a growing industrialization than a lust for new lands, and any new colony should be able to supply raw materials to its colonial master. Just as spices drove the Portuguese around the Cape of Good Hope in the early 1500's, the demand for coal, iron, timber, and other raw materials drove the British, French, Belgian, Dutch, and German explorers into Africa, searching for such materials. Much of the colonialization was undertaken by commercial companies granted crown monopolies in designated areas: the British South Africa Company, the Portuguese Mozambique Company, the German South African Company, and the Dutch South African Company, to name just a few.
Latest Articles