Administrative Divisions of Portugal - History - Provinces - Overseas

Overseas

The term overseas province was exalted by the government of António de Oliveira Salazar only after 1951 to shift the attention of anti-colonial protests in the United Nations. But the history of extra-local territories (colonies or provinces) within Portuguese administration dates back to the first settlements along the African coast, South-east Asia and Brazil, and were instituted as part of the 1832 reforms. The initiatives envisioned a comprehensive series of provinces that would have included European Portugal, archipelagos and extra-local dependencies in Southeast Asia, Africa and India. These colonies included:

• Portuguese West Africa an overseas province between 1951 and 1975, when it became the independent nation of Angola;
• Cape Verde – an overseas province between 1951 and 1974, autonomous republic between 1974 and 1975, when it became an independent nation;
• Portuguese Guinea an overseas province between 1951–1974, until unilaterally declaring independence as Guinea Bissau in 1973 (later recognised by Portugal in 1974);
• Macau overseas province between 1844 and 1883; included many of the overseas provinces of South-east Asia with Portuguese Timor in the administration of Goa, between 1883 and 1951); an overseas province between 1951 and 1975; special territory between 1975 and 1999, before being returned to China as a special administrative region in 1999;
• Portuguese East Africa overseas province between 1951 and 1974); local administration between 1974 and 1975, before it became the independent nation of Mozambique;
• Portuguese India an overseas province between 1946 and 1962, it was annexed by India in 1962 (and later recognised by Portugal in 1974);
• São Tomé and Príncipe an overseas province between 1951 and 1971); local administration between 1971 and 1975, before it became an independent nation in 1975;
• Portuguese Timor an overseas territory between 1951 and 1961, until unilaterally declaring independence as East Timor in 1975, it was annexed by Indonesia in 1976, recognised by UN as non-self-governing-territory under Portuguese administration between 1961–1999. After 1999 it was a United Nations protectorate until formal independence in 2002.

Initially the population of these overseas territories were made to exploit resources (minerals, spices, wood or slaves), but later there was a sense of evangelisation or lusotropolicalism, that facilitated the colonization of these lands. The first significant colony was Brazil whose history included a period as kingdom within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarve(1815–1822), before a political schism would result in its independence in 1822.