PORTUGAL IN AFRICA: The Last Hundred Years

Great Britain: Longman Group Limited, 1981. E1 - An ex-library first edition (First published 1981 stated) hardcover book in good condition in good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has labels on the spine, some scattered fading, wrinkling, and light stains, inside flaps adhered to the fixed endpapers, light discoloration and shelf wear. Book has library markings (labels, stamping, cardholder, etc.), first two pages (front free endpaper and half-title page) missing/cutout, cardholder residue, label and patches peeled on the back free endpaper, light discoloration and shelf wear. 8.75"x5.5", 278 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Portugal in Africa: The Last Hundred Years provides a concise account of Portuguese colonialism in Africa in which many of the accepted ideas about Portugal's African empire are radically reassessed. Dr. Newitt shows that the changes which took place in the empire after 1875 were the result less of Portuguese villainy than of the spread of international capital and the development of technology and world commodity markets from which neither Portugal nor Africa could be isolated. The abolition of the slave trade contributed to Portugal's vulnerable position in international affairs and to the difficulties she faced in pacifying her colonies. To resolve these problems the Portuguese set up quasi-feudal concession companies. Thereafter the colonies and Portugal herself were closely integrated within a planned economy. Cheap labour had to replace capital, and compulsory crop growing was enforced, but this was done without the wholesale destruction of the African peasant economy. At the end of the colonial period Africans were in control of the overwhelming proportion of the land, and urbanization was less developed than anywhere in Africa. In the final chapter Dr. Newitt draws attention to the important role played by political and economic events in Portugal in contributing to the overthrow of the colonial regimes.. First Edition. Hardcover. Good/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Ex-Library.