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Revolution/Counterrevolution in Portuguese Africa
A bloody drama of the humiliated and the humiliators
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 September 2018
Extract
The assassination of Amίlcar Cabral in January, 1973, was reported in the American news media, but there was no follow-up, and few Americans recognize Cabral's name, or even the name of Portuguese Guinea, the small colony he had hoped to lead to independence.
From a geographical point of view the obscprity of Portuguese Guinea might seem well deserved. Wedged between Senegal and the independent Republic of Guinea, it is about 40 per cent the size of Portugal, but its population is less than that of the city of Lisbon. Mostly hot and humid, much of the colony is covered by bayous and salt-water swamps. The people, who until recently were about 99 per cent illiterate, are divided into a number of traditionally antagonistic groups that are religiously, culturally and linguistically distinct.
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- Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 1974
References
page 6 note • Guinea is a variant of the name of the ancient empire of Ghana. Early Portuguese explorers, and other Europeans who followed, applied the name to the entire Atlantic coast of black Africa. Three African countries now bear the name. The largest, always referred to by its full title in this article, is the Republic of Guinea. Smallest, and least known, is Equatorial Guinea, which consists of the former Spanish colonies of Rio Muni and Fernando Po. It became independent in 1968. Portuguese Guinea is often called Guinea-Bissau, especially by those who Tavor its independence.
page 7 note • Visits to liberated areas in Portuguese Guinea are described in two books: Gérard Chaliand's Armed Struggle in Africa: With the Guerrillas in “Portuguese” Guinea (New York and London, 1969) and Basil Davidson's The Liberation of Guiné(Baltimore, 1969).