Africa

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Situated on the Arguin island (today Mauritania), this was the first fort the Portuguese built in Africa. The fort remained under Portuguese control between 1445 and 1633. The Arguin area was explored by the Portuguese around the years 1442-1444 by Gonçalo de Sintra (1442), Dinis Dias (1442), Nuno Tristão (1443) and Lançarote ...

Photos by João Sarmento. Written by Marco Ramerini. The Cidade Velha (Old Town) of the island of Santiago in Cape Verde islands is located 15 kilometers west of the city of Praia, along the Santiago island coast. It constitutes the first city built by Europeans in the tropics and the first capital of the Cape Verde archipelago. The settlement was originally named ...

Photos by João Sarmento. Written by Marco Ramerini. The Portuguese Fort São Sebastião, São Tomé, São Tomé e Príncipe. The fort was built in 1575. The fort was occupied by the Dutch on 16 Oct. 1641. The Portuguese recaptured the fort on 15 December 1644. The Fort São Sebastião is square-shaped with bastions at each corner and now houses the São Tomé and Príncipe National Museum.

Photos by João Sarmento. Written by Marco Ramerini. Some pictures of what remains of forts built by the Portuguese in Morocco in the 15th and 16th century. Here are presented photos of Azamor (Azemmour), Safim (Safi) and Mazagão (El Jadida) taken by João Sarmento. The fort of Azamor (Azemmour) was under Portuguese control between 3 September 1513 and October 1541. The fort of Safim (Safi) called by ...

Written by Dietrich Köster COLONIES IN AFRICA GERMAN EAST AFRICA, takeover in 1884/85 Tanganyika Territory 1920 to the United Kingdom – 1961 Independent State of Tanganyika/1962 Republic of Tanganyika – April 1964 part of the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar/ November 1964 United Republic of Tanzania Ruanda-Urundi 1920 to Belgium – 1962 Republic of Rwanda (northern part) and 1962 ...

Written by D. P. Abraham Section I. INTRODUCTION: THE HISTORY OF THE MWANAMUTAPA EMPIRE At the start of the fifteenth century A.D. a group of patrilineal Bantu clans, collectively known as the Vakaranga, occupied in strength the south and south-west of what is now Southern Rhodesia. The population was mainly composed of small-scale peasant cultivators and cattle-breeders, who lived in ...

Written by Chris Dunbar. All pictures are copyright by Chris Dunbar. Maramuca, 2010: The trip to Maramuca was via the town of Chegutu and then another 30 odd kilometres on an old strip road to the gold mining town of Chakari. From Chakari we had to travel on a dirt road which later turned into a dirt track. The location ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos copyright by Chris Dunbar. Great Zimbabwe was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe where was the royal palace and the seat of the political power. The city was surrounded by massive walls that reach 5 meters in height which were constructed without mortar. The area where is Great Zimbabwe was occupied from the fourth century ...

Written by Chris Dunbar The following is a list of sites that were investigated by the Rhodesian / Zimbabwean Government, no suspected Portuguese sites have been restored (unfortunately) and no more have been added since the first cataloguing was done in the early 1970’s. A number of the historical trading centres and forts have still not been located and further ...

Written by Chris Dunbar. All pictures are copyright by Chris Dunbar. Massapa was described in 1573 as being close to the wooded mountain Fura (Mt Darwin) had a Dominican Church dedicated to the Lady of the Rosary and was deserted in 1693 when the Rozvi went on the rampage that ended the Portuguese control on the whole Northern Zimbabwe plateau ...

Written by Chris Dunbar. All pictures are copyright by Chris Dunbar. So to Piringani (Piringani: 16°59′ 48.63″S 30°11′ 27.97″E), in the north west of Zimbabwe, in the farm lands of Doma, I went. Rumour had it that there was a Lemon forest and that it was marked and known by the local farmers and the Department of National Monuments. I ...

Written by Chris Dunbar. All pictures are copyright by Chris Dunbar. Ruanga, 2012: Some pictures from Ruanga a settlement that was excavated in the 1960’s and it was found to have been inhabited in the 1500’s to the end of the 1650’s. Native black africans, but what is interesting is that perhaps, according to Hugh Tracey assumption, Antonio Fernades visited ...

Written by Manuel Simoes Alberto (of the “Sociedade de Estudes de Mozambique”) It was made known recently by the “Rhodesia Herald” , of Salisbury, that the ruins of an old Portuguese Fort, located on the banks of the Angwa river, had been declared a National Monument, and placed under the control of the “Natural and Historical Monuments and Relics Commission” ...

Written by Chris Dunbar. All pictures are copyright by Chris Dunbar. The trip to find the site of Makaha was via the town of Mutoko and then on a dirt road for 90 minutes into the growth point of Makaha. Once we left the growth point we had to resort to four wheel driving as the road turned to a ...

Written by Chris Dunbar. All pictures are copyright by Chris Dunbar. The Fort of Luanze, where the Portuguese hold a market, is in the lands of Mocaranga, forty leagues from Tete…..this fort has a church, served by a dominican friar who administrates the sacraments to the christians who dwell there or pass through. Pedro Barreto de Rezende, 1634. I then ...

Written by P. S. Garlake. Historical Monuments Commission, Salisbury (today Harare) Portuguese traders, administrators and missionaries were living in permanent settlements in many parts of Mashonaland at least throughout the seventeenth century. The goods they traded with the local people are well attested and consisted largely of cloth and beads. Cloth, of course, would decay quickly in most circumstances but ...

Written by Chris Dunbar. All pictures are copyright by Chris Dunbar. This site is scattered over a very wide area and was a large settlement (Dambarare covers about 6 square km’s), one of the largest Earthworks numbered 2 was flooded when the Jumbo Mine Dam was built, a great shame as while a little excavation work was done the Professor ...

Written by Marco Ramerini MAURITANIA: Arguin: (20°36’N – 16°27’W) Netherlands: 1633 – 1 Sep. 1678 to France (1 Sep. 1678 – Sep. 1678) abandoned (1678 – 1685) to Brandenburg (5 Oct. 1685 – 9/10 Mar. 1721) to France (10 Mar. 1721 – 11 Jan. 1722) Netherlands: 11 Jan. 1722 – 20 Feb. 1724 to France (20 Feb. 1724 – Mar. 1728) ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. SPANISH AFRICA: Ceuta:  Portuguese: 21 August 1415 – 1640 to Spain (after the Portuguese rebellion) E. Sanceau “Castelos em África” Livraria Civilização 1961 Porto. D. Lopes “A Expansão em Marrocos” Teorema Lisboa MOROCCO: Alcacer Ceguer (El Qsar es Seghir): (35°51’N – 05°34’W) Portuguese: 23 October 1458 – 1550 E. Sanceau “Castelos ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. MOZAMBIQUE: Sofala: (20°10’S – 34°44’E) Forte São Caetano a square-shaped fortress with four bastions. Portuguese: 21 Sep. 1505 fort – 1974 Moçambique: (15°02’S – 40°44’E) Fortaleza de São Gabriel or Fortaleza Velha (1507), Fortaleza or Castelo de São Sebastião (1558), Forte Santo António , Forte São Lourenço (Ilha de São Lourenço) Portuguese: 1507- 1974 Quelimane: (17°53’S ...