How Did Portugal Have To Do Before European Colonization

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As the European colonization began during the late 1800s, Portugal began this pinnacle event in Europe and Africa’s history as the pioneers of it all. Limited by being one of the smaller populated countries in Europe and worn out by several centuries of European warfare, Portugal was of the poorest of Europe's powers by the end of the 19th century. Nonetheless, Portugal was able to delay the progress of countries such as, England, France, and Germany from expanding greatly into Africa by instilling conflict between the three major leaders; England, France, and Germany. Because of this, Portugal figured out how to travel into the limitless zones of Africa and extract an abundance of materials and resources from the territories inside of Africa. Which resulted in, Portugal establishing trading routes and expanding their economy to gain an advantage over the other European powers. In addition, when Portugal colonized their regions in Africa they set up places were they could extract resources and labor fields were workers and slaves maintained. Lastly, Portugal managed to expand the territory that it actually controlled by the end of the 19th century, which was consisted of the “Scramble for Africa."
Portugal had the potential to rise from the poorest and smallest country to striving as a major power …show more content…

The Portuguese government reluctantly followed suit, ending slavery in stages with a final decree in 1858 that outlawed slavery within twenty years. The gradual rate of abolition was due to the strength of the pro-slavery forces that dominated politics in Portugal and interfered with colonial administrators in Africa. The result was a colonial administration that was easily corrupted, rarely effective and subject to pressure exerted through unofficial

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