HISTORY OF ZIMBABWE

Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: 11th – 15th c. AD

The plateau between the rivers Zambezi and Limpopo, in southeast Africa, offers rich opportunities for human settlement. Its grasslands make excellent grazing for cattle. The tusks of dead elephants provide an easy basis for a trade in ivory. A seam of gold, running along the highest ridge, shows signs of having…

HISTORY OF ZANZIBAR

A Portuguese interlude: 16th – 17th century AD

The small tropical island of Zanzibar, a mere twenty miles off the east coast of Africa, has played a part in local history out of all proportion to its size. The reason is its easy access to traders and adventurers exploring down the east coast of Africa from Arabia. Islam is well…

HISTORY OF SRI LANKA

Island of the Sinhalese

The large island off the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent is occupied by hunter-gatherers until the arrival, in the 6th century BC, of the Sinhalese – a tribal group of Indo-Europeans which has moved south through India.

These people give the island the name by which it has been known throughout most of history: Sinhaladwipa,…

HISTORY OF MOZAMBIQUE

Colonial rule: AD 1891-1975

From 1894 the region known as Portuguese East Africa has a clearly defined shape on European maps. Its western and southern boundaries are imposed upon Portugal in 1891 in a treaty with the more powerful colonial neighbour, Britain. The northern frontier, with German East Africa, is amicably agreed in 1894.

The reality on the ground is by…

HISTORY OF LATIN AMERICA

Latin America and North America: 16th – 20th century AD

Spanish and Portuguese colonists and administrators, settling in central and south America during the 16th century, are soon followed by the French, Dutch and English staking a claim to north America. A clear pattern becomes established. The two Atlantic seaboard countries of southern Europe concentrate on the southern part of…

Nelly Furtado Biography (1978-)

Nelly Kim Furtado was born on December 2, 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia. In a sense, Furtado’s future musical success seemed assured: her family, of Portuguese descent, was very musical. Her mother, Maria Manuela, was a church choir singer and her father, António José was a big fan of the Portuguese music called “fado.” In another sense, the fame…

HISTORY OF EXPLORATION

Movement and exploration

The spread of mankind throughout the world out of Africa, over the past two million years, is a form of exploration. So are the great tribal movements of historical times. But in these cases the motive is practical – to find better pastures, or seize somebody else’s property.

In true exploration the motive is one of enquiry. What…

HISTORY OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Colonial rule: AD 1472-1968

A large island off the Guinea coast (the site today of Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea) becomes known in history as Fernando Po – because it is first reached, in about 1472, by the Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó. The island and the neighbouring coast are mainly visited by Portuguese traders, giving Portugal certain…

HISTORY OF CAPE VERDE

The Slave Coast: 15th – 19th century AD

From the viewpoint of European history the Guinea Coast is associated mainly with slavery. Indeed one of the alternative names for the region is the Slave Coast. But the link is entirely the result of the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. Before that period the slave trade, centuries old in…