Portuguese campaigns of pacification and occupation

The Portuguese campaigns of pacification and occupation (campanhas de pacificação e ocupação in Portuguese) were a vast set of military operations, conducted between the 1880s and 1910s by the Portuguese Armed Forces in the overseas provinces of the Portuguese Empire.^[1] They resulted in the securing of vast territories for Portugal and the creation of modern-day Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Timor-Leste.

These campaigns took place after the Independence of Brazil and during the Scramble for Africa. They saw action at Chaimite, in Mozambique, where Mouzinho de Albuquerque captured the Vatua king Gungunhana but also at Môngua, in Angola.^[2][3]

The pacification campaigns were numerous but usually small in scale and involved mostly native troops.^[4][5] Relatively large expeditions of well-equipped European troops were dispatched directly from Europe whenever Portuguese sovereignty over the claimed territories was seriously contested.^[5] They were otherwise marked by the mass participation of native troops on the side of Portugal, which led some authors to comment that the new territories "conquered themselves".^[6][7]

After the Independence of Brazil and the end of the Portuguese Civil War, Portugal turned to its remaining overseas territories in Africa and Asia as a means to compensate for the loss of trade and tax revenue, international prestige and ballooning debt. The devastation caused by the Napoleonic Wars, the civil-war, the scarcity of means and the political instability in Portugal made investment overseas controversial. Nevertheless, a consensus gradually formed among the Portuguese political elite on the potential of the colonies and the necessity to occupy the interior of Angola and Mozambique.^[8] Controversy arose from the way they ought to be administered, with some advocating for direct rule, other for greater autonomy and indirect British-style rule. Safeguarding them from foreign encroachment, namely from Britain and Germany, would also prove a major challenge until the end of World War I.

The Marquis of Sá da Bandeira was a major abolitionist and defender of a market economy as a means to promote the development of Portuguese territories overseas. A few new posts, forts and settlements would be established throughout the course of the 19th century, while peanut plantation was introduced in Guinea-Bissau. Expansion began as early as 1838 in Angola, with the annexation of Calandula, east of Luanda, and the construction of fort São Pedro in the aftermath of a local conflict.^[9][10] In Mozambique, the Zambezi Wars broke out in 1840 between Portuguese landowners, African kinglets and the Portuguese government, after a catastrophic period of drought and Nguni invasion.^[11] Portuguese frontiersmen at the same time gradually ventured deeper into the African interior, such as Joaquim Rodrigues Graça, who established diplomatic and commercial ties with the Lunda Empire.^[12] The Kingdom of Kasanje became an important middle-man between Lunda and Luanda but Portuguese merchant caravans were a frequent target for raids, which caused conflict and a new fort to built at Malanje.^[12] Portugal occupied annexed Ambriz from the Kingdom of Kongo in 1855 as the territory was disputed by the British, who wished to control the mouth of the Congo River.^[12] The city of Moçâmedes was established by a number of Portuguese refugees who were settled there after the Praieira Revolt sparked in Brazil, and the governor of the district Sérgio Sousa negotiated treaties with the lords of Huíla and Gambos but the latter was succeeded on the throne by a hostile king, which brought instability to the region that would only be overcome in 1867.^[13]

Portuguese policy until the 1870s was largely based on the export of agricultural products, mainly wine, import substitution under moderate protection and foreign loans for the construction of infra-structure.^[14] A global recession traditionally seen as having begun in 1873 hit Portugal especially hard however, and public revenue fell, deficit grew alarmingly, gold reserves dwindled, and the state could no longer service its foreign debt.^[14] This and the rising tide of the "scramble for Africa" compelled Portugal to invest in territorial acquisition overseas.^[14] As the crisis deepened, Portugal reacted like other states of western Europe, first protecting the home market, then seeking to extend that market overseas.^[14]

The Great Trek had an impact on Portuguese affairs as well. Boers sought land and access to the sea in order to become independent from Britain and self-sufficient, and they reached the area around Maputo Bay in 1838.^[15] The small Portuguese settlement of Lourenço Marques was outside of direct British control and it grew out of trade with the South African Republic, but the difficult route to the port could only be solved by building a railway.^[16]

Maputo Bay was considered the finest harbour in East Africa and a railway to it would make any port established there the main one in southern Africa and one of the most important in the entire Indian Ocean.^[17][18] The bay would be called "The Key to South Africa".^[18] Its strategic value was not lost on the British and in 1861 the commander of H.M.S. Narcissus had the British flag hoisted on the territory and proclaimed it British.^[18] This however opened a dispute with Portugal, who already claimed the territory and in 1869 the Portuguese government signed a treaty with the South African Republic, through which the border was settled and in which Pretoria acknowledged Portuguese control of the bay along with the surrounding territory as far as the Lebombo Mountains.^[18] The British High Commissioner suggested purchasing the bay from Portugal but the British Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Kimberley decided to submit the matter to international arbitration.^[18] The President of France Marshal Patrice Macmahon was chosen as arbitrator and on July 24 1875 he ruled in favour of Portugal in what became known as "the Delagoa Bay Arbitration".^[18][19] He awarded all the land around Maputo Bay down to lat. 26º 30' S and inland towards the Lebombo, even more than the Portuguese had asked for.^[18]

Macmahons decision caused outrage in the British press as it was the third time in a row the United Kingdom had lost a case through arbitration but nonetheless it was upheld.^[19][20] After MacMahons arbitration, Britain and Portugal sought to jointly settle the future of south-east Africa but this project would be overtaken by events the following decade.^[16]

The Lisbon Geographic Society was founded in 1875 to bring together explorers, scientists and officials knowledgeable about the African interior, publish ethnographical and geographical knowledge, advise the government with studies and it was a major promoter of greater Portuguese involvement in Africa.^[21] The Society developed the Pink Map plan, which called for the occupation of the territory between Angola and Mozambique and lead to several scientific expeditions in the region, the first of which was led by Serpa Pinto, Hermenegildo Capelo and Roberto Ivens in 1877.^[22]

Henrique de Carvalho travelled to the Lunda Empire in 1884.^[23] Carvalho was a prolific write who later published a series of works on the history, ethnography and politics of Lunda, including a four-volume work, each 700 pages long, titled Descrição da Viagem à Mussumba do Muatiânvua but which has remained largely ignored outside of Portugal.^[24]

The same year that Carvalho left for Lunda, Capelo and Ivens undertook a celebrated jorney across Africa from Angola to Mozambique. In 1885, Serpa Pinto and Augusto Cardoso set out on an expedition to explore northern Mozambique and Lake Malawi.^[23]

From the mid-19th century onwards, several European powers scrambled for Africa, which led to international disputes. At the Berlin Conference, spurred in particular by Portugals claims to the Congo Basin, Portugal saw its claims to the left bank of the Congo River and Cabinda recognised.^[25][26] However, any claims based on simple discovery or just diplomatic and commercial relations with the native authorities were rejected. Instead, the conference established the principle of "effective occupation" and afterwards the pace of European claims on African territory would increase.^[25]

Portugal held a number of settlements in Mozambique, such as Beira, Sofala, Quelimane, Inhambane, Ibo, Mozambique Island, Tete, Sena, Zumbo, and Lourenço Marques, while a number of Tsonga kingdoms around Lourenço Marques were under a protectorate of the Portuguese Crown. The northern part of the territory was however coveted by Germany and the southern part by the United Kingdom. Throughout the 19th century, Portugal carefully balanced diplomacy between the three nations to throw them off of Mozambique.

To the north of Lourenço Marques laid the Gaza Empire, a Nguni state established by Shoshangane in the wake of the Mfecane.^[27] Its warriors fought in impi-like half-moon formations and they had subdued the native Chopi and Tonga through war or intermarriage.^[27] Although they were weaker than their forebears, they continued to evoke terror among their neighbours, including even the small Portuguese communities established along the coast.^[27] Its ruling clan, the Vátua, also sought to balance diplomacy between the Portuguese, British and Boers but Gungunhana favoured the British Empire. He had usurped the throne of Gaza from his half-brother and upon acceeding to the throne sought allies among the Swazi, the Matabele, but also the British and especially from Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company against the Portuguese.^[28] In October 1890 he would score his greatest diplomatical victory in granting a mining and railroad concession to Cecil Rhodes in exchange for a yearly supply of 1000 rifles.^[29]

On 11 January 1890, the United Kingdom issued Portugal an Ultimatum, demanding that all Portuguese forces be withdrawn from the territory between Angola and Mozambique. During the diplomatic hiatus that followed, Cecil Rhodes took the opportunity to claim as much territory as he could for the British South Africa Company and on 15 November some of his troops occupied Massequesse, in an attempt to secure a corridor to the sea.^[30] On 28 May 1891 however, Portugal and Britain signed a new treaty, which among other things recognized the Gaza Empire as in the Portuguese sphere of influence.^[31]

The British Ultimatum nevertheless caused national outrage and a wave of patriotic sentiment swept the country.^[27] Portuguese authorities became suspicious of British activity and when a revolt broke out among the Tsonga kings in 1895, some suspected that it had been incited by Gungunhana at the behest of the British.

The Tsonga rebelled in 1894 under the leadership of king Matibejana of Mafumo, a son of Gungunhana.^[32] Lourenço Marques was attacked, but the revolt was quelled at the Battle of Marracuene in February 1895 and the Tsonga rebels fled to Gaza, where they were granted asylum by Gungunhana.^[33]

The Portuguese government decided to annex Gaza. The moment was apt, as the Vátuas were weakened by the revolt of their own subjects, epidemics and the emigration of their youth.^[34][35] Royal Commissioner António José Enes was dispatched to Mozambique and he drew up a campaign that was to be carried out by experienced officers such as Caldas Xavier, Paiva Couceiro, Ayres de Ornellas and Mouzinho de Albuquerque. Gaza would be the first campaign in an era marked by the participation of high-ranking officers of the Portuguese Armed Forces and for that reason became known as "the Age of Centurions", that would last until 1909.^[35][36]

At the Battle of Magul on 8 September, Vátua warriors were unable to break through a square of Portuguese infantry, supported by Nordenfelt machine guns. The use of cavalry charges and mobile columns of troops also surprised the Africans and destroyed Gungunhana's aura of invincibility.^[37] In September 1895, as Portuguese troops manoeuvered closer to his kraal, Gungunhana dispatched emissaries to Pretoria, Natal and Cape Town in a last-ditch attempt to obtain some kind of protection or alliance, but they came back empty-handed.^[38] Till the end of his reign, Gungunhana "apparently believed that he could prevent the Portuguese conquest by bluffs, threats or by actually making an alliance with 'other whites'".^[38] After the Battle of Coolela on 7 November 1895, Mouzinho de Albuquerque advanced inland with a small body of men and on 28 December captured Gungunhana at Chaimite.^[39] The end of the Vátua empire was not unpopular among the subjects of Gungunhana, to whom they already owed tribute.^[40] Several military outposts were then established in the region and it was incorporated into Mozambique as a district.

The defeat of Gungunhana surprised foreign observers, such as the Americans and the British, whose consul Sir Hugh MacDonnell at first refused to believe that Gungunhana had been beaten.^[41] Although logistics had been lacking, the morale of Portuguese troops was high, they were equipped with the Kropatschek magazine rifle that was one of the best for use in Africa, Portugal had allies who would provide them with war-material and more importantly Enes had unanimous backing from home in his venture.^[42][43] It was the most famous of the pacification campaigns and the largest sent overseas by Portugal since the independence of Brazil.^[27][44]

The king of Maputo had agreed to participate in the campaign with his warriors in exchange for a large supply of modern rifles but after receiving the weapons he deserted.^[45] Once Gaza was annexed and most of the Portuguese troops had returned home, the king turned hostile and threatened the Catholic missionaries in his kingdom.^[45] At the behest of governor-general Joaquim da Graça therefore, Mouzinho de Albuquerque annexed the territory in the Maputo campaign in 1896.^[46][45]

Mouzinho de Albuquerque was appointed governor-general that same year and he sought to annex and tax the Swahili and Makua states in northern Mozambique, but this met the opposition of almost all Makua kings, the Swahili sultans and even some Portuguese merchants.^[47] A few forts were established along the coast and a campaign was launched against the Namarrais, but this tribe proved skillful at guerrilla warfare and operations were suspended once a revolt broke out in Gaza, which forced Mouzinho de Albuquerque to divert his forces south to deal with the threat.^[48][47]

The years following the Gaza campaign had been marked by drought and disease in the region.^[40] The revolt in Gaza was led by Maguiguana in an attempt to restore Vatua power but he was defeated at the Second Battle of Macontene in July 1897.^[40]

Once Gaza was occupied, Portugal focused on pacifying the Zambezi valley, where the Zambezi Wars had been going on for some decades already between African kinglets, warlords or bandits, Afro-Portuguese landowners and the Portuguese government. Unlike Gaza however, the region was fragmented into a multitude of small states and the geography favored guerrilla, hence its pacification required numerous small campaigns and was much more difficult.^[35] Resistance in the Zambezi valley at first was taken up by rogue Afro-Portuguese prazeiros, seventeenth-century creations of the Portuguese Crown whose ruling families had "gone native".^[49]

The state of war that has almost become chronic in Zambezia is the main reason for the backwardness of that region and for the difficulties which the metropolitan government and the local government have found in advancing and developing that vast territory.^[50]

The Portuguese government employed few regular army soldiers in the Zambezi valley and relied mainly on sipaios (African gendarmes) to pacify the region.^[51] The sipaios were an African militia created in 1892 to integrate former slaves or chikunda, and to establish control over the interior, as Lisbon was by that point focused elsewhere.^[52] They knew the terrain and were immune to malaria, which ravaged European troops.^[52] Gunboats sailing up the river would also play an important part.^[53] Deep-rooted animosity between the various peoples of Zambezia prevented a united front, while some actively supported the Portuguese in exchange for protection against enemy raids and banditry.^[54] Portugal further benefitted from the allegiance of powerful prazeiros, chief among them Manuel António de Sousa, who also held the rank of captain-major in the Portuguese colonial army.

In the far western hinterland of Mozambique around Zumbo, the Afro-Portuguese warlords Kanyemba and Matakenya had established a number of stockades from which they raided and extracted tribute from the surrounding tribes with their bands of chikunda followers, however both the warriors as well as the peasantry were subject to brutal treatment, afforded little compensation and ruled largely by fear, which led to resentment, defection and revolt.^[55] When Matakenya began attacking allies tribes of Portugal, the government intervened against him.^[56] Squeezed between the Portuguese and the British, Matakenya drew together a smal number of Nsenga, Chewa and Tawara chieftaincies and other small minor warlords into a coalition, but with his death in 1893 the alliance fell apart.^[55]

The hinterland of Massingire had fallen under the control of the rebel leader Marenga since 1887.^[54] He had allied with the Makololo and together they raided isolated Portuguese plantations, outposts and warehouses in the regions of Cheringoma and Gorongosa.^[54] In 1891 they received support from Maganja da Costa, an independent republic notable for the sophisticated organization of its troops.^[54] Portuguese authorities worried that Marengas activities might cause a widespread revolt in the north bank of the Zambezi.^[54] When Manuel António de Sousa perished in combat the following year, a great number of sipaios in his service defected, led by Sousas captains, chief among them Cambuemba.^[57] They established themselves as independent warlords across Gorongosa and the Zambezi valley and they commanded numerous stockades from which they raided the surrounding territory and extracted tribute from the peasantry, but they proved unable to find common ground among themselves or with neighbouring kings.^[57] Mozambique experienced a level of banditry it had not seen since the great drought in the 1820s, and anarchy prevailed for the next five years.^[57] It became increasingly clear that stabilizing the region would require assertion by the central authority, and João de Azevedo Coutinho was commissioned to carry out that task.^[57] He was one of the most effective officials to serve in Mozambique and by June 1897 he had cleared the valley of bandit stockades loyal to Cambuemba with an army recruited north of the Zambezi.^[58]

In 1898, Coutinho led a campaign against Maganja da Costa with over 6000 men, the vast majority of them sipaios and auxiliaries.^[59] The republic capitulated and it was annexed on 17 June 1898.^[60][59] It was the last of the former Crown prazos to be pacified.^[60][59] Massingire was fully pacified on the occasion.^[54]

The Second Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899, while the pacification of Zambezia was ongoing. Public opinion in Portugal favoured the Boers highly due to the British ultimatum nine years prior, but the Portuguese government avoided hostilizing the United Kingdom and instead took the opportunity to reaffirm the Anglo-Portuguese alliance through the signing of a new Treaty of Windsor, by which the British recognized Portuguese claims and reaffirmed its pledge to help defend Portugal as well as its overseas empire against all enemies "future and present", in exchange for aid against the Boers.^[61][62] During the hostilities, 800-900 Boers crossed into Mozambique to seek refuge, but they were arrested and transported to Caldas da Rainha in Portugal, where they were kept until the end of the war.^[63] Yet the Boers were treated reasonably well and their relationship with the Portuguese authorities and population was cordial, with Boer C. Plokhooy writing that "life at Caldas da Rainha is certainly becoming pleasant, and who dares grumble about it grumbles without cause".^[64]

Elsewhere in 1899 still, navy officer António Júlio de Brito led a small expedition that succeeded in annexing the kingdom of Angónia, which was experiencing a succession crisis at the time.^[65] Brito was elected king by its inhabitants on the occasion, and between March and May 1902 he led over 290 sipaios and 3000 nguni warriors on a campaign against the kingdom of Macanga, which was also annexed.^[66][67]

The Kingdom of Barue was at the center of anti-Portuguese activity in Mozambique and its king actively supplied African rebels with weapons and troops, while the alliances he cultivated threatened Portuguese sovereignty over the Zambezi valley.^[68][69] It was located on the border with Rhodesia and therefore of strategic importance.^[70] Coutinho organized a campaign involving 1000 soldiers, of which 500 were drawn from the metropolitan army, and 15,000 sipaios.^[69] The conquest of Barue in 1902 was Portugals most well organized campaign in Mozambique and the biggest in Zambezia.^[70][68] Modern weaponry such as Maxim guns allowed the Portuguese to secure the territory in three months.^[69] The Portuguese navy was particularly important for the transportation of men, animals, machinery and provisioning to advanced posts inland, whilst protecting the rear lines.^[68]

Two hundred kilometers west of Tete, José Rosário de Andrade, better known as Kanyemba ("the ferocious") had built a stockade from which he had raided the surrounding countryside since the 1870s, with a force estimated at 1000 rogue chikunda.^[71] After Andrade died in the late 19th century, the Portuguese defeated his forces and pacified the region in 1903.^[72]

The occupation of northern Mozambique was also slow and difficult. Portugal faced a coalition of peoples that included the Swahili states on the coast, allied to Macua kings, to resist Portuguese expansionism and preserve the slave trade.^[73][74] The Yao were also well-armed, notoriously involved in the slave trade and prepared to wage a guerrilla war.^[74][75] King Nyambi of the Mataka dynasty ruled the Yao with an iron fist until c. 1879 and the forays he conducted on neighbours involved the razing and burning villages and the mutilation and killing of enemies.^[76] The Mataka dynasty sponsored slave caravans over a thousand men strong into the 1890 and provoked a succession of Portuguese military campaigns in the region.^[77] The Portuguese would find ready allies in other Macua kings that hoped to bring an end to the slaving that depopulated the region.

Portugal held the settlements of the Island of Mozambique, Mossuril, Cabaceira, Natule, Parapato, Sangage, Mogincual and Infusse along the northern coast.^[78] The Gaza campaign had brought ambitious officials and more European regulars to the territory, which despite their small number was a notable development.^[79] Even so, the occupation of the region would rely heavily on African sipaios and auxiliaries.^[80] Deficient logistics in this theater caused great losses on European troops due to gastrointestinal diseases and poor sanitary conditions, which modern medicine proved insufficient to prevent.^[37]

Portugals main enemy south of the Lúrio River however was the Sultanate of Angoche, an important slaving centre that resisted the ban on the trafficking of people.^[81] Farelay, a powerful member of the royal family, forged numerous alliances with local Macua kings to attack Portuguese territory and preserve the slave trade, from which he derived major profits. In 1904, Mossuril was attacked, and the following year Portuguese columns began to systematically march into the African hinterland.^[82] Angoche was conquered in 1910 by the forces of Pedro Massano de Amorim, and Farelay was arrested, along with Sultan Ibrahimo and king Guernea-Muno.^[81] Once Angoche was annexed, at least 87 Macua lords recognised Portuguese sovereignty.^[81] From then on, Portuguese troops began to receive help from Macua lords who resisted the Swahili slavers established along the coast.^[82] The Namarrais were pacified by the Portuguese in 1913 through a series of alliances forged with neighbouring tribes, and this year the region between the Zambezi and the Lúrio was fully occupied.^[82][7]

The region between the Lúrio and the Ruvuma River had been leased to the Niassa Company in 1890. However, Mataka Bonomali blocked access from the sea to Lake Malawi and attacked Nyasaland, which led to complaints in Lisbon.^[83] The Portuguese feared British military intervention in the region and so a major campaign was launched against Bonomali between 10 June and 21 November 1899, involving 312 regulars and 2,800 sipaios.^[84] The sipaios and local auxiliaries fought effectively against the Yao, but Bonomali avoided capture and adopted guerrilla warfare.^[85] In 1900, the Portuguese occupied Metarica and founded Fort Dom Luís Filipe.^[86] In 1901, Mataka Bonomali attacked the lands of the lords who had accepted Portuguese authority, and in November 1903, the Yao attacked Fort Dom Luís Filipe.^[84] Mataka Bonomali passed in 1903 and was succeeded by Mataka Mkwepu, was less warlike and ruled only for two years.^[76] He was in turn succeeded by Mataka Chisonga, who was not respected.^[76]

In 1908 a South African consortium took over the Niassa Company, and now provided with considerable funds, the Company could launch a new attempt at securing the interior.^[87] For the next four years lines of posts were extended to the north and south of Matakas territory.^[87] The hinterland of Ibo and Quissanga da Praia were between 1908 and 1910.^[84] In 1910, the Yao of Macaloe were pacified.^[84] Chisonga was attacked by a considerable force in 1912 and he fled to German East Africa with 45,000 followers.^[76] The Niassa Company then began to administer Niassa. A number of Makonde tribes still eluded Company control on the Mueda Plateau however.^[87]

The outbreak of World War I pitted the Portuguese against the Germans on opposite sides of the Rovuma and led to the dispatch of new contingents of soldiers to the territory. Portugal occupied the Kionga Triangle on 10 April 1916 and the Mueda Plateau between April and July 1917, with a force of 2,000 Makua auxiliaries.^[88] Also in 1917, the Barue uprising took place and while it lasted, the Germans invaded Mozambique with 300 soldiers and 1,700 askari, which prompted some Yao and Makua lords to revolt as well, but once the Germans withdrew, the Portuguese pacified the territory.^[88]

Portugal is estimated to have invested more than 7,000 European soldiers, 9,000 African soldiers, 74,000 sipaios and 100,000 allied native warriors in the occupation of Mozambique from 1854 until World War I, the troops of African origin accounting for 95% or more of the total, which lead some authors to comment that "Mozambique conquered itself".^[6]

Angola had always been the focus of greater attention and investment by the Portuguese government than any other territory in Africa. At the time of Brazil's independence, Portuguese rule extended to Ambriz to the north, Cabo Negro to the south, and Pungo Andongo in the east.^[12] In the interior, African kings were linked to it through trade and diplomatic relations but they were otherwise independent.^[12] Until the construction of the Suez canal and the development of the mining sector in southern Africa, Angola was much closer to world markets and better served by shipping than Mozambique. It remained the "crown jewel" of Portugal, with larger revenues than any other colony.^[89] It remained essentially a trading colony based on the three port cities of Luanda, Benguela and Moçâmedes until the 19th century.^[90]

Portuguese activity in Angola was concentrated in and around Luanda, Benguela and Moçâmedes, and along the north bank of the Cuanza.^[91] Portuguese impact on the culture of these regions was profound and a unique society marked by its ambivalent social attitudes developed.^[91] In Luanda, Portuguese served as the official language, though all segments of society made equal use of Kimbundu, and it was not uncommon to find Africans included in the highest positions or mestiços relegated to the lowest.^[91] Though its centre was Luanda, creole culture spread throughout the surrounding territory by slaves or ex-slaves, by coffee planters on the highlands around Luanda and by itinerant traders.^[92] Coffee was grown in the Cuanza valley and African farmers and Portuguese or Brazillian plantation owners, while sugar was grown in small amounts along the coast.^[93] Natural rubber gathered by the Chokwe was exported and in time it came to rival ivory after the slave trade was outlawed.^[93] In the south on the other hand, a different culture developed as Europeans began to settle in the healthier region of Moçâmedes and the adjacent Huíla Plateau starting in 1849.^[91] Its population was about 400,000 people, of which only 2,000 were whites.

Portuguese forces in Angola were divided in a first line of professional European or African soldiers, a second line of European, African or mestiços militiamen, and auxiliary warriors provided by allied or vassal kings.^[12] Portuguese policy favoured the use of African troops, the officers being Europeans or mestiços.^[94] As service in Angola was unattractive due to high mortality, low pay and long service times, European officers remained in short supply, while some African groups not only remained loyal to Portuguese authorities but acquired a reputation for talent in bush warfare, so positions in the army were opened up to Africans even before 1700.^[94] At least two Africans or mestiços reached the rank of colonel by the 19th century, while Geraldo António Victor, known as Quinjango ("scimitar"^[95]), became a general of the first-line Angolan army and was regarded as a hero of the 1870s campaigns in Angola and Guinea.^[94][96]

The composition of the army was diverse but its roles were clear: uphold Portuguese sovereignty, defend Portuguese settlements, aid allied African chiefs against their enemies and suppress rebellions.^[97] There was scarcely a year in which a campaign was not carried out in Angola for centuries since 1575.^[97] Governor-General Sebastião Lopes de Calheiros e Meneses wrote that:

...the normal condition of the administration of this colony is to make war, and to prepare itself for war.

Many great African states in Angola showed signs of erosion already by the early 19th century but by 1885 desintegration was widespread.^[99] Kongo retained great prestige and ritual importance but actual power gradually passed to provincial chiefs, who partook in the expanding trade of the Congo estuary and were effectively independent.^[99] Kasanje was a hollow shell with power in the hands of lineage elders, while further east the Lunda empire was rapidly dissolving.^[99] In the south, the kingdom of Humbe was greatly reduced and threatened by the rising power of the Ovambo.^[99] Political fragmentation sometimes allowed the rise of groups able to resist the Portuguese more effectively than the centralized powers they replaced however, such as the Dembos and the Chokwe.^[99] Chokwe tribes raided for slaves, hunted ivory, and harvested natural rubber, which they traded for modern firearms.^[99] They overthrew the Lunda Empire and spread out over eastern Angola.^[99] Chokwe expansion across eastern Angola "brought a train of violence and disorder into a previously relatively stable region" as they were armed with guns while their neighbours were not.^[100] The Portuguese found it challenging to subdue this ellusive foe due to their decentralized nature.^[99]

The occupation of Angola was carried out gradually in more than 180 small campaigns and beyond the fact that no chartered companies operated in its territory, it did not differ greatly from Mozambique.^[101] Some were relatively large-scale, such as the Cuamatos Campaign in 1907 and the Dembos Campaign in 1907–1909.^[101][70] The most extensive was the Southern Angola Campaign in 1914-1915.^[102]

Boers would play a relevant role in the Portuguese occupation of southern Angola, for both good and bad reasons. They first settled in the Moçamedes plateau in 1882 or slightly before.^[103] They were an enterprising community that built flourishing transport businesses in the southern highlands with their great ox wagons.^[104] They also often cooperated with the Portuguese Armed Forces as irregulars. On the other hand, they were a distabilizing force that hostilized both Portuguese and Africans just as often, forcing the Portuguese state to mobilize troops to the area, namely the Moçâmedes Dragoon Company.^[103]

In the north of Angola, Portugal was awarded Cabinda along with the left bank of the Congo River at the Berlin Conference and afterwards Ambrizete was occupied in 1886.

In the south, Portuguese priorities were to counteract German influence emanating from German South West Africa. The border was not yet clearly defined and the Portuguese government feared German encroachment.^[105] Germany had conducted a survey of the harbours of Tigres Strait, Porto Alexandre and Moçâmedes, and some German elites suggested the military occupation of Tigres Strait in order to link it to the Boer republics by rail in case a war with Great Britain broke out.^[105] Boer refugees from the First Anglo-Boer War helped push the frontier southwards with their great Ox-wagons but this also brought about conflict with the Ovambo.^[12] Huíla was the epicentre of Portuguese activity in the south.^[106] An expedition led by Artur de Paiva set out from Huíla in 1886 and established the forts Princesa Amélia and Dona Maria close to two strategic fording points on the Cubango River, to put an end to Ovambo raids, especially by the Cuanhama tribe.^[12] In 1887, the Moçâmedes Dragoon Company faced the third Humbe revolt during a cattle vaccination campaign on the lands of king Nambonga, and one of its four platoons was massacred in Jamba Camufate during a retreat in the middle of the rainy season.^[107] The distinguished Count of Almoster was among the dead, hence news of the incident caused outrage once they reached Portugal and the region was pacified by Artur de Paiva between January and August of the following year.^[107] Fort Dona Maria was attacked by Cuanhamas in 1889, but Artur de Paiva conducted a 24-day campaign against them with a small detachment of troops, that included Boer mercenaries.^[12]

A third front was opened in the centre in 1890, directed at the Central Plateau. Early in that year, the king of Viye issued an ultimatum of his own at Portugal and humilliated the renowned explorer Silva Porto, who committed suicide on the occasion, both of which caused a clamor in Portugal and resulted in the conquest of Viye by Artur de Paiva between October and December.^[108][109] Fort Silva Porto was established at Cuíto and the kingdom annexed, the same happening to the Kingdom of Bailundo the following year.^[108][109] Still in 1891, the border with the Congo Free State in the Lunda region to the northeast was settled diplomatically and once this was done, Portuguese authority in the north was gradually extended inland through the establishment of military, administrative or tax posts emanating from Malange.

The kingdom of Humbe had been hostile since 1887, but it was pacified in 1898 following a seven-month campaign also led by Artur de Paiva, who suffered considerable casualties as it was carried out during the rainy season.^[12]

Portuguese presence in the centre remained sparse and it was challenged by the Bailundo revolt in 1902.^[110] Attempt to unite all the Ovimbundu kingdoms in the rebellion was a failure due to slave-raiding between Ovimbundu kingdoms, and the leader of the revolt, Mutu-ya-Kevela was seen as a major slave-raider in the neighbouring kingdom of Wambu.^[111] Portuguese reinforcements were rushed to the region with heavy armaments, Mutu-ya-Kevela was killed in combat and the plateau was definitively pacified later that year in October.^[110]

In the south, the Cuamatos raided Portuguese territory the same year that the Bailundo Revolt broke out. The governor of the district of Huíla João Maria de Aguiar was instructed to subdue the hostile Cuamatos and Cuanhama tribes before the Germans claimed their territory, as the frontier was not yet established.^[112] The campaign was launched in 19 September 1904 and led by Alves Roçadas, who was tasked with annexing the kingdoms of Cuamato Pequeno, Cuamato Grande and Cuanhama.^[113] It was the first major Portuguese campaign beyond the Cunene River and it involved about 2000 men, of which roughly half were drawn from the home army, but it ended in defeat at the Battle of the Cunene, where a detachment was massacred.^[113][112]

The ‘Disaster of Pembe’ as it came to be known galvanised the Ovambo, particularly the Cuamatos, who began attacking tribes under Portuguese protection and even threatening Portuguese estates north of the Cunene. It also galvanised Portuguese public opinion however, and the Portuguese government was forced to intervene in the region.^[114]

Aguiar was replaced with Alves Roçadas, who enacted a number of preliminary military actions and diplomatic accords with the neighbouring tribes over the two following years, in preparation for a new campaign against the Cuamatos.^[105] He annexed the small kingdom of Mulondo in 1905 and established Fort Mulondo there, followed shortly afterwards by Fort Roçadas further south, in Cuamato territory.^[115][116] The following year, João de Almeida successfully conducted a perilous reconnaissance mission to Cuanhama and Evale.^[117]

Portuguese occupation of the interior of Angola remained irregular until Paiva Couceiro took office as interim governor-general on 24 May 1907.^[118] He laid out a plan to systematically chart and garrison the entire territory using the railroads of Luanda, Benguela and Moçâmedes, up navigable rivers and through roads to be opened.^[118] Means were scarce however, and Portuguese troops in Angola by then numbered only 5065 men, of which only 1700 were whites.^[118]

On August 26, 1907, Alves Roçadas launched the planned campaign in the south with nearly 2500 men, 10 cannon and two machine-guns and five forts were built in the two Cuamato kingdoms.^{[113][119][118][117]} Yet the Cuamatos continued to engage in guerrilla warfare alongside the Cuanhamas with German support.^[120] While the Cuamatos Campaign was ongoing, João de Almeida led 526 men, two cannon, two machineguns and 400 militiamen on a campaign in the Dembos to the north, where three forts were built between 19 September and December 1907.^[121] To the northeast, the governor of Lunda Alberto Teixeira de Almeida had military outposts built in Xá-Quilongue, Cuilo and Luchico that year and in the next, though he faced attacks by the Chokwe.^[122] Operations in the northeast would continue the following years.^[122]

In 1908, two outposts were built at Pinda and Quelo to the south of the Congo river mouth in order to pacify the region as far as Noqui and suppress the brigandage led by the Marquis of Mossul, who blocked traffic between Luanda and Ambriz.^[122] The region of Libolo was also annexed that year with the construction of an outpost at Cassueca.^[122] João de Almeida was appointed governor of Huíla in 1909 and that year he annexed Evale with the construction of the forts Dom Manuel in Cuvelai and Henrique Couceiro in Dombondola, in the middle of the rainy season.^[122] Almeida also established forts in Cuangar, Dirico and Mucusso by the border with German Southwest Africa.^[122]

Couceiro quit in 1909 but his short two-year term is considered one of the most effective in the history of Portuguese Angola. He was compared to Hubert Lyautey, Joseph Gallieni or Frederick Lugard.^[118] His program would be followed in the coming decades.^[118]

Alves Roçadas succeded Paiva Couceiro as governor-general of Angola, though he quit after the republican coup in 1910. Cassai was reached in 1912 and the occupation of the northeast was complete. A revolt broke out the following year in the Kingdom of Kongo against the traditional government, and this incident resulted in the partition of Kongo between Portugal and Belgium.

After the outbreak of WW1, the Cuangar fort was attacked by German forces on 31 October 1914. The same happened at the fort of Naulila on 18 December, where 69 Portuguese were killed and 36 taken prisoner in the Naulila Incident.

Alves Roçadas ordered a withdrawal from southern Angola and the establishment of a new line of defence in Gambos in anticipation for a major German offensive. Such an offensive never materialized but the attack on Naulila resulted in the complete and final cutting of communications and supplies to German South West Africa from Angola, isolating the territory that the Royal Navy had already blockaded by sea.

The withdrawal of Portuguese troops allowed the Ovambo to revolt and also turn their weapons towards each other in violent tribal conflict once more. The populations of Huíla revolted, causing a long crisis that would only be resolved with the arrival of a large expeditionary force commanded by General Pereira d'Eça, "the Steel General", (General d'Aço in Portuguese) who landed in Angola in March 1915.^[123]

On 7 July 1915, Portuguese forces reoccupied Humbe, encountering no resistance but struggling with a severe shortage of water.^[123] In Humbe, the land had been burned and all able-bodied men had sought refuge in Cuamatos and Cuanhama, leaving behind women and children.^[123]

On 9 July, German forces commanded by General Victor Franke surrendered to General Louis Botha, commander-in-chief of the South African Union forces. General Pereira d'Eça's mission was thus reduced to the pacification of the Ovambo who had rebelled against Portuguese authority.

On 15 August, a column of General Pereira d'Eça's forces reoccupied the Cuamato fort. Between 18 and 20 August, the Battle of Môngua took place, in which the main column of the expeditionary forces, consisting of 3,000 men commanded personally by General Pereira d'Eça dispersed the Ovambo warriors led by king Mandume himself. The Ovambo numbered 15,000 Cuanhamas, 10,000 Cuamatos and 20,000 warriors from Damaraland, although estimates vary.^[123] One Portuguese officer and fifteen soldiers died in combat, while six officers and twenty-four soldiers were wounded.^[123] On Mandume's side, an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 were killed.^[123]

On 4 September, Pereira d'Eça occupied Ondjiva, capital of the Cuanhama kingdom, without resistance.^[123] With Humbe, Cuamatos, Evale and Cuanhama reoccupied, the rebellion was quelled and a period of peace ensued which would last for more than 40 years after Mandume's death in 1917.^[123]

The pacification campaigns were not limited to Africa but also extended to the island of Timor. The Portuguese had come into contact with Timor in 1512 and although some merchants and Dominican missionaries settled on the island, official presence was only be definitively established two centuries later.

At the end of the 19th century, Timor remained divided into numerous independent kingdoms, each subdivided into clans, that often fought each other or among each other to capture slaves, cattle, and prizes such as enemy heads, the cutting of which was a ritual of warrior consecration, and which could be offered to the ruler in exchange for gifts.^[124] People considered to have become possessed by an evil spirit would be impaled or buried alived along with their family and their property confiscated by relatives, until the Portuguese eventually forbade this practice along with that of human sacrifice, usually a slave.^[125][124] The Timorese ritual sacrifice of war-prisoners by decapitation and the consumption of their blood in a common bowl was the subject of particular disgust among the Portuguese.^[126] Timorese kings and vassals were all connected by marriages or blood oaths, alliances between kingdoms were unstable and opportunistic, rebellions by warrior clans frequent and when kings provided the Portuguese with contingents of warriors they were known to provide some to their enemies as well.^[127]

Timor was roughly divided between the region of Belu in east, where Tetum was spoken primarily or as a second language, and Servião to the west, where the Atoni lived.^[128] Governor Afonso de Castro estimated in 1867 that the island was divided in 62 kingdoms, 46 in Belu and 16 in Servião.^[129] The total population of Timor was estimated at about 300,000 people in the 1880s.^[130] The most populated kingdom was Luca, with 25,000 people, followed by Motael with 18,400, Ambeno with 18,000, Sarau with 12,000 and Maubara and Ermera with 10,000 each, while the rest averaged at about 3,000 to 6,000 people.^[130]

Portugal established a permanent administration on the island in 1702 and for the next 192 years pursued a policy of indirect rule over the native kingdoms of Timor.^[131] Some sought trade and allegiance through pacts of vassalage voluntarily, though others rejected Portuguese overlordship and remained hostile. By 1703, 23 kingdoms had pledged allegiance to Portugal, while 9 were hostile.^[131] The Portuguese administration bestowed military ranks on vassal Timorese authorities such as liurais, datos and village chiefs in return for oaths of vassalage that was copied by the Dutch, followed by the payment of a tribute, called finta.^[131] Liurais were given the ranks of brigadier, colonel or lieutenant-colonel, while the heads of a kingdoms sucos or districts were attributed the ranks of major and captain; village chiefs were given the ranks of lieutenant and alferes.^[130] Oaths usually followed a form similar to the one signed by king Luís dos Reis e Cunha of Luca on 20 July 1877:

I, Dom Luís dos Reis e Cunha, Brigadier King of the Kingdom of Luca, swear to the Holy Gospels in the hands of the Honorable Joaquim Antonia da Silva Ferrão, Governor of the district of Timor, vassalage to the King of Portugal Dom Luiz I, and for homage and honor compel me to fulfill all the orders of the governing lords, to pay the tribute of the same kingdom, and give assistance in war and for whatever other service, in the towns of outside it, as the governing authorities shall order.

The Portuguese would also affirm blood pacts with Timorese kings, and exchange symbols of authority such as Portuguese flags and military ranks which were "soon deeply embedded in collective values and underpinned the position of the elites in various ways".^[133] Yet attempts at deeply regulating the politics of Timorese kingdoms often resulted in revolt, suppressed with the help of vassal Timorese lords.^[131] Alliances fluctuacted constantly and governor Afonso de Castro would comment that:

Rebellion in Timor continues successively, leading us to conclude that revolt is a normal state and that peace is exceptional

Portuguese forces in Timor were divided in a first line of a regular army soldiers, officers, column commanders, sergeants and artillerymen and a second line of Timorese moradores militiamen on foot or horseback, trained and led by Portuguese or Timorese sergeants and officers.^[135] In times of war, allied Timorese kings were called up to lead contingents of their warriors on campaign.^[135] Regular army soldiers were few in number on Timor however, and for this reason the Portuguese administration relied heavily on Timorese moradores militiamen and auxiliary warriors.^[136] When the Portuguese army garrison in Dili revolted on May 30 1864 over the lack of pay, the regent of Maubara and the liurai Dom João of Liquiçá offered to help suppress the revolt with 2000 warriors.^[137]

Garrisons were established in eleven locations in the 1850s, though Portugal still relied heavily on alliances with Timorese rulers.^[138]

By the late 19th century, Timor was marked by instability, while the Portuguese administration struggled with a lack of manpower and resources. Portuguese rule was limited to Dili and a number of military outposts established in allied kingdoms throught the island, seven in the north and three in the south. Portuguese Timor was administered as a district of Macau at the time, but governor José Maria de Sousa Horta e Costa opposed this due to budget concerns.^[139]

A considerable number of Chinese merchants were active throughout the island, but the Portuguese administration considered them a source of instability as they engaged in smuggling, weapons trafficking and incited the Timorese to revolt.^[140] Many were accused by the Timorese of kidnapping children to sell into slavery over debts, while the merchants themselves often complained of theft and assault.^[140]

In 1893, a revolt broke out in the kingdom of Maubara, where Portugal held two military outposts garrisoned by Goan troops.^[141] The queen of Maubara, Dona Ana, scarcely controlled the chiefs in her kingdom while the smuggling of coffee and firearms by Chinese merchants was rampant.^[141] The rebels led by chief Maubute overran the Portuguese military outposts at Daire and Fatuboro after their garrisons had run out of ammunition, and 11 Goan soldiers were beheaded along with 2 Portuguese officers, while the women were impaled.^[141] Maubara was then besieged on May 27 but reinforcements arrived from Macau the following month, on the gunboat Diu.^[141] With the help of its artillery, the Portuguese repulsed the rebels and by July 2 the rebellion had been quelled, with Maubute having perished in combat.^[141]

Maubara had considerable repercussions. The region was pillaged and plague set in, causing 300 dead, while epidemics of cholera and beri-beri broke out around Dili.^[139] It was the last conflict before the occupation of Timor was lauched in earnest by José Celestino da Silva, whose professionalism had been noted by king Carlos himself and earned him the personal support of the monarch. Silva took office on 11 May 1894 and he sought to occupy the island, promote coffee cultivation and suppress smuggling, weapons trafficking and the slave trade.^[141] Silva learned Tetum and employed a secret personal cipher in communications.^[141] The Timorese referred to him as Embote, meaning "governor" or literally "big thing".^[142] He resorted to alliances with Timorese kings against hostile ones and fostered the creation of moradores companies between 1894 and 1908.^[135][143]

The first campaign targeted the hostile kingdoms of Lamaquitos, Suai, Raimean and Cailaco, and owed its success to the support of allied Timorese liurai and their warriors.^[135] The second one was launched on 24 May 1895 against the kingdoms of Cailaco, Obulo, Marobo, Atabae, Balibó and Fatumean, which were found to have revolted with the encouragement of Chinese merchants resentful of tighter controls by Portuguese authorities on smuggling and weapons trafficking.^[135] When the third war broke out in August 1895 against the kingdom of Manufahi Portugal mobilized more than 12,000 Timorese auxiliaries, but it was called off on 28 October after several soldiers were killed in an ambush.^[135]

The debacle at Manufahi had important repercussions. Silva was heavily criticised in the Macanaese press and he asked to be relieved from his position but this was refused.^[139] Instead, the Portuguese governmend had Timor detached from Macau and made Silva directly subordinate to Lisbon on 17 October 1896.^[139]

In July 1896, Batugadé was occupied and then a campaign was carried out against Dato-Talo, involving 208 soldiers, four cannon, artillerymen, officers, 560 moradores and 7,558 auxiliaries.^[135] The heaviest fighting of the campaigns on Timor took place that year between early September and 5 October, on the Deribate escarpment in the sacred forest of Talo, involving around 3,000 Timorese moradores.^[135] They were led by the Portuguese alferes Francisco Duarte, a war-hero of the campaigns in Timor and known among the Timorese as Arbiru ("invincible man" in Tetum).^[135] The border with Dutch Timor was declared occupied on 23 October.^[135] Duarte fought in five major campaigns, and legends circulated in Kemak lore that he could only be killed by a golden bullet, but he died in combat on 17 July 1899.^[144] He was buried in Santa Cruz cemetery, where his mausoleum remains.^[144] A stone would be erected in his honor at the site of his death in Bobonaro in 1959.^[144]

Celestino da Silva was succeeded in office by Eduardo Marques, who reduced the number of military outposts to avoid stretching Portuguese forces too thin and save costs, and also replaced the finta tribute with the taxation of individual adult Timorese, which bred resentment.^[135] The pacification of Timor was concluded during the tenure of Filomeno da Câmara de Melo Cabral, during whose term the Dutch attempted to occupy Lakumara and the Manufahi revolt broke out.

Due to the great distance between Europe and Timor, few regular army soldiers were deployed to the theater.^[145] About 2,200 European soldiers participated in 56 campaigns between 1847 and 1913, supported by some 6,000 Timorese moradores and 108,000 Timorese auxiliaries, the Timorese accounting for 98% of the forces employed by the Portuguese.^[145]

Guinea had historically been part of the province of Cape Verde, but the region was threatened by British encroachment from the sea, and French encroachment from the landside. The British claimed Bolama Island and occupied it on 10 May 1860, but through the arbitration of Ulysses S. Grant Portugal recovered it on 1 October 1870.

Portugal detached Guinea from Cape Verde on 18 March 1879.^[146] Bolama was chosen as the capital but Portugal also held the settlements of Ziguinchor, Cacheu, Farim, Bissau, and Geba.^[147] Once the new province was created, all 250 soldiers of the 1st Cape Verdean Caçadores Battalion were transferred to Guinea.^[146]

From then on, the Portuguese abandoned their policy of trade and neutrality and became more deeply involved in the region, by that time devastated by inter-ethnic and religious conflict.^[148] Campaigns in Guinea aimed at pacifying the numerous ethnic groups that attacked Portuguese towns, establishing protectorates over native rulers and collecting taxes. Multiple operations followed against the Biafada in Djabadá, the Papel in Bissau and Biombo, the Balanta in Nhacra, and the Manjacos in Caió.^[149] In May 1881, Governor Agostinho Coelho signed a protectorate treaty with the Nalus kings around the Tombali River and thus annexed the southern coast of Guinea.^[150]

The boundaries of Guinea-Bissau were settled by the Franco-Portuguese Convention of 1886.^[151]

The years between 1879 and 1891 were marked by amphibious and riverside campaigns.^[152] The Portuguese carried out 22 campaigns in coastal areas, each involving an average of 100 soldiers, usually supported by gunboats and thousands of auxiliaries, against the Bijago, Biafada, Papel, Balanta and Fula, who attacked Portuguese towns and resisted the payment of taxes.^[153]

From 1892 onwards, the Portuguese began to penetrate inland.^[152] All Fula kinglets recognized Portuguese sovereignty this year. This allowed the Portuguese to recruit a great number of Muslim auxiliaries, pacify the north and east of the territory, and settle the borders with French West Africa, but river navigation remained unsafe.^[154] About half of Guinea was still unpacified and the Papel blocked the roads to Bissau. Guinean auxiliaries numbered about 1530 to 4000 men at this time, and more than 17,000 to 21,000 are estimated to have fought for Portugal by 1908.^[155]

João Teixeira Pinto was to play a decisive role the pacification of Guinea. He was an expert in the use of African auxiliaries with long years of experience in the harsh theater of southern Angola. During his career he gained the nickname Capitão Diabo ("Captain Devil").^[156] The animist Mandinka, Manjak, Balanta, Papel and Grumete peoples were pacified between 1912 and 1915, mostly owing to the support of Cuor chief Abdul Injai and the mass recruitment of Muslim auxiliaries, led by Teixeira Pinto. This was followed by the establishment of military, administrative and tax-collecting posts across the interior, along with the construction of a network of roads.^[157] Abdul Injai had been a fervorous supporter of Portugal during these campaigns but he rebelled in 1919 and was captured.^[158] Between 1925 and 1936, the last independent animists in the northwest and in the Bijago Islands were pacified, and the last campaign of pacification took place in Canhabaque, whose inhabitants engaged in piracy.^[159]

Guinea proved to be the most challenging theatre of war for Portugal, and between 1841 and 1936 the Portuguese government invested more than 8,000 soldiers in its occupation, half the number deployed in Mozambique.^[160] They were supported by 2,000 militiamen, while the native kings of Guinea supported Portugal with more than 40,000 auxiliary warriors, most of them Muslim Fulas, Mandingas and Biafadas.^[160][161]

• Scramble for Africa
• Portuguese Military History
• Portuguese Angola
• Portuguese Guinea
• Portuguese Mozambique
• Portuguese Colonial War

• Matias, Diogo (2010). "As operações militares de manutenção do Império Português em África: Uma visão sobre as tácticas usadas na perspectiva da doutrina actual" (PDF).
• Newitt, Malyn (1995). A History of Mozambique, Indiana University Press.
• Telo, António José (2004). Moçambique - 1895: A Campanha de Todos os Heróis, Tribuna da História.
• Regalado, Jaime Ferreira (2004). Cuamatos 1907: Os Bravos do Mufilo no Sul de Angola, Tribuna da História.
• Teixeira, Nuno Severiano (2019). The Portuguese at War: From the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day, Liverpool University Press.
• Vandervort, Bruce (2006). Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830-1914, Taylor and Francis.
• Oliver, Roland; Sanderson, G. N., eds. (1985). The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 6: From 1870 to 1905. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22803-9. OCLC 59237801.

• "As Guerras de Ocupação", by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal at ensina.rtp.pt.