Colonial Land Legacies In the Portuguese-Speaking World

Colonial Land Legacies in the Portuguese-Speaking World presents a comparative exploration of the enduring impacts of Portuguese colonial land governance in Portugal and across five former Portuguese colonies: Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Flores, and Portuguese Timor. Through ethnographic, historical, and legal analyses, the book investigates how colonial land policies and interventions were not simply implemented and forgotten but have shaped contemporary land access, governance, and socio-economic structures in profound ways. Portuguese colonialism was shaped by shifting political and economic priorities. From trading routes to plantation economies and extractive industries, land became central to Portuguese colonial interests. Colonial Land Legacies in the Portuguese-Speaking World investigates the bureaucratic mechanisms employed by Portuguese authorities to regulate land, highlighting how these systems were frequently manipulated by elites to consolidate power and control over...