Portuguese Guinea (also Guinea or the Overseas Province of Guinea) was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.
Though the Kingdom of Portugal had claimed the area four years earlier, Portuguese explorer Nuno Tristão sailed around the coast of West Africa, reaching the Guinea area in about 1450, searching for the source of gold and other valuable commodities that had slowly been trickling up into Europe via land r...
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Portuguese Guinea (also Guinea or the Overseas Province of Guinea) was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.
Though the Kingdom of Portugal had claimed the area four years earlier, Portuguese explorer Nuno Tristão sailed around the coast of West Africa, reaching the Guinea area in about 1450, searching for the source of gold and other valuable commodities that had slowly been trickling up into Europe via land routes for the preceding half century. Sometime later, slaves were also added to the list. Portuguese Guinea had been part of the Sahel Empire, and the local Landurna and Naula tribes traded in salt and grew rice. Like in many other regions across Africa, powerful indigenous kingdoms along the Bight of Benin relied heavily on a long established slave trade. The Ashanti exploited their military predominance to bring slaves to coastal forts established first by Portugal after 1480, and then soon afterwards by the Dutch, Danish, and English. The...
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