The Portuguese invasion can be traced back from 1498 with the arrival of Vasco Da Gama in the

cape of South Africa. He was the Portuguese navigator sponsored by king Henry the navigator
along with other Navigators like Bartholomew Diaz. King Henry sponsored these navigators so
as to discover another sea route since the route across the red sea to India was disrupted by the
Balkan conflicts. Fifteen century, the Portuguese controlled the economic and strategic
advantages to prepare for carried their ships round the cape of the Indian ocean , the Portuguese
sought with some success to replace Arabs as the merchants who tied East Africa to India and
the rest of Asia1.

Vasco Da Gama discovered a sea route to India across the Indian Ocean. This influenced the
Portuguese to establish their dominance along the coast of East Africa “There interacted with
the Portuguese who reached the East African coast around the cape in 1498 and seven years
later looted both Kilwa and Mombasa to the advantage of their fortress at sofala designed to
capture the gold trade2”. “In 1616 a Portuguese traveler passed only a single village while
walking for eleven days between Kilwa on the Tanzanian coast and Tete on the Zambezi 3”
(Ilife,2007 P.114).

The above statement prove that Portuguese invaded the coast of E.A as for back as the 15 th
century though little have been documented concerning the invasion and slave trade along the
coast of Tanzania.

Portuguese like any other European came in Africa , especially the coast of E.A including
Tanzania with the aim of benefiting their own. The driving factors for the Portuguese invasion
along the Tanzanian coast especially Kilwa were as follows;

Portugal was a poor land country with few natural resources to sustain the economic splendidly
compared to other European countries “At the beginning of the twentieth century Portugal was
an underdeveloped country whose economy was perhaps as typical of the Africa she was
purporting to civilize as of Europe4”

At the beginning of the twentieth century Portugal was an underdeveloped country whose
economy was perhaps as typical of the Africa she was purporting to civilize as of Europe. This
underdevelopment showed all the signs of being a chronic condition of a population of six
million, 75 per cent still lived in rural communities producing Portugal's main items of export:
wine, fruit, olives, fish, timber and cork. Agriculture belonged to a pre-capitalist age and the
peasant obtained a pitiful living alike on the minifundia of the north, where he was proprietor,
and on the latifundia of the south, where he was share cropper or laborer. Backward as her rural
economy was, Portugal had become the world's principal producer of cork, sardines and fortified
wines. There was a marked tendency to over produce and the government was continually
1
Rodney, P.76.
2
Ilife,2007, p.105
3
Ilife,2007 P.114
4
Roberts,2008,p.494
seeking outlets in the colonies; on the other hand,-Portugal remained unable to feed herself and
did not produce significant grain surpluses until the 1930s.

The urban population worked in cities which were largely pre-industrial. Agricultural produce
and sardines underwent some industrial processing, but in 1920 Portugal's only important
manufactured export was cotton textiles. Ninety per cent of her foreign trade was carried in
foreign ships; imports of manufactured goods were more than twice the value of exports and the
visible trade deficit was only covered by remittances from emigrants. Two-thirds of the adult
population were illiterate, and rural poverty and overpopulation caused emigration to run as high
as 50,000 a year during the first two decades of the century. Portugal's currency was unstable; it
was revised in 1911 and at once began a rapid decline. The escudo, which had exchanged at7.54
to the pound sterling in 1919, sank to 127.4 by 1924. Annual budgetary deficits were due not so
much to over spending by the cautious republican governments, as to the decline in national
income due to inflation. The lack of natural resources, including energy, the failure to save and
invest, the small size of the domestic market, the poverty of industrial skills, were all interrelated
problems from which there appeared to be no escape. The unrest which these problems created
found expression in violent ideological disputes only marginally related to Portugal's economic
problems. Monarchists and republicans, clericals and anticlerical, liberals and socialists, differed
little in their approach to economic questions. No land reform was undertaken anthetimid
interventions of the government in the economy were inept and unproductive.

In the page 495 of the same book Robert states that,

“Many writers accepted the idea, admittedly imprecise that the resources of Africa would enable
Portugal to generate her own head of steam”

The two quotes from Roberts (2008) proves that Portugal was a less developed nation compared
to other European countries before the 20th Century . Hence she invested a lot of capital in
explorations of the world through navigations like Vasco Da Gama and Bathlomew Diaz in order
to acquire new areas for natural resources for the development of the country hence the coast of
East Africa invasion by Portuguese in the 16th Ceentury

The fate of King Leopold's Congo Independent State seemed to lie in wait for Angola whenever
the British Foreign Office asked a question about contract labour.The overthrow of the monarchy
in 1910 intensified these Suspicions Soon after the capture of Ceuta in 1415 the Portuguese,
under an organization set up by Prince Henry (the Navigator), became the pioneers in European
exploration to the western coasts of Africa and the search for a sea route round Africa to the
East.

The trade route to the East through the Mediterranean and overland to the Red Sea and Indian
Ocean had for long been dominated by the Arabs - and was also subject to interference by the
Barbary pirates of the Mediterranean. In the first half of the 15th century the Portuguese
discovered the Atlantic island of Madeira, the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. All were
uninhabited, and the Portuguese annexed them. In 1446 they landed and established trading posts
in the Senegal district of West Africa. In the south west they reached the Congo estuary in 1482,
and later made settlements in Angola, with access to trade with the Kingdoms of Kongo and
Ndongo. In 1497-98 the Portuguese Vasco da Gama sailed round the south of Africa and on to
India, calling at the East African ports Malindi and Mombasa on the way.

When da Gama returned to Portugal he described the great wealth of the Swahili cities; and
subsequently the Kings of Portugal sent fleets to capture and loot these cities. The Swahili
trading community was largely ruined, and some of the cities were abandoned. But some
survived, as did the Swahili culture; and at the end of the 17th century the Portuguese were
expelled from the East African ports north of Mozambique by Arabs from Oman in south eastern
Arabia

The Portuguese territories were widely separated and closely involved with adjacent parts of
other empires, but the distinctive nature of Portugal's relationship to Africa makes it analytically
useful, as well as convenient, to discuss them within a common framework.

The need to control trade activities and sea routes to India through the Indian ocean was another
driving force of Portuguese invasion in the coastline of East Africa and Tanzania . Alpers(2014)
states that “True or not ,Portuguese fleets had been seeking to outflank the control exercised
over the spice trade by Venice and their Muslim counterparts who dominated the eastern
Mediterranean for almost a century’’

Walter Rodney (1982) explain that after reaching the Indian ocean ,the Portuguese fought with
some success to replace the Arabs as the merchants who lied East Africa to India and the rest of
Asia5. Though Portuguese were few in number had great superiority in weapons and tactics ,
their cannon and firearms gave them an advantage over the Swahili towns6

Technological advancement was another factor for Portuguese invasion in East African coast
. The love for adventures made Portuguese to invest in marine technology and voyages .The
Portuguese used their technological advancement in military superiority and marine technology
for the success invasion of East African coast . Walter Rodney(1982) states that in some
instance, they achieved their dominance not just because of their ships and commercial skills but
also by the use of force-provided they were operating on the coast and could bring their cannon
into use . In East Africa for instance the Portuguese used violence to capture trade from the
Arabs and Swahili.

The Portuguese technological advancement in marine technology enabled them to reach the
coast of East Africa , the use of ship and monsoon winds were very helpful to their

5
Rodney .1982,p 76
6
Maxon. 2009,p 45
voyages .“The first Portuguese captain to visit the coast was Vasco Da Gama who arrived in
1498 . The prevailing winds carried him past Kilwa but he did stop at Mombasa”

Existence of natural resources along the coast was another factor for the Portuguese invasion
along the coast .At first the aims of the Portuguese was to discover sea route to India and East
Indies for trade activities but the existence of expensive natural resources along the coastal city
states made them to invade the coastal areas and establish their dominance . Maxon(2009) states
that Portuguese ships come to the East African coast not as an end in itself but on their way to
the more attractive opportunities for trade in India and the East Indies . East Africa would be
important to the Portuguese as a stopping point on voyages further east but only the gold of the
Sofala region attracted them sufficiently to establish a permanent presence

Charismatic leadership of Vasco Da Gama and Francisco de Almeida were very helpful to
Portuguese invasion of East African coast , Vasco Da Gama was very skillful in navigating
voyages on the ocean hence discovered the sea route to India through the Indian ocean .
Francisco de Almeida was much more engaged through the use of military force and brutality,
Maxon (2009) explain that Kilwa suffered perhaps more than any of the other city states from
Portuguese attacks . Returning to the coast with a much larger fleet in 1502 , Vasco Da Gama
forces Kilwa to accept Portuguese over lordship and extracted a promise of tribute in gold from
Kilwa’s ruler . Three years later Francisco de Almeida Portugal’s first viceroy in India attacked
the city

The coast of East Africa had natural harbors where ships could anchor from India and East Indies
, the Portuguese therefore wanted to establish a calling station for resting ,refresh, treating the
sick’s and repairing wrecked ships since the coast was strategically located and this made it easy
to control sea pirates and other rival power for example Kilwa , Mafia and Zanzibar 7

The Portuguese invasion on Tanzanian coast had some detriments; some of them were as
follows

The issue of slave trade and slavery along the Tanzanian coast was the major detriment
caused by Portuguese invasion . Africans were taken as slaves to work on mines in Sofala
region, also they were taken to Goa to work as administrators , soldiers , sailors or servants
.Vernet (2012) state that

“The Portuguese also obtained slaves from the north Kilwa most of the slaves were destined
for Goa or other Portuguese settlements where they were employed by the Portuguese
administration as soldiers , sailors or sold as servants “

Zanzibar appears to have been one of the main areas of slave purchasing, for the Mombasa the
Portuguese had a trade run by settlers established in Zanzibar and its Swahili inhabitants8

7
Robert, 2008.p 498
8
Vernet , 2012.p 50
Vernet (2012) argues that in a rather confusing account , it states that

“Some Portuguese, Shirazes and Nabahani had settled on the island (of Pemba) in the early
th
17 Century . Each group came with numerous slaves who were settled on the agricultural lands
of the island. It should be noted that these slaves were inherited along with the properties, which
clearly indicates that they were actual slaves not assistants or helpers”9

The documentaries of Vernet (2012) clearly shows how Portuguese invasion transformed the
once peaceful area of Kilwa and Zanzibar to the regions of slave trade and slavery which led to
depopulation and forced labor to Africans

The Portuguese invasion led to the loss of lives and destruction of properties along the cozst of
East Africa . The Portuguese used violence and brutality so as to seize as much of the towns as
they could and to force the rules to recognize the overload ship of Portugal through the payment
of tribute . Maxon(2009) explain that the Portuguese action caused much property damage and
loss of life and it disrupted the trade of the city states 10. This clearly shows how Portuguese were
brutal in invading the coastal areas and their brutality led to loss of many African lives as well as
the damage of properties

Excessive exploitation of natural resources along the coast was another detriment of
Portuguese invasion on the coast of East Africa , a good example of this can be seen from
Maxom(2009) who states that

“Returning to the coast with much larger fleet in 1502 Vasco Da Gama forced Kilwa to
accept Portuguese over lordship and extracted of tribute in gold from Kilwa’s ruler but Kilwa
was abandoned within ten years because it had ceased by the second half of the 16 th Century to
be the leading commercial city-state of the East African coast”

“In the 17th Century and 18th Century, the Portuguese carried most of the East African Ivory
which was marketed in India; the Portuguese exploited every inch of African natural resources
from gold of Sofala to slaves from Zanzibar and Kilwa”

Destruction of trade activities along the coastal city states was another detriment of
Portuguese invasion. The Portuguese controlled all trade activities through military force. They
interrupted trade which was conducted between the Arabs and East African coast

“After reaching the Indian ocean the Portuguese fought with some success to replace Arabs
as the merchants who tied East Africa to Indiana and the rest of Asia”11

Also Portugal wanted to force the allegiance of local Swahili rulers and make them pay in
tribute. They and the merchant in their area were then to be allowed to continue to trade in items

9
Vernet , 2012.p 53
10
Maxon , 2009.p 45
11
Rodney , 1982.p 76
specified by the Portuguese but not in others in which they claimed a monopoly. Further “legal”
trade was to be done in ships licensed by the Portuguese and such ships had to carry a pass or
“cartaz” from Portuguese captain. This pass required that the ship concerned must call in at a
Portuguese fort and pay customs duties on its cargo; it also stated that the ship was not allowed
to trade with enemies of the Portuguese 12

How Portuguese created the seeds of their own destruction in its domination along the East
African coast and Tanzania in particular

One of the factor that contributed to the decline of Portuguese in East African coast was
their policy of ‘divide and rule’ for example they divided Mombasa and Malindi , this made the
territory to become too big for them to manage, hence created end of their own domination in
East African coast.

Portuguese administrators were very corrupt , harsh and very humiliating to the East
African indigenous as they plundered and ordered a destruction of the coastal towns and they
destructed the activities of the East African people and Arabs such as their trading activities , all
these activities made them to earn hate from the indigenous as they were named “AFRIT’ to
mean devil, The Portuguese administration was very aggressive towards people as they were
mistreating people especially the Muslims for instance sleeping with their girls forcefully ,
physical torture to the people , hence people who were mistreated decided to react against them.

Portuguese had a small man power that had few experienced and well educated
officials also there were few number of soldiers to support the empire as well as despite of
having few officials in the coast they were harsh, ruthless and inefficient for their duties. The
Portuguese had a small manpower as they lacked capital to pay their administrators at the coast
and demoralized them 13

The union between her and Spain in 1580-1640, Portugal had been forced to enter into
a union with Spain and this union weakened her control of the trading colonies as she was no
longer interested in the oversea colonies, the union made Portugal to neglect or loose interests on
the East African coast up to when Portugal wanted to have independence.

Due to the loss of their monopoly trade, these make years of Portuguese in East Africa
numbered, this was after British and Dutch East India Company replacing the Portuguese traders
on the Eastern shores of Indian Ocean. This cause the Portugal to fail to collect revenue due to
the decline of trade14.

12
Pearson, 1998. P 45
13
Pearson, 1998. P 65
14
Vernet , 2012 p 51
 Imposition of taxes led Portuguese failed to spread Christianity in the coast of East Africa
because of the imposition of taxes in the coast of East Africa. People of East Africa had a faith in
Islam that tax of exploitation is a sin against God , so they lost hope to the religion which was
brought by Portuguese which imposed taxes that were collected in a harsh way and people who
failed were punished badly , so this made of the coast to have hard hearts to receive the religion
brought by Portuguese.15

The history of Portuguese fortifications of East Africa can be divided in three major periods, the
first one consisting of Kilwa and Sofala with their castle in the shape of medieval military
tradition , the second one which included the Forts Jesus in Mombasa and Sao Sebastiao (Sao
Sebastian ) in Mozambique both of which benefited from the “Italian baston system “ and finally
the third period or “Vauban style “ was the precursor to colonization , typified by the Sao Joao
Baptista(Saint John the Baptist) Fort of Kerimba Islands. Both of these periods of Portuguese in
East Africa particulary Tanzania they managed to intensively exploit natural resources and
benefited their mother country in Europe

15
Pearson , 1998 p 35
REFERENCES

Rodney, W. (1982).How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington D.C:Howard

Pearson, M.N (1998). Port Cities And Intruders . The Swahili Coast India and
Portugal In The Early Modern Era.London:The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Robert, A.D.(2008).The Cambridge History Of Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge

Maxon, R. (2009). East Africa An Introductory History. West Virginia: West

Vernet, T. (2012). Slave Trade And Slavery On The Swahili Coast(1500-