Abstract
Since the early 1870s, Portugal applied in its overseas colonies a developmental agenda like that employed in the metropolitan territories since 1851. Up until the eve of World War I, thousands of miles of rails were built both in Angola and Mozambique. In this paper we aim to analyse this process of technological implementation as a producer of a new material culture. We seek to demonstrate that this material culture that reflected the beliefs on progress through technology sought to influence the local African populations and the several European colonial nations. In the end it aimed to contribute to imprinting the national identity in Africa and to facilitate the economical and mainly cultural colonization of the Portuguese overseas domains. To achieve these goals, we will analyse sundry primary textual sources (parliamentary debates, technical reports, laws and decrees) and iconographic material preserved in several archives in Portugal and abroad.
Translated title of the contribution | Material culture, progress, civilization and national identity: Colonial railways in Angola and Mozambique (c. 1870-c. 1915) |
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Original language | Portuguese |
Pages (from-to) | 221-254 |
Number of pages | 34 |
Journal | Tempo e Argumento |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 27 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- Colonization
- Iconography
- Saint-Simonianism
- Technological Nationalism