Portuguese Africans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Portuguese Africans (Portuguese: luso-africanos) are Portuguese people born or permantely settled in Africa (they should not be confused with Afro-Portuguese, Portuguese of of black descent). The largest Portuguese African population lives in South Africa (numbering about 1 million), while there are important minorities living in Namibia and the Portuguese-speaking African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe).

Guinea-Bissau became an independent country in 1974, followed by the rest of the colonies in 1975. Most Portuguese residents, for this reason, returned to Portugal, where they were called retornados. Some from Angola or Mozambique went to South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, or Zimbabwe, and Brazil or the United States.

When the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries was founded in 1996, some Portuguese arrived for economic and educational aid to the Portuguese-speaking African countries. Some of these Portuguese adopted them as their permanent home.

Most Portuguese Africans are Portuguese-South Africans, mainly as a result of direct migration from Portugal, namely from Madeira.

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