PORTUGUESE COLONIAL EXPLOITATION IN MOZAMBIQUE AND THE MIGRATION OF WORKERS TO THE TRANSVAAL, 1897 – 19301 (Atena Editora)

Abstract

When the Portuguese metropolis occupied the territory of Mozambique in 1897, it established rules to effectuate the subjection of the population and make the Mozambican colony productive and profitable. The goal of this work is to demonstrate how this occupation was carried out and the transformation of southern Mozambique into a large reserve of labor for diamond and gold mines in the territory of South Africa. Anchored in the source organized and compiled by Luís Antônio Covane ¨The economic relations between Mozambique and South Africa, 1850 - 1960¨ and the bibliography on the subject, we will discuss how Portugal exploited the Mozambican workforce, leading a good part of the workers to emigrate to the Transvaal. Between taxes and forced labor, the occupation of Mozambican lands took shape and led Africans to the habit of work. The agreements between Portugal and the Transvaal involved the brokerage of manpower and the use of the railways, thus serving the interests of the Portuguese metropolis, which profited from each worker emigrated to the Transvaal and, on the other hand, also met the great need for manpower, for the exploration of gold in the Rand region.