MOZAMBIQUE'S MIXED AND ASSIMILATED POPULATION: RESISTANCE AND RESIGNATION (Atena Editora)

Abstract

Colonization of the east coast of the African continent by the Portuguese began between 1497 and 1499, on Vasco da Gama's first trip to India. The Portuguese colonizers who were part of the bourgeois class never had much interest in Mozambique, the reluctance of European colonizers to settle in the interior of the continent, and the high mortality rates, contributed to the inevitable miscegenation with the local inhabitants. High officials of the Portuguese Crown and Portuguese settlers despised interracial relations and miscegenation. Effective Portuguese colonization was summarized in the coastal city of Quelimane, with the effective occupation of Portuguese possessions on the continent, after the Berlin Conference (1884-1885), and, in the 20th century, three hierarchical groups were consolidated: whites, indigenous people (blacks natives) and the assimilated (mixed and black people who fulfilled the requirements of the colonizers). The assimilation policy became a central point within the ideological apparatus of Portuguese colonization, but it served as a barrier to the social ascension of blacks and mestizos. The fact that mestizos had access to studies contributed to their becoming the main exponents of the formation of a discourse focused on Mozambican national uniqueness, but they were viewed with distrust by blacks, beyond the border established by the colonizers. The mixed-race population, despite accusations of collaboration with the Portuguese colonizers, also suffered from the racism of that period and approaching them was a form of resistance, given the scenario that was presented to this population.