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Here is a list of countries that were former Portuguese colonies:

  • Angola – Portuguese colony from 1575 to 1975. Achieved independence in 1975.
  • Brazil – Claimed by Portugal in 1500 and made into a colony. Gained independence in 1822.
  • Cape Verde – Portuguese colony from 1462 to 1975. Became independent in 1975.
  • East Timor – Portuguese colony from 1702 to 1975. Won independence in 1975, then invaded by Indonesia. Finally independent in 2002.
  • Guinea-Bissau – Portuguese Guinea was a colony from the late 1800s until 1974. Gained independence that year.
  • Mozambique – Portuguese East Africa was colonized in 1505. Mozambique gained independence in 1975.
  • São Tomé and Príncipe – Run by Portugal from 1470s and made a colony in 1522 until independence in 1975.
  • Goa – Part of Portuguese India from 1510 to 1961, when it was annexed by India.
  • Macau – A Portuguese territory from 1557 until its return to China in 1999.

Portugal also controlled several coastal enclaves and trading posts in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and China from the 1500s to 1600s at the height of its colonial empire in Asia.

So its major modern colonial holdings were in Africa and Brazil, which gave rise to newly independent Lusophone nations in the mid-1970s after the collapse of the Portuguese empire.

Josh Plotkin Changed status to publish August 25, 2023