A rare pictorial record of president’s Óscar Carmona’s visit to the Portuguese colonies of Cabo Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Mozambique, Angola, (and South Africa) in June-September, 1939.
Carmona, a former military leader, served as president under prime minister António de Oliveira Salazar, who established the so-called Estado Novo, the corporatist authoritarian government that ruled Portugal until 1974. Under Salazar Portugal sought to strengthen the colonial empire.
To promote the colonial policies of the Estado Novo, Portugal organized a colonial exhibition in 1934. In the same vein the present albums were obviously meant as promotional material, showcasing Portugal’s vast African colonial empire, which ended in 1974 when a revolutionary movement overthrew the dictatorial Estado Novo.
The photographic images are printed on cardstock, with captions on the opposing pages in French, Portuguese and English. They show official meetings, parades, the Fortress of Sofala, native peoples, beautifully illuminated Pretoria, etc. The third volume, titled Anexo ao album de Viagem presidencial à África em 1939, is dedicated to a parade and evening festival in Lourenço Marques (Maputo), Mozambique’s capital to celebrate the visit of Carmona.
A rare visual record of Carmona’s visit to the African Portuguese colonies
[African Portuguese Colonies]. Alguns aspectos de viagem presidencial às colónias de Cabo Verde, S. Tomé, Moçambique e Angola e da visita de Chefe do Estado à Uniào Sul-Africana realizadas nos meses de Junho, Julho, Agòsto e Septembro de 1939.
[Lisboa], Agencia Geral das Colónias, 1940.
Oblong (25,5 x 33 cm). 3 volumes. [1 blank], [121] ll.; [1 blank], [126] ll.; [1 blank], [47], [1 blank] ll. Side-stitched albums in original cloth-backed boards. Some spotting and minor defects, overall in very good condition.