A rare pictorial record of president’s Óscar Carmona’s visit to the Portuguese colonies of São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola in July-August, 1938.
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 issued as (rather exuberant) 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 opposing pages in Portuguese, French and English. They show cheering crowds, plantations, beautiful villages, banquets, ships, a hunting party in the Namib Desert, parades, Luanda Exhibition Fair etc.
Photo albums documenting Carmona’s visit to São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola
[São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola]. Alguns aspectos da viagem presidencial às colónias de S. Tomé e Príncipe e Angola realizada nos meses de junho e agôsto de 1938.
[Lisboa], Agência geral das colónias, 1939.