Category: Africa

Africa

Cecil Rhodes With His Pants Down

In September 1891 Cecil Rhodes set out from Beira in Portuguese East Africa for the new settlement of Salisbury in Mashonaland 310 miles away. It was an arduous journey through lion country and knoted forests.  There was no road and a rail line was some years away.  Empire builder Rhodes was at the time prime minister of the Cape Province. A year earlier he had dispatched to … Continue reading Cecil Rhodes With His Pants Down

Barry D. WoodLeave a comment
Africa, Angola, European Union, FW de Klerk, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Ian Smith, Johannesburg, Maputo, Mozambique, Nelson Mandela, Portugal, Rhodesia, South Africa, Zimbabwe

Remembering Portugal’s Revolution That Changed Africa

Forty years ago a brave band of junior officers overthrew Portugal’s dictatorship. On April 25th, 1974 thousands poured into Lisbon’s plazas in celebration. Flower sellers did a brisk trade in red carnations that poked from the barrels of soldiers’ rifles. Marcelo Caetano, the despot who headed the fascist government in power since 1932, fled to Brazil. The young captains behind the coup had seen for … Continue reading Remembering Portugal’s Revolution That Changed Africa

Barry D. WoodLeave a comment