Introduction: How did Portugal return its last three colonies in Asia?
Portugal is slightly smaller in size than Jiangsu Province
Portugal is a small country with an area of 92,226 square kilometers, about the size of China's Jiangsu, and it is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula in Europe, with only one neighbor on land, Spain. Portugal was annexed by Spain in 1580, but it did not give in and finally succeeded in freeing itself from Spanish rule 60 years later, in 1640. It was later destroyed by Napoleon, but with the help of the British, it was successfully restored again.
Beautiful sea view of Portugal
Don't look at Portugal today, but in the 15th and 16th centuries, it established a large number of colonies and its own trade network in Africa, Asia and the Americas, and became a hegemonic power on the sea in the Age of Discovery. Portugal's colonies reached their peak in the 18th century, when they established a vast trans-state empire, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve, with colonies covering 53 countries and territories, occupying a quarter of the world's land area.
Did you know Brazil? This large South American country with an area of 8.5 million square kilometers was once a colony of Portugal.
Just like Ah Q said, Lao Tzu was also wide back then!
However, with the changes of the times, Portugal's national power gradually declined, and in modern times, it was no longer able to maintain its overseas interests.
Brazil was also once a Portuguese colony
1. India directly sent troops to occupy Goa, and Portugal's face was crackled!
30 years in Hedong and 30 years in Hexi!
After the Second World War, Portugal had only three small colonies in Asia – Goa, East Timor and Macau. Portugal still wanted to be able to keep its three colonies at this time, so did it keep it in the end?
Portugal was the first of the European powers to arrive in India, and its purpose at that time was to control the Indian Ocean trade routes.
The process of establishing a colony is one of conquest and killing
In 1510, the island of Goa, on the west coast of India, was captured by 23 ships and 1,500 men and men led by Alfonso de Albuquerque, the commander of the Portuguese fleet, and the Portuguese Viceroyalty was established here.
Goa was then part of the Bijapur Sultanate (a princely state of India), and the two sides fought two fierce battles for Goa between 1511 and 1512.
Eventually, the Portuguese maintained their rule over Goa with their superior firepower.
Goa is actually a big place
436 years later, in 1947, India became independent. India, which claims to be the third power in the world, has repeatedly asked the Portuguese government for peace talks, hoping that Portugal will return the Goa region to India.
Portugal was already a member of NATO at that time, and felt that it had a backer, so it categorically rejected India's request.
India is angry, and the consequences are severe.
The consequences erupted on December 12, 1961, when India gathered more than 30,000 troops and launched a fierce attack on Goa from three directions: land, sea and air, which became known in history as the "Third Goa War".
Nehru receives the victorious Indian generals
After 26 hours of fighting, the Portuguese army quickly collapsed, and the Indian army took full control of the three regions of Goa, Dammam and Diu, capturing a large number of Portuguese soldiers.
Portugal is indignant and helpless that neither NATO nor the United Nations has expressed support for Portugal, and there is no other option for Portugal than to immediately sever diplomatic relations with India and refuse to recognize India's sovereignty over Goa.
This is India slapping Portugal in the face, snapping.
India established the state of Goa here
Of course, this time India's success also inflated its ambitions and led to the Sino-Indian border war in 1962, which is another topic, and I won't talk about it today.
It was not until 1974 that the new Portuguese government was formed, which finally officially recognized India's sovereignty over Goa and the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.
Second, Indonesia also set its sights on East Timor and occupied it by force, and the Portuguese were slapped in the face again!
On April 25, 1974, the "Armed Forces Movement", formed by a group of middle- and lower-ranking officers in Portugal, overthrew the far-right regime and began the process of democratization, announcing the renunciation of all its colonies in Africa, the so-called Carnation Revolution.
The Carnation Revolution in Portugal
At the same time, the Portuguese government decided to hold a referendum in 1975 to decide whether East Timor would become independent or remain under Portuguese wings.
Before the referendum had even begun, three factions within East Timor were in civil war.
Timor-Leste
Indonesia, which was eyeing the enemy, saw the opportunity and immediately launched a fierce attack on East Timor on December 6, 1974 with its powerful navy, air force and army, and quickly occupied Dili, the capital of East Timor, and other major towns.
On 17 July 1976, Indonesia officially declared Timor-Leste the 27th province of Indonesia.
Indonesia and Timor-Leste
Seeing that Portugal was so angry, he went to NATO, Britain and the United States with a handful of snot and tears, but no one paid attention to him, so he lost his temper again.
Indonesian Army
3. Slapped in the face by India and Indonesia twice, Portugal looked at the colony of Macao, the Pearl of the Orient, and began to chill in his heart: Behind Macau is a more powerful Chinese dragon, God, tell me, what should I do?
After pondering for 7749 days, Portugal made an astonishing decision: to send a delegation to Beijing, which has not yet formally established diplomatic relations, and take the initiative to return Macao to China!
Macau is a Chinese territory, which was occupied by Portugal for a long time in 1553 on the grounds of shelter from the wind, and by this time it has been 422 years.
Why is the Macao Special Administrative Region special? Because the Portuguese occupied it for 446 years!
However, China was in the midst of the storm of the Cultural Revolution at the time, and the country did not want to take over Macau immediately, so Portugal continued to manage it. As a result, the Portuguese woke up laughing from their dreams.
But there will always be an end to things.
On 20 December 1999, the Chinese Government resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macao, ending 446 years of Portuguese colonial rule in Macao.
In the process of Macao's return, Portugal was very, very cooperative, unlike the British who returned to Hong Kong, which could not do anything bad for a day.
Conclusion: The history of the return of Portugal's three colonies in Asia teaches us that the nation needs to be strong, or it will be slaughtered. However, the strength of the country cannot be pinned on external forces, and can only rely on its own self-reliance and hard struggle. Hopefully, our country will become stronger and stronger, and a strong country will be able to protect its people.
PLA transnational military exercises