A prazo (or prazo da coroa ) in Portuguese Africa was a large estate leased to colonists, settlers and traders to exploit the continent's resources. Prazos operated like semi-feudal entities and were most commonly found in the Zambezi River valley.
23-469: The prazo was a land grant/lease given in exchange for an annual fixed fee based on laws promulgated by Portuguese kings, such as Afonso V and Manuel I . The leaseholder was required to live on the granted land and could not sell or rent it, although lessees frequently violated that rule. In Tete Province during the 19th century, 32 prazeiros owned 57 prazos . The land grant was not supposed to exceed 500 leagues in length, although most did. In 1677
46-480: A justification for the subsequent era of slave trade and European colonialism. When the campaigns in Africa were over, Afonso V found new grounds for battle in neighboring Castile . On 11 December 1474 King Henry IV of Castile died without a male heir, leaving just one daughter, Joanna . However, her paternity was questioned; it was rumored that his wife, Queen Joan of Portugal (Afonso's sister) had an affair with
69-603: A nobleman named Beltrán de La Cueva . The death of Henry ignited a war of succession , with one faction supporting Joanna and the other supporting Isabella , Henry's half-sister. Afonso V was persuaded to intervene on behalf of Joanna, his niece. He betrothed himself to her, proclaimed himself king of Castile and led troops into the kingdom. Because of their close blood-relationship, a formal marriage had to wait for papal dispensation. On 12 May 1475 Afonso entered Castile with an army of 5,600 cavalry and 14,000 foot soldiers. In March 1476, after several skirmishes and much maneuvering,
92-522: A system was adopted to attract Portuguese settlers. Vacant prazos were to be granted to "deserving orphan girls or the daughters of crown servants", who would pass the prazo on to her eldest daughter for three generations who married to Portuguese men. At that time the government could retake control or renew the lease. The prazeiro was allowed to employ Africans ( colonos ); to raise a private army (often made up of slaves); trade in all commodities; and maintain law and order. The Portuguese Crown intended
115-401: The prazo to guarantee control over the land, stimulate agricultural production, facilitate European settlement, and be a source of revenue for the government, but the system failed in the objectives. Contributions to the failure were rampant absenteeism, violent rivalries between the grantees, the scarcity of Portuguese women, lack of capital, and Africans, of which the latter cause was probably
138-629: The 8,000 men of Afonso and Prince João , faced a Castilian force of similar size in the Battle of Toro . The Castilians were led by Isabella's husband, Prince Ferdinand II of Aragon , Cardinal Mendoza and the Duke of Alba . The fight was fierce and confusing but the result was a stalemate: While the forces of Cardinal Mendoza and the Duke of Alba won over their opponents led by the Portuguese king—who left
161-669: The assistance of King Louis XI in his fight against Castile. But finding himself deceived by the French monarch, he returned to Portugal in 1477. Disillusioned, he abdicated for a few days in November 1477 in favor of his son John II, then after returning to the throne, he retired to a monastery in Sintra , where he died in 1481. Afonso married, firstly, in 1447, his first cousin Isabella of Coimbra , with whom he had three children: After
184-619: The battlefield to take refuge in Castronuño —the troops commanded by Prince John defeated and persecuted the troops of the Castilian right wing and recovered the Portuguese royal standard, remaining ordered in the battlefield where they collected the fugitives of Afonso. Both sides claimed victory, but Afonso's prospects for obtaining the Castilian crown were severely damaged. After the battle, Afonso sailed to France hoping to obtain
207-440: The betrothal of Isabella and Afonso V. Their engagement caused a conflict between Peter of Coimbra and Duke Afonso of Braganza , who had wished for the monarch to marry his granddaughter. Isabella and Afonso V were married on 6 May 1447. Isabella was given the income of Santarém , Alvaiázere , Sintra and Torres Vedras at her wedding. In 1448, the king took Afonso of Braganza as his advisor. Isabella's father rebelled and
230-515: The conquests. The king's army conquered Alcácer Ceguer in 1458 and Arzila in 1471. Tangiers , on the other hand, was won and lost several times between 1460 and 1464. These achievements granted the king the nickname of the African or Africano . After the capture of Alcácer Ceguer in 1458, Afonso gave himself the title "king of Portugal and the Algarves", where the plural form of Algarve
253-428: The crown. The country prospered under his rule, but not peacefully, as his laws interfered with the ambitions of powerful nobles. Afonso, Count of Barcelos, a personal enemy of the Duke of Coimbra (despite being his half-brother), eventually became the king's favourite uncle and began a constant struggle for power. In 1442, the king made his uncle Afonso the first Duke of Braganza . With this title and its lands, he became
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#1732771936883276-499: The death of his wife in 1455, he had at least one child out of wedlock with Maria Soares da Cunha, daughter of Afonso's major valet, Fernao de Sa Alcoforado: English Non-English Isabella of Coimbra Infanta Isabel of Coimbra (Isabella of Portugal) (1 March 1432 – 2 December 1455) was a Portuguese infanta and Queen of Portugal as the first spouse of King Afonso V of Portugal . Born in Coimbra in 1432, Isabella
299-483: The end of the prazo . Afonso V of Portugal Afonso V ( Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈfõsu] ; 15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African ( Portuguese : o Africano ), was king of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa . Afonso was born in Sintra ,
322-586: The legacy of his father Edward and grandfather John I . In 1469, Afonso Vgranted Fernão Gomes the monopoly of trade in the Gulf of Guinea. In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas , which granted Afonso V the right to reduce "Saracens, pagans and any other unbelievers" to hereditary slavery. This was reaffirmed and extended in the Romanus Pontifex bull of 1455 (also by Nicholas V). These papal bulls came to be seen by some as
345-518: The most important. The prazo system's concepts of female inheritance, three lives, and individual landownership were alien to African traditions. The government failed in an attempt to reform the system in the mid-19th century. Another attempt was made in the 1890s without result, but the introduction of the concessionaire companies about that time, the 1890 British Ultimatum and the Portuguese Colonial Act of 1930 contributed to
368-540: The most powerful man in Portugal and one of the richest men in Europe. To secure his position as regent, Pedro had Afonso marry his daughter, Isabella of Coimbra , in 1445. On 9 June 1448, when the king came of age, Pedro had to surrender his powers to Afonso V. The years of conspiracy by the Duke of Braganza finally came to a head. On 15 September of the same year, Afonso V nullified all the laws and edicts approved under
391-425: The regency. In the following year, led by what were later discovered to be false accusations, Afonso declared Pedro a rebel and defeated his army in the Battle of Alfarrobeira , in which his uncle (and father-in-law) was killed. Afonso V then turned his attentions to North Africa. During the reign of his grandfather John I , Ceuta had been conquered from the king of Morocco , and now the new king wanted to expand
414-455: The second son of King Edward of Portugal by his wife Eleanor of Aragon . Following the death of his older brother, Infante João (1429–1433), Afonso acceded to the position of heir apparent and was made the first Prince of Portugal by his father, who sought to emulate the English court's custom of a dynastic title that distinguished the heir apparent from the other children of the monarch. He
437-401: The younger brother of the late king. The dual regency was a failure and in 1439, the cortes named Pedro "protector and guardian" of the king and "ruler and defender" of the kingdom. Eleanor attempted to resist, but without support in Portugal she fled to Castile. Pedro's main policies were concerned with restricting the political power of the great noble houses and expanding the powers of
460-545: Was a daughter of the Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra , and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgel . Her paternal grandfather was King John I of Portugal and her maternal grandfather was James II, Count of Urgel . Isabella received a comprehensive Renaissance education influenced by the works of Christine de Pizan . Isabella's father was the regent for her cousin Afonso V during his minority. In 1441, Pedro arranged
483-608: Was killed in the Battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449, and her brothers John and James were exiled. Isabella herself did not fall out of favour with the king, however, and she took control of the duchy of Coimbra until her brother John returned to Portugal in 1454. In 1455, Isabella had her father honoured with a grand ceremony of exoneration at court and had him re-buried in a grand way. Shortly after this, she died at age twenty-three, possibly from poisoning . In her will, she left her inheritance to her sister, Philippa of Coimbra . Isabella had three children: This biography of
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#1732771936883506-632: Was meant to refer to both the original Kingdom of the Algarve in southern Portuguese as well as the new territories in Africa. The king also supported the exploration of the Atlantic Ocean led by Prince Henry the Navigator , but after Henry's death in 1460, he did nothing to continue Henry's work. Administratively, Afonso V was a passive king. He chose not to pursue the revision of laws or development of commerce, preferring instead to preserve
529-413: Was only six years old when he succeeded his father in 1438. During his minority, Afonso was placed under the regency of his mother, Eleanor, in accordance with the will left by his late father. As both a foreigner and a woman, the queen was not a popular choice for regent. When the cortes met in late 1438, a law was passed requiring a joint regency consisting of Eleanor and Pedro, Duke of Coimbra ,
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