The Cacheu and Cape Verde Company (
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
: ''Companhia de Cacheu e Cabo Verde'') was a
chartered company
A chartered company is an association with investors or shareholders that is incorporated and granted rights (often exclusive rights) by royal charter (or similar instrument of government) for the purpose of trade, exploration, and/or coloni ...
created by
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
which operated the colonies of
Cacheu and
Cape Verde in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It was created as part of the economic reforms of
Luís de Meneses, 3rd Count of Ericeira, under King
Peter II.
The company succeeded the
Company of Cacheu and Rivers and Commerce of Guinea (which had ceased operating in 1682), with the same objectives: to improve the trade in manufactured goods, ivory, and slaves between the coast of
Guinea (modern-day Guinea-Bissau),
Cape Verde, and
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
Created by
Alvará Régio on 3 January 1690, it was initially successful, but then faced competition for the slave trade with the
Spanish Americas
The region known as Hispanic America (in Spanish called ''Hispanoamérica'' or ''América Hispana'') and historically as Spanish America (''América Española'') is the portion of the Americas comprising the Spanish-speaking countries of North, ...
between 1696 and 1703. In that year the Portuguese crown did not renew the contract for exploration. The Captaincy of Bissau was abandoned in 1707 as
Fort Bissau was destroyed.
[ and segments]
The decline in the company's activities resulted in an economic stagnation in the two African territories, which would only begin to recover decades later with the transfer of the company's rights to the
Grão Pará and Maranhão General Company based in Brazil from 1757 to 1777. During the end of the
Pombaline Era, the company became part of the Islands of Cape Verde, Bissau and Cacheu Chartered and Commerce Company.
See also
*
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
*
Company of Guinea
A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...
*
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea ( pt, Guiné), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Gu ...
*
Portuguese Cape Verde
Cape Verde was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of Cape Verde in 1975.
History
15th century
The islands of Cape Verde was discovered in 1444 by Dom Prin ...
*
References
1690 establishments in Portugal
18th-century disestablishments in Portugal
Portuguese Empire
Trading companies of Portugal
Defunct companies of Portugal
18th century in Cape Verde
History of Guinea-Bissau
Trading companies established in the 17th century
Organizations established in the 1690s
Organizations disestablished in the 1700s
Cacheu
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