{{short description|Large leased estate in Portuguese colonial Africa}} 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.<ref>Eckert, Grau & Sonderegger.</ref>
== Definition == 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.
== History == The existence of the ''prazos'' as an institution has been known since the 16th century, but the terms ''prazo'' and ''prazeiro'' ("''prazo'' owner") only appear in sources from the 18th century onwards, with the estate and their owner before then being called ''foro'' and ''foreiro'', respectively.<ref name="colonos">{{cite journal |last=Farrer |first=Guilherme |date=December 2012 |title=Os “colonos” do Vale do Zambeze: uma introdução |url=https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/temporalidades/article/view/5453 |journal=Temporalidades |volume=4 |issue=2 |publisher=Departamento de História da UFMG |language=Portuguese|pages=131–136}}</ref>
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.<ref name="ANM">Azevedo, Nnadozie & Mbuia, pp. 140–41.</ref> In 1677 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.<ref>Newitt, p. 73.</ref>
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 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 the most important. The ''prazo'' system's concepts of female inheritance, three lives, and individual landownership were alien to African traditions.<ref name="ANM" /> In the 19th century, Portugal often failed to maintain centralized control over the ''prazos'', which shifted between a loyal and a dissident stance towards the Portuguese Crown. For example, one Mozambican ''prazo'' was transformed into the anti-Portuguese {{ill|Macanga Kingdom|pt|Reino de Macanga}} under the ruler Choutama (Pedro Caetano Pereira) and his son and successor Chissaka.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Enders |first1=Armelle |last2=Cahen |first2=Michel |date=2025 |title=Histoire de l'Afrique lusophone |location=Paris |publisher=Chandeigne & Lima |page=73-75 |isbn=9782367322735}}</ref>
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 the end of the ''prazo''.<ref name="ANM" />
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
==Sources== *{{cite book|last1=Azevedo|first1=Mario|first2=Emmanuel|last2=Nnadozie|first3=Tomé|last3= Mbuia|title=Historical Dictionary of Mozambique|date=2003|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Maryland|isbn=0-8108-3792-7|edition=2nd|name-list-style=amp}} *{{cite book|last1=Eckert|first1=Andreas|last2=Grau|first2=Ingeborg|last3=Sonderegger|first3=Arno|title=Afrika 1500-1900: Geschichte und Gesellschaft|date=2010|publisher=Promedia|location=Vienna|isbn=978-3-8537-1303-7|name-list-style=amp}} *Newitt, Malyn D. D. "The Portuguese on the Zambezi: An Historical Interpretation of the Prazo System". ''The Journal of African History'' '''10''', 1 (1969): 67–85.
== Further reading == *Isaacman, Allen F. ''Mozambique: The Africanization of a European Institution—The Zambesi Prazos, 1750–1902''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1972. *Newitt, Malyn D. D. ''Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi: Exploration, Land Tenure and Colonial Rule in East Africa''. New York: Africana, 1973.
Category:Agriculture in Africa Category:History of Portuguese Mozambique