the worst™

They Said ‘Gay Rights!’ But Gays Are Always Right

From the source: “The transatlantic slave trade began during the 15th century when Portugal, and subsequently other European kingdoms, were finally able to expand overseas and reach Africa. The Portuguese first began to kidnap people from the west coast of Africa and to take those they enslaved back to Europe.”

In fact, Portugal started the Atlantic Slave Trade, which (among a variety of other factors across Europe) set into motion the mass enslavement, colonization, and cultural and ethnic cleansing of Indigenous, African, and pan-Asian peoples around the world:

From the source: “Portugal started the European slave trade with Africa. Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal sent a trading expedition to Africa, to explore the little known continent, in 1441. By 1444, a ‘cargo’ of 235 enslaved Africans had been brought to Lagos in Portugal. The Portuguese were using enslaved Africans on sugar plantations in Madeira, a Portuguese island off the west coast of Africa, by 1460. They built the first slave fort in 1481, on the coast of modern Ghana. This was Elmina Castle, the headquarters of the Portuguese slave traders. In the early 17th century, Portugal was a major trader in enslaved Africans. At this time, it held the asiento, or contract, to supply the Spanish colonies with slaves. This meant that as well as buying their own slaves, the Portuguese were buying slaves for Spanish owned plantations. This added to the overall number of slaves which Portuguese ships carried. Records show the total figure to be 4,650,000 enslaved Africans.”

Lisbon, in Portugal, was the major port involved in the Portuguese slave trade. From here, ships went to West Africa and took enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Portugese-owned colony of Brazil. Many of the slaves were carried to plantations and mines in Brazil. Between 1721 and 1730, 150,000 slaves were taken to Brazil. Between 1801 and 1810, 200,000 were taken.

This of course continues to affect the world to this day, from the African Diaspora, African peoples and nations who had been colonized and/or involved in the slave trade, Brazil, various oceanic islands and their Indigenous peoples, as well as Portugal itself today:

From the source: Over the next four centuries, Portuguese vessels would carry an estimated 5.8 million Africans into slavery. Most went to Brazil — a Portuguese colony until 1822.

Many (ethnically) Portuguese people around the world genuinely believe the white supremacist lie that our racism and assault on human beings was “gentler” than the racism and imperialism of other European empires. Worse still, they will hold that we were somehow “helping” Indigenous peoples, and that the dehumanization and murder of Africans was merely “unfortunate”.

I have literally argued this with my own family, as they spouted such atrocious ideas to my face. When confronted with the truth, they devolved into hemming, hawing, and insolent silence.

This is a map of the Portuguese Empire. Though it isn’t nearly as prolific as the British Empire, arguably the slaves required to ensure Britain’s imperialist success wouldn’t have existed without Portugal initiating the cross-ocean trade of Africans. This is true for the French, Dutch, and German empires, and all other European factions of imperialist endeavours which relied on African bodies.

The Portuguese Empire itself didn’t fully end until 19-fucking-99:

From the source (yes, it’s Wikipedia, but it’s well-sourced so I’m linking it here): The Portuguese Empire (Portuguese: Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (Ultramar Português) or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (Império Colonial Português), was one of the largest and longest-lived empires in world history. It existed for almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415, to the handover of Portuguese Macau to China in 1999. The empire began in the 15th century, and from the early 16th century it stretched across the globe, with bases in North and South America, Africa, and various regions of Asia and Oceania. The Portuguese Empire has been described as the first global empire in history,[1][2][3] a description also given to the Spanish Empire.[4][5]“