Defunct Companies of Portugal: Mozambique Company, Niassa Company, Chipidea, Casal, Portuguese East India Company, Company of Guinea, Bravia

Chapters: Mozambique Company, Niassa Company, Chipidea, Casal, Portuguese East India Company, Company of Guinea, Bravia, Portaro, Sis. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 30. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Mozambique Company, in Portuguese the Companhia de Moçambique, was a royal company in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, that had the concession of the lands that include the present provinces of Manica and Sofala. The company was established in February 1891 with a capital stock of about 5 million dollars obtained from financiers from Germany, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Isaacman and Isaacman report that the firm was capitalised at 40,000 pounds (not $5 M), and that British and French capital quickly predominated. The concession was granted for a period of 50 years, during which the company could not only exploit the resources and existing manpower (partly through the Chibalo system of forced labour) but also grant subconcessions. The company was granted the exclusive right to collect taxes, but was itself granted a 25 year tax holiday. In return the Portuguese state would receive 7.5% of the company's profits and 10% of the sold shares. The company was also required to settle 1000 Portuguese families, and provide education and public administration in its territory. In practice, the company made only partial use of the prerogatives with which it had been bestowed; but this has balanced by the fact that it also met very few of its obligations. Having only limited capital, the company did little to develop the area, deriving most of its income from its ability to tax and its power to use conscripted labour on its plantations and for lease to adjacent estates. Resistance to the forced labour regime was a major cause of rebellions against the company which occurred ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=12252828