Série Documentos de Trabalho Working Papers Series Banking in the Portuguese Colonial Empire (1864-1975) Ana Bela Nunes Carlos Bastien Nuno Valério Rita Martins de Sousa Sandra Domingos Costa DT/WP nº 41 ISSN 2183-1785 Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão Universidade de Lisboa Documento de Trabalho/ Working Paper nº 41 BANKING IN THE PORTUGUESE COLONIAL EMPIRE (1864-1975) Ana Bela Nunes Carlos Bastien Nuno Valério Rita Martins de Sousa Sandra Domingos Costa GHES Gabinete de História Económica e Social Lisboa 2010 GHES - Série Documentos de Trabalho Publicação do GHES - Gabinete de História Económica e Social R. Miguel Lupi, nº 20 1249-078 Lisboa - Portugal Telf. 213925974 Fax. 213925940 e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract This paper provides a general view of the evolution of banking in the Portuguese Colonial Empire between the founding of the first Portuguese colonial bank in 1864 and the independence of most Portuguese colonies in 1975. The text summarizes the legal background, presents the banks existing during that period, examines their businesses and discusses their contribution to the economic evolution of the territories under consideration. As the paper’s main conclusions, it may be said that: (i) Portuguese colonial banking followed the continental model of government initiative and tight control, not the British model of private initiative without much government control; (ii) the development of Portuguese colonial banking was always mainly a matter of profiting from the opportunities afforded by economic evolution rather than a matter of autonomously fostering the economic development of the territories. Key words: Clonial banks JEL classification : N23, N25, N27 2 Plan 1.