Timeline / 1870 to After 1930 / / TRAVELLING

Date Country Theme

1875 Portugal Travelling

Aware that Portuguese empirical knowledge of Central was being overtaken by other countries, the “Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa” is founded to "promote and assist the study and progress of geography and related sciences in Portugal". To raise awareness of the colonial Portuguese possessions in Africa and Asia was also a goal.

1877 Portugal Travelling

Hermenegildo Capelo, and Serpa Pinto appointed to organise an expedition to southern Africa. After a briefing by Silva in Bié, they chose separate itineraries. Capelo and Ivens focus on the Kwanza and Kuangu rivers and on the Yaka people. Serpa Pinto picks the River and eventually reaches the Transvaal.

1881 Portugal Travelling

With a thorough knowledge of the African hinterland, António da Silva Porto appeals to the Sociedade de Geografia to sponsor a plan for the scientific and commercial exploitation of Africa. The remote hinterland was about to be discovered by explorers and Africa’s boundaries defined by the colonial powers.

1883 Portugal Travelling

A Commission of Cartography is created to prepare an atlas of all Portuguese colonies and map three expeditions to Africa. The first expedition (1884–85), undertaken by Roberto Ivens and Hermenegildo Capelo, starts in Moçâmedes in (in present-day Namibia) aiming to reach to the east coast. The expedition members would face risks from hunger, cold, harsh nature, the wildlife and the tsetse fly.

1884 - 1888 Portugal Travelling

The Muatiânvua Expedition to Angolan’s Lunda territory led by Major Henrique de Carvalho provides exceptional scientific data on meteorology, zoology, ethnography and linguistics and photographic records. This second great expedition aims to counter the diversion of trade from Malanje to Zaire implemented by other colonial countries.

1885 Portugal Travelling

20 September: After their return to Lisbon a triumphal reception was offered to Capelo and Ivens by several Portuguese associations. During the solemn session organised by the Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (SGL) at the Teatro Real de S. Carlos, following their lectures, the explorers receive the SGL gold medal from King Luís I.

1885 - 1887 Portugal Travelling

The third great expedition, undertaken by Serpa Pinto and Augusto Cardoso, aims to establish a trade corridor between the eastern region of lakes, and the coast of Date Country Theme . Major Serpa Pinto fell ill and was replaced by Augusto Cardoso who reached Quelimane after a journey of 2,500 km lasting 20 months, during which some agreements were signed with African chiefs.

1885 Portugal Travelling

21 June: the expedition of Roberto Ivens and Hermenegildo Capelo reaches Quelimane, Mozambique, after 14 months. Throughout their 8,300 km expedition across the African hinterland, Ivens wrote and drew sketches and maps, while Capelo collected specimens of plants, rocks and animals. The constant desertions and sickness and death of the bearers increased the danger and uncertainty.

1887 Portugal Travelling

The Naval Academy is founded for teaching and research on Portuguese tropical medicine. Its purpose is to provide access to tropical medicine for general medical students and as a specialty for naval doctors. The Academy had a small laboratory for some diagnostic tests.

1888 Portugal Travelling

The neo-Manueline Palace of Bussaco, modelled on the Manueline Belém Tower of Lisbon is commissioned by King Carlos I as a royal retreat. It combines the architectural fashion of castle romanticism (German Burgenromantik) with the neo- Manueline gothic style that evokes the Portuguese Discoveries.

1902 Portugal Travelling

Inauguration of the Escola de Medicina Tropical de Lisboa (Lisbon Academy of Tropical Medicine), founded like its European counterparts to provide specialised training, spread knowledge and undertake field research. One of its main subjects was sleeping sickness for whose treatment the Academy undertook five field missions (1904–11) to São Tomé and Mozambique.

1911 Portugal Travelling

12–20 May: The 4th International Congress of Tourism is held in Lisbon organised in collaboration with the Sociedade de Propaganda (founded 1906). Before the end of the meeting (18 May), the provisional government of the newly proclaimed Portuguese Republic (5 October 1910) creates a Bureau of Tourism at the Ministério do Fomento (Ministry of Development).