Abstract

POLANAH, Paulo S.. The Zenith of our National History! National identity, colonial empire, and the promotion of the Portuguese Discoveries: Portugal 1930s. e-JPH [online]. 2011, vol.9, n.1, pp.40-64. ISSN 1645-6432.

With the onset of Salazarism in the 1930s, the cult of the Portuguese Discoveries-itself a product of late nineteenth-century Portuguese nationalism-again became a fulcrum of nationalist attention, progressively occupying the very core of Portugal’s national identity. This (re-)mobilization of the Discoveries and their incorporation into the national profile remained tied to regime legitimacy and consolidation, as well as to concerns over Portugal and its colonial heritage. Drawing on representative writings of the imperial discourse (of the 1930s), this article examines some aspects of the ideological articulation of the Discoveries with Portugal’s national identity and the defense of Portuguese colonialism.

Keywords : Portuguese Discoveries; colonial empire; national identity; threat to empire; Salazarism.

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