British Ultimatum of 1890
Britain demanded that Portugal withdraw its forces from the lands between Angola and Mozambique claimed on the “Pink Map”; Lisbon’s swift surrender was felt as a national humiliation and fuelled the republican movement.
- Date
- 11 January 1890exact date
- Place
- Lisbontoday: Lisbon, Portugal · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Kingdom of Portugal, Carlos I of Portugal
- Threads
- History of Portugal since the Battle of Aljubarrota
- Also known as
- Ultimato britânico de 1890; Pink Map; Mapa cor-de-rosa; Розовая карта
In the Scramble for Africa Portugal hoped to link its two colonies across the continent, through what are now Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, and in November 1889 Serpa Pinto’s troops clashed with the Makololo near the Shire. Pressed by Cecil Rhodes’s British South Africa Company and by British missionaries, Lord Salisbury’s government sent a memorandum on 11 January 1890: unless the Portuguese forces were withdrawn from the Shire, the Makololo country and Mashonaland, the British minister George Petre would leave Lisbon at once.
The government gave in immediately and fell three days later; the borders of Angola and Mozambique were then fixed by Anglo-Portuguese treaties of 1890–1891. Anger at the “betrayal” by the oldest ally turned against King Carlos I and the monarchy: “A Portuguesa”, a march composed in protest, was sung in the failed republican uprising in Porto on 31 January 1891 and became the national anthem of the Republic in 1911.
Connections
Consequences
- 5 October 1910 revolution — Portugal becomes a republic5 October 1910 · Western and Central Europethe humiliation of 1890 turned many Portuguese against the monarchy
Related events
- Treaty of Windsor9 May 1386 · Western and Central Europethe ultimatum of 1890 was the gravest crisis of the alliance
Same participants
- Death of Napoleon on Saint Helena5 May 1821 · Africavia United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Independence of Brazil7 September 1822 · Latin Americavia Kingdom of Portugal
Same place
- Expulsion and forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal5 December 1496 – October 1497 · Western and Central Europe
- Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India8 July 1497 – between August and September 1499 · Western and Central Europe
- Publication of The Lusiads1572 · Western and Central Europe
- Restoration of Portuguese independence1 December 1640 · Western and Central Europe
- Lisbon earthquake1 November 1755 · Western and Central Europe
- Salazar’s Estado Novo: the Constitution of 193319 March 1933 · Western and Central Europe
- Carnation Revolution25 April 1974 · Western and Central Europe
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): 1890 British Ultimatum
- Wikipedia (English): A Portuguesa
- Wikipedia (Russian): Англо-португальский конфликт
- Wikipedia (Russian): Гимн Португалии
- Winslett M. The Nadir of Alliance: The British Ultimatum of 1890 and Its Place in Anglo-Portuguese Relations, 1147–1945: MA thesis. — Arlington: University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.
- Wikidata: Q3320778