Portuguese South African
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
300,000 (2010) 0.6% of total population |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Johannesburg and other large urban areas | |
| Languages | |
| Portuguese, South African English, Afrikaans | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic, small Protestant, Muslim and Jewish minorities | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Portuguese · Portuguese Africans · White South Africans |
Portuguese South Africans (Portuguese: luso-sul-africanos) are South Africans of Portuguese ancestry.
The Portuguese explored the coasts of South Africa in the late 15th century, and nominally claimed them as their own with the erecting of padrões (large stone cross inscribed with the coat of arms of Portugal placed there as part of a land claim). Bartolomeu Dias did so in 1486, and Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, en route to India.
The early 20th century witnessed a trickle of emigrants from Madeira whose numbers greatly increased in the decades following World War II. Madeiran immigrants, who are traditionally associated with horticulture and commerce, form the largest group within South Africa's Portuguese community.
The largest single event of Portuguese settlement occurred when two of the former Portuguese colonies, Angola and Mozambique, became independent in 1975. While most Portuguese from the two Portuguese-speaking African countries went to Portugal and the rest to Brazil, some of them were allowed to enter South Africa. Their entrance made South Africa the home of the largest Portuguese African population, numbering about 49 000, but their number grew to 300,000. One known Portuguese South African creation was Nando's, created in 1987, which incorporated influences from former Portuguese settlers from Mozambique, many of whom had settled on the south-eastern side of Johannesburg after Mozambique's independence in 1975.
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