Portuguese Colonial Infantryman

An infantryman of the Portuguese empire. A very interesting uniform that varied in its facings for infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers

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I notice the postcard says "Angola". Did all Portuguese colonies wear this style uniform or was this specific to Angola? I also see that he looks European (or perhaps Mulatto/"mixed race") ... did the Black (or Asian in Goa, Portuguese Timor, and Macau) troops wear the same uniform?

This was the standard uniform across the colonies, although I am unsure whether it was worn in Timor. The native element, from Africa, wore a fez or tarbusch, and those from India a turban. The Europeans alone wore the hat illustrated. In the later half of the 18oos the Empire had an overseas regiment, I suppose like the Royal Marines, but not ship bound. These provided the garrison troops to the widely distributed empire. The Foundry book on other colonial powers is excellent for this and other non-British colonial forces.

Sean wrote:This was the standard uniform across the colonies, although I am unsure whether it was worn in Timor. The native element, from Africa, wore a fez or tarbusch, and those from India a turban. The Europeans alone wore the hat illustrated. In the later half of the 18oos the Empire had an overseas regiment, I suppose like the Royal Marines, but not ship bound. These provided the garrison troops to the widely distributed empire. The Foundry book on other colonial powers is excellent for this and other non-British colonial forces.

I have Rivals of the Raj but I havent begun to read it yet. Colonial Armies in Africa was a bit sparse on the Portuguese .... it seemed to be focused mainly on the British and French being that they had the largest number of African colonies.

A Portugese colour plate, apparently prepared in the Ministry of War and dated 1901 covering all uniforms of that period, shows light blue/grey dress uniforms being worn by the indigenous troops making up the "Exercito Colonial" (in addition to khaki service clothing). The African askaris have a zouave style uniform with red fez and sash - as Sean notes different colored braiding on the short jacket for artillery, infantry etc. The sepoy artillerymen from Portugese Goa are similarly dressed but with a white turban and fringe. Chinese infantry from Macao wear "coolie" hats with a blue/grey uniform including a long coat with dolman type braiding. Nothing for Timor - perhaps no locally recruited units existed for this backwater colony at the time.

The uniforms for European units in Angola/Mozambique include an infantryman dressed exactly as Sean's photograph: blue/grey with green facings but khaki slouch hat.

Unfortunately while the detail is clear, the 162 individual figures (includes Navy and gendarmerie style units) shown are too small to make posting to this site feasible.

Soldiers from the 1950s

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