Carmen Souza few times, once on a family trip when she was ten and again as an adult in 2010, she grew up speaking Creole and eating Cape Verdean cuisine. While still a child, she began singing gospel music in the church choir. Her parents maintained close ties with the diaspora, and Souza's childhood was filled with the music and culture of Cape Verde, along with that of the former Portuguese colonies of Angola, Brazil, Mozambique and São Tomé. Souza's father, Antonio, a merchant sailor, insisted she should learn English and German. After spending just one year at college, she left to
Angola–Brazil relations the continuity of slavery in Brazil for more than two centuries". De Sá similarly understood Brazil's economic dependence on Angola and its consequential importance to Portugal, and is quoted as saying that "without that stronghold[i.e., Angola] Brazil cannot survive, nor can Portugal survive without Brazil". Contemporary economic relations Trade relations between Angola and Brazil started to grow in 2000. Angola’s exports to Brazil—primarily crude oil—were worth USD460 million in 2006. Economic relations between Angola and Portugal had never been as strong as that of Brazil and Angola, and Portuguese influence was minimal in the early 19th century, having been usurped