Portuguese language in Africa Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau with autochthonous African languages (mainly Niger–Congo family languages). In Africa, the Portuguese language experiences pressure and possibly competition from French and English. Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe are all members of La Francophonie and Mozambique is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and has observer status at La Francophonie. Conversely, Equatorial Guinea has announced its decision to introduce Portuguese as its third official language, in addition to Spanish and French, and has made a request for membership in the CPLP. Mauritius and Senegal have also joined the CPLP as associate observer members.
Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea (), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951, was a West African colony of Portugal from the late 15th century until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Guinea-Bissau. The Portuguese Crown commissioned its navigators to explore the Atlantic coast of West Africa to find the sources of gold. The gold trade was controlled by Morocco, and Muslim caravan routes across the Sahara also carried salt, kola, textiles, fish, grain, and slaves. The navigators first passed the obstruction of Cape Bojador in 1437 and were able to explore the West African coast as far