Portuguese Africans country in 1974, followed by the rest of the colonies in 1975. Most Portuguese residents, for this reason, returned to Portugal, where they were called "retornados". Some from Angola or Mozambique went to South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, or Zimbabwe, and Brazil or the United States. When the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries was founded in 1996, some Portuguese and a number of Brazilians of Portuguese racial background arrived for economic and educational aid to the Portuguese-speaking African countries. Some of these Portuguese adopted them as their permanent home. Most Portuguese Africans are Portuguese-South Africans, mainly as a result of direct migration
West Africa this land is plains lying less than 300 meters above sea level, though isolated high points exist in numerous states along the southern shore of West Africa. The northern section of West Africa (narrowly defined to exclude the western Maghreb) is composed of semi-arid terrain known as Sahel, a transitional zone between the Sahara and the savannahs of the western Sudan. Forests form a belt between the savannas and the southern coast, ranging from 160 km to 240 km in width. The northwest African region of Mauritania periodically suffers country-wide plagues of locusts which consume water, salt and crops on