Simultaneously, there was increasing competition in the region among the European colonial powers in the region who were vying for control of more African territory. Expeditions of discovery aimed at broadening European colonies Africa were more and more frequent, and there were more and more missionaries and traders visiting the land of Gaza. Lisbon had already started to nourish ambitions of a swath of Portuguese colonies across southern Africa, from Mozambique on the Indian Ocean to Angola on the Atlantic, all of them colored pink, the traditional color of Portuguese possessions on maps of Africa produced in Europe.