Portuguese Africans

Portuguese Africans (Portuguese: luso-africanos) are Portuguese people born or permanently settled in Africa (they should not be confused with Portuguese of Black African ancestry). The largest Portuguese African population lives in Portugal numbering over 1 million with large and important minorities living in South Africa, Namibia and the Portuguese-speaking African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe).The descendants of the Portuguese settlers who were born and "raised" locally since Portuguese colonial time were called crioulos. Much of the original population is unnumbered having been assimilated into Portugal, Brazil, and other countries.

Guinea-Bissau became an independent 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.