 Due to both the technological gap between <unk> and the centuries @-@ long colonial era , Portugal was a driving force in the development and shaping of all Portuguese Africa since the 15th century . In the 1960s and early 1970s , to counter the increasing insurgency of FRELIMO forces and show to the Portuguese people and the world that the territory was totally under control , the Portuguese government accelerated its major development program to expand and upgrade the infrastructure of Portuguese Mozambique by creating new roads , railways , bridges , dams , irrigation systems , schools and hospitals to stimulate an even higher level of economic growth and support from the populace . 
