# The creation of a new identity  
Disembarking continuously in Portugal from the mid-fifteenth century and for three centuries, one of the first tasks of Africans lay in the need to divest themselves of African identity, which was no longer adapted to the conditions of Portuguese society. It can be said that they were obliged to solve the fundamental problem of identity: having left Africa, lost their family, been forced to renounce their mother tongue and speak another language, Africans were obliged in these  
circumstances to invent another identity, capable of enabling them to assert their originality. The Portuguese multiplied the obstacles: disqualifying Africans; condemning them to be captives, slaves, alforriados (freed), all statutes that contributed objectively to denying their autonomy. Keeping the memory of their country of origin, Africans were forced to devise survival strategies, beginning by inventing another personality closer to the values and practices of Europeans.  
An important issue recognized and highlighted in the Portuguese texts is that these Africans belonged to different African societies and cultures. While for most Portuguese, Africans appeared as a homogeneous block, by colour and social practices, they were culturally distinct, carrying well-differentiated historical memories. Bearers of an identity inscribed in body and mind. They were subjected by the Portuguese to various rituals designed to move them away from their cultural values and practices to integrate them into the Portuguese norm. Adhering to the new social and religious forms, Africans accepted baptism and Christian names, the rejection of nudity, the body dressed, Christian marriage, affective relations, also adhering to Catholic organizations, practices and festivals, to ludic, political and military events, introducing marks of their cultural singularity into Portuguese life.