Both countries were former colonial powers with only small overseas holdings left after their colonies in the Americas revolted, yet during the late 1800s, and especially after the Berlin Conference, Portugal managed to carve out an impressive colonial Empire out of Africa, while Spain only got Western Sahara, Equatorial Guinea and a chunk of Morocco After the French took over. Why is there such a drastic difference between the two powers? Thanks in Advance
This takes on a different sheen if you think of Portugal's holdings in Africa not as new colonization in the 1800s, but old colonization from the late 15th and 16th centuries that was 'written in' to the new colonial order. Schreuder's The Scramble for Southern Africa (now quite old!) but also Birmingham's Portugal and Africa overview get into this, but in short, the Portuguese already had coastal interests in the places their colonies would be. These claims were legally redefined and put forth by the Portuguese government, often with the support of the British, in the emergent context of the Berlin Conference and its fallout. It was hard to claim that Portugal did not have effective occupation (even if by warlords) and did not have existing treaty relationships (even if not enforced), so the result was the recognition of their spheres of influence in Angola (with Cabinda), Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Cape Verde [edit: almost forgot São Tomé & Principe!]. In essence, the European powers needed to recognize Portugal's claims if they were to claim legitimacy for their own.
Spain's African claims were also pre-existing to a lesser degree; they had some claim on Morocco, but their claim on Equatorial Guinea actually goes back to 1778, as a right traded with Portugal in return for recognition of the latter's extent beyond treaty line in the Americas--the same treaty line that created a preponderance of Spanish holdings on the west side of that line. So it too, like some of Spain's holdings in Morocco (the cities of Ceuta and Medilla) and by extension its interests in NW Africa, predates the late 19th century by a long, long while, and falls under the similar rubric of 'legacy holdings.' One might argue that, in fact, neither Iberian power got anything new after Berlin, except recognition within the new dispensation--not that Portugal, at least, didn't have designs on the interior at various times (notably Katanga and the Zimbabwe Plateau). They just remained unable to realize those dreams in the face of British and Congo-Free-State action, primarily.