Portuguese Empire

Rare card · No. 20126

The Portuguese Empire was the first and longest lasting of the European colonial empires. Initiated during the Age of Discovery, at one point territories included parts of the Americas and Africa, along with ports and trading posts throughout Asia and Oceania. In the wake of the Reconquista, Portuguese sailors began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in 1418–1419, using recent developments in navigation, cartography, and maritime technology such as the caravel, with the aim of finding a sea route to the source of the lucrative spice trade. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama finally reached India. In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral, while on a voyage to India, reached what would later be Brazil. Over the following decades, Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia, establishing forts and factories as they went. By 1571, a string of naval outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki...

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