Portugal

clergy, greedy for power, fought the sovereign’s
reform measures, which worked to
ally the people more strongly with the
crown. During the reign of Pedro’s son,
Ferdinand I (1367–73), Castilian forces
invaded Portugal, Lisbon was besieged,
and the dynasty faced demise.
In 1383, rather than submit to Spanish
rule, the Portuguese people chose the illegitimate
son of Pedro as regent. That
established the house of Avis. João de Avis
(reigned 1383–1433) secured Portuguese
independence by defeating Castilian forces
at Aljubarrota in 1385. His union with
Philippa of Lancaster, the granddaughter
of Edward III of England, produced a son
who oversaw the emergence of Portugal as
an empire—Prince Henry the Navigator.
HENRY BUILDS A MARITIME EMPIRE
Henry’s demand for geographical accuracy
and his hunger for the East’s legendary
gold, ivory, slaves, and spices drove him to
exploration. To promote Christianity, he
joined the fabled Christian kingdom of
Prester John to drive the Muslims out of
North Africa.
To develop navigational and cartographic
techniques, Henry established a
community of scholars at Sagres, on the
south coast of Portugal. He was responsible
for the discovery of Madeira, the
Azores, Cape Verde, Senegal, and Sierra
discovered in 1419; the
Azores are discovered in
1427.
■ 1488 Bartolomeu Dias
rounds the Cape of Good
Hope.
■ 1498 Vasco da Gama rounds
India’s west coast, opening
up trade between the West
and the East.
■ 1500 Brazil is discovered.
Peak of the reign of Manuel
the Fortunate (1495–1521).
Portugal’s Golden Age
begins.
■ 1521 Portugal becomes the
first of the great maritime
world empires, dominating
access to the Indian Ocean.
■ 1521–57 Reign of João III,
ushering in Jesuits and the
Inquisition.
■ 1578 João’s son, Dom
Sebastião, disappears in the
battle of Morocco, leaving
Portugal without an heir.
Leone, and he provided the blueprint for
continued exploration during the rest of
the century. In 1482, Portuguese ships
explored the mouth of the Congo, and in
1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape
of Good Hope. In 1497, Vasco da Gama
reached Calicut (Kozhikode), on India’s
west coast, clearing the way for trade in
spices, porcelain, silk, ivory, and slaves.
The Treaty of Tordesillas, negotiated
by João II in 1494, ensured Portugal’s
possession of Brazil. Using the wealth of
the whole empire, Manuel I (the Fortunate;
reigned 1495–1521) inspired great
monuments of art and architecture
whose style now bears his name. His
reign inspired Portugal’s Golden Age. By
1521, the country had begun to tap into
Brazil’s natural resources and had broken
Venice’s spice-trade monopoly. As the first
of the great maritime world empires,
Portugal dominated access to the Indian
Ocean.
João III (reigned 1521–57) ushered in
the Jesuits and the Inquisition. His son,
Sebastião, disappeared in battle in
Morocco in 1578, leaving Portugal without
an heir. Philip II of Spain claimed the
Portuguese throne and began 60 years of
Spanish domination. In the East, Dutch
and English traders undermined Portugal’s
strength.
■ 1581–1640 Philip II of
Spain brings Habsburg rule
to Portugal.
■ 1640 Following a nationalist
revolution, João IV restores
independence and launches
the House of Bragança.
■ 1755 A great earthquake
destroys Lisbon and parts of
Alentejo and the Algarve.
■ 1822 Portugal declares Brazil
independent.
continues
17
PORTUGAL IN DEPTH 2
LOOKING BACK AT PORTUGAL