THE PORTUGUESE EMPIRE

By: Ashley Majano

Invasion

The first Roman invasion of the Iberian Peninsula occurred in 219 BC, within 200 years, almost the entire peninsula had been taken over by the Roman Empire.

In the early 5th century Germanic Tribes like the Visigoths conquered all of the Iberian Peninsula.

Near the spring of 711 A.D., the Islamic Moors invaded the Peninsula

Independence In 1095, Portugal separated

almost completely from the Kingdom of Galicia.

At the end of the 11th century, the Burgundian knight Henry fought for Portugal and declared its independence.

After Henry died, his son, Afonso Henriques, took control of the country and in 1139 he pronounced himself Prince and then King of Portugal in 1143

Rise to Power In the Age of Discovery, the 15th and

16th centuries, Portugal rose to power and was ranking with England, France and Spain in terms of economic, political, and cultural influence.

July 25, 1415 marked the beginning of the Portuguese Empire, when their Armada departed to the rich trade.

On August 21, 1415, Ceuta, the city on the coast of North Africa directly across from Gibraltar, was conquered by Portugal, and the long-lived Portuguese Empire was founded.

Uninhabited Madeira Island was colonized by the Portuguese in 1420 and between 1427 and 1431, most of the Azorean Islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in 1445.

Southeast Asia and the Spice Trade

In 1505, Portuguese traders reached Ceylon and started trades of spices.

The peninsula of Malacca became the strategic base for Portuguese trade expansion with China and Southeast Asia, under the Portuguese rule with its capital at Goa.

The Portuguese empire expanded into the Persian Gulf as Portugal contested control of the spice trade with the Ottoman Empire.

Colonizing Brazil In 1534, promoting settlement to

overcome the need to defend the territory, John III organized the colonization of Brazil through land grants.

Of the fifteen original captaincies only two, Pernambuco and Sao Vicente, prospered. Both dedicated to the crop of sugar cane and the settlers manages to maintain alliances with Native Americans.

In 1548 John III created the first General Government, sending in Tome de Sousa as first governor and rescuing the captaincy of the Bay of All Saints, making it a royal captaincy, seat of the Government.

Imperial Decline

In 1661 the Portuguese offered Bombay and Tangier to England as part of a dowry, and over the next hundred years the English gradually became the dominant trader in India, gradually excluding the trade of other powers.

At the end of confrontations with the Dutch, Portugal was able to cling onto Goa and several minor bases in India, and managed to regain territories in Brazil and Africa, but lose forever to prominence in Asia as trade was diverted through increasing numbers of English, Dutch and French trading posts.