How Powerful was the Portuguese Empire?

Portugal is a nation located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe bordering Spain the islands of the Azores and Madeira remain with the Republic as autonomous regions who have their own regional governments the Portuguese Empire was one of the first colonial empires and lasted many centuries so how powerful was the Empire the Empire began in 1415 when John the first of Portugal captured the city of Ceuta Portugal at this time were not the wealthiest of nations although they did have a strong Navy the exploration of the unknown world occurred mainly due to wealthy Nobles who wanted new sources of wealth they sponsored many explorers to charter the seas and find new lands for them to trade one of the most famous explorers was Henry the Navigator his voyages allowed the settlement of the Azores and Madeira Henry wished to know how far the Muslim territories in Africa extended and whether it was possible to reach Asia via the sea in order to reach the source of the spice trade it was possible to reach India violent however the Ottomans in the Europeans didn't exactly get along Henry continued on his voyage and by 1455 most of West Africa had been explored exploration really kicked off when technology advanced the new design of triangular sails made ships travel much faster and allowed Portugal to sail down to what is now Ghana Portuguese explorers continue exploring further down the west coast of Africa until Bartolomeu Dias sailed around what is now South Africa soon Vasco de Gama continued this trend and sailed all the way around Africa and landed in India as the Portuguese explored the coastlines of Africa they left behind a series of padros these were stone crosses engraved with the Portuguese coat of arms which marked their claim in 1492 Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas and eventually discovered the new world for Spain which he believed to be Asia Spain at this point had also begun exploration and was looking for ways to expand its Empire thanks to a treaty the world outside of Europe was divided between Spain and Portugal although European powers would soon ignore this and after much exploration it was now time for Portugal to expand their empire they establish what can be called a trading post Empire at the time Portugal didn't exactly have the largest population with this lack of manpower it was rather difficult to move inland and captured territory further away from the sea with a strong Navy however Portugal was able to easily hold coastal regions to protect their colonies and trading posts they built many feitorias which were essentially Island forts and factories acting as training ports and warehouses for military Garrison's Portuguese armadas were often sent into the Indian Ocean to trade and Portuguese weaponry was far more advanced which meant dominating an area was simple and they could have great influence in the region many fights Horrors were settled along the coast of the Indian Ocean and Portugal eventually decided to bring in the system where sailors and traders could pay Portugal for a license in return they would get safety from pirates this system was called the cartz system and this system made Portugal very rich the Portuguese did begin to settle in Brazil in 1500 however soon French explorers started smuggling Brazil wood back to Europe and tried settling on the coast Portugal was understandably mad about this and decided to begin colonization Portugal made many trading posts and colonies throughout the world most notably was Goa a small colony in India as well as Sri Lanka they conquered Malacca which was very important as it gave them domination over the spice trade in 1542 Portugal met Japan and established a trading post which will one day become Nagasaki when King Sebastian died without an heir conflict arose between Spain and Portugal Spain gained control and Philip the second formed the Iberian Union with this Union it brought many enemies for Portugal as Spain was at war with England France the Netherlands and everyone else who didn't like the Spanish in this union Portugal was mostly independent except in areas where the military was concerned they managed to defeat the Dutch who were trying to take Brazil however many of Portugal's overseas colonies were captured by other European powers the loss of colonies was one of the reasons that contributes at the end of the personal union with Spain so in 1640 John the 4th was proclaimed king of Portugal and the Portuguese restoration war began after Portugal have regained independence gold was discovered in Brazil with a large influx of migrants which in turn made Portugal very wealthy the Portuguese colony of Angola was founded with a hundred families of colonists and four hundred soldiers but Portuguese colonialism kicked off when other European powers began settling in Africa they focused on expanding their outposts in Africa into nation sized territories to compete with the other Europeans mainly pressing into Angola and Mozambique the Empire reached its territorial height in 1821 the Empire owned many colonies including present-day Brazil East Timor Angola Mozambique Cape Verde and Equatorial Guinea but Brazil declared independence in 1822 along with many others South American countries but this did not mean the end of Portugal's Empire it was only after the devastation of world war ii that nations felt the desire for independence portugal was one of the first empires ever to have existed and is well and truly gone within its history blossoms tales of violence and greatness but truly helped shape the world we live in today

Channel: A. J. Merrick

Views: 372,883

Keywords: How Powerful was the Portuguese Empire, How powerful is portugal, History of Portugal, Exploration, Golden Age, VC3 Productions

Id: kAZVw0D3OLM

Length: 5min 36sec (336 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 01 2018