This is a map of the world's shipping lanes
showcasing the intricate network of maritime routes
that connect our modern world through global trade.
Although some of these routes were established in more recent times
such as the Suez and Panama canals,
most of these oceanic highways were chartered long ago
in an age where there was no reliable way of navigation
other than local knowledge and some rudimentary maps.
However, just over 500 years ago
at the beginning of the 16th century
these international trade routes did not even exist.
Only due to the emergence of the small Iberian nation of Portugal
as a maritime superpower,
were these connections to other parts of the world
made possible through their daring voyages and navigational prowess.
Portugal quickly established an empire for itself,
stretching from Africa, to Asia and South America.
These maritime exploits not only fueled Portugal's wealth.
an astonishing rise to power,
but also laid the foundation for the interconnected global economy
that we benefit from today.
But how did this relatively obscure nation on the edge of Europe emerged
to forge an Empire that would shape the course of History
for centuries to come?
This is the History of the Portuguese Empire.
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The kingdom of Portugal emerged out of the series of events
known to History as the Reconquista
which was the the gradual reconquest of Christian lands
on the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim Moors
who had invaded the territory far back in the 8th century,
having established itself as a sovereign kingdom
by the middle of the 12th century,
the Portuguese went on to push out the remaining Moors to the South
by capturing the territory of the Algarve in 1249,
effectively setting out the borders of their kingdom
along the same lines to which they exist today.
With their own territory secured from external threats
and the possibility of further expansion on the Iberian Peninsula ruled out
on account of their friendly relations
with the neighboring Christian kingdom of Castile to the east.
Portugal turned its attention towards the sea
and the possibility of exerting its own influence
upon both it and the lands that lay beyond in North Africa.
The year 1415 marked a pivotal moment in Portuguese expansion
for a decision was made to orchestrate an attack on the city of Ceuta,
which was held by the Marinid Sultanate.
Although many at the time considered this
nothing more than a continuation of the hostilities
between Christians and Muslims,
in reality it paved the way for the Portuguese
to expand their dominions and economic interests
beyond the Iberian Peninsula
and marked the beginning of the Portuguese Empire.
Despite capturing the city,
the Portuguese were not able to advance further into North Africa
as they had initially planned,
owing to determined resistance by local Muslim forces.
Nevertheless they continued to guarnison Ceuta
and used its harbor as a base
to explore the Atlantic coastline of Africa.
This policy of maritime exploration
was championed by a prominent figure
in the early days of the Portuguese Empire´:
Prince Henry, the Navigator.
He was curious to know how far the Muslim territories in Africa
extended Southward,
and whether it would be possible to reach Asia by an easterly sea route.
Consequently, scores of Portuguese ships began to set off into the Atlantic Ocean
and around the coast of North Africa
probing further and further into what were at the time uncharted waters.
The islands of Madeira and the Azores
were first cited in 1419 and 1427, respectively,
and were subsequently incorporated
as the latest additions to the expanding Portuguese Empire.
One of the first natural barriers
the Portuguese encountered on their explorations
was Cape Bojador.
The violent waters that surround it had claimed many vessels
that had previously tried to pass through
and it was widely deemed to be a point of no return.
That was until 1434,
when Gil Eanes successfully found the navigable passage
around the cape
and opened up further exploration South
towards subsaharan Africa.
No sooner had this feat been achieved
that the merchants of Lisbon began to search
for newer and more exotic markets
to which they could trade to.
gold, ivory, pepper, cotton and sugar, all from Africa,
soon became more commonplace
amongst the trading stools of Lisbon
as did the practice of selling African slaves
which began the long and dark history of the transatlantic slave trade
that would continue for the next 400 years
Over the subsequent decades of the 15th century,
the Portuguese ventured further and further South
down the coast of Africa.
reaching the Cape Verde Islands in 1456
and the Gulf of Guinea by the 1460s.
As they explored, they left behind a series of "padrões",
stone crosses engraved with the Portuguese coat of arms,
marking out their territorial claims
which were followed up with the construction of forts
and trading posts.
From these bases they engaged profitably in the gold and slave trades
which they held a virtual monopoly on
for well over a century.
The real prize for the portuguese merchants however
was a supposed, but as yet unconfirmed, sea route to Asia .
They hoped that the discovery of such a route
would allow them direct access to the spice markets of the Indies
and bypass the expensive arab and venetian merchants
who controlled the overland trade routes through the Middle East
and across the Mediterranean into Europe.
Then, in 1488 news reached the ears of the Portuguese authorities
that Bartholomew Dias had rounded the southern tip of Africa
and reached the Indian Ocean,
proving that such an easterly passage did indeed exist.
However, this revelation would soon be eclipsed in magnitude,
just four years later,
when Christopher Columbus sailed westwards across the Atlantic Ocean
in search of his own theoretical route to the Indies
and in the process inadvertently discovered an entirely New World.
The discovery of the Americas
which Columbus claimed in the name of Spain
and initially believed to be part of Eastern Asia
quickly created a problem for the two Iberian Nations.
Not knowing where one set of recently discovered lands ended
and another began,
they consequently agreed to divide the world in two spheres of influence,
between themselves, marked by a north/south line of Meridian
roughly halfway
between the Cape Verde Islands controlled by Portugal
and the Caribbean Islands of the Americas
which Columbus had recently discovered and claimed for Spain.
The Treaty of Tordesilhas ratified this agreement in 1494
and effectively carved the world in two.
with the lands to the East of this line to be claimed solely by Portugal
and the lands to the West claimed solely by Spain.
With the dispute settled, Portugal could finally begin to undertake
its long-standing ambition of charting a sea route to Asia
and so, on the 8th of July 1497,
the explorer Vasco de Gama left Lisbon
with a fleet of four ships and a crew of 170 men
bound for the Indian Ocean in search of Asia.
After a voyage of some 10 months Vasco da Gama's expedition
finally made landfall on the Malibar coast of India
in May 1498
and subsequently met with the Zamorin, or king of Calicut
to establish the trade relations
that they they had long hoped for.
Whilst the Portuguese's arrival was greeted with hospitality,
the local indian traders found little value
in the trinkets and commodities
the Europeans had brought with them to exchange
and so, da Gama's expedition largely left empty-handed.
Their return journey back to Portugal took an agonizing amount of time
owing to the monsoon conditions they had to face up at sea
which took an immense toll on both the crew and the ships
Nevertheless the survivors arrived back in Lisbon during the summer of 1499
and were given a hero's welcome.
Despite the meager quantities of spices and other goods
they had brought back.
Although the expedition itself may not have been profitable,
it demonstrated that maritime trade to Asia was possible
and had huge potential .
The second expedition to India set sail in 1500
under the command of Pedro Alvares Cabral.
Although while traversing
across the Atlantic Ocean sailed too far West
and unexpectedly, reached the coast of what is now Brazi.
Although this discovery may have been unintentional
some speculation suggests
the Portuguese may have already been aware of Brazil's existence
and secretly knew that this part of South America
fell within their designated territory according to the Treaty of Tordesilhas.
Cabral recommended to the Portuguese King, Manuel I,
that the land be settled
and two follow-up voyages were sent in 1501 and 1503.
The land was found to be abundant in brazilwood
from which it later inherited its name
but the failure to find gold or silver meant that for the time being
the Portuguese instead decided to concentrate their efforts
on the invaluable trade out of India.
As the first decade of the 16th century progressed,
the Portuguese ventured further into other parts of Asia
such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia,
where they discovered the sources of cinnamon and nutmeg.
So valuable were these commodities that Alfonso de Albuquerque.
the first appointed Vice-Roy of Portuguese India
ordered the construction of trading posts and fortifications
along the 14,000 miles long route,
stretching from Portugal to the East Indies.
These served as basis of operations for conducting trade
and ensured the safeguarding of their valuable cargos
that were to be transported on the long arduous journey
back to the markets of Europe.
Shortly thereafter, the Portuguese trading network
stretched to cover an area surrounding the coastlines of Africa,
Arabia, India, Indonesia and even as far as China and Japan.
Although the Portuguese were primarily motivated
to establish trade relations through peaceful means
their arrival into Asia was often met with a fair degree of suspicion
from local merchants who saw them
as nothing more than foreign interlopers on their territory.
Consequently as tensions grew,
the Portuguese took to enforcing their trading activity
with the use of force
Throughout the 16th century numerous conflicts broke out
across the wider indopacific region,
as the Portuguese engaged in warfare
against the numerous sultanates and empires of Asia.
Often possessing superior military technology
over their adversaries,
the Portuguese were largely successful at defending their commercial enterprises
as well as going on the offensive to capture strategic targets
that they wish to take for themselves.
However, it was not just trade and conquest
that advanced the realms of the Portuguese Empire.
Religion also had its part to play
Accompanying the officials, merchants, mariners and soldiers,
on board the ships leaving Lisbon
were small numbers of priests and missionaries
typically belonging to the Jesuit order.
They had been ordered by the Portuguese monarchy
to spread the Catholic faith
amongst the native peoples of Asia and Africa
who they had come into contact with.
this policy had mixed successes
for, though their efforts help towards establishing relations
and new settlements, such as the port of Nagasaki in Japan, in 1571,
Elsewhere the priests and missionaries
spread the word of God through violence and coercion.
In the case of the Goa, Inquisition for example,
they heavily persecuted the Hindu population of Portuguese India
in a bid to convert them to Christianity.
The early period of the Portuguese Empire
was concentrated on developing trade across Asia and Africa,
which were much more lucrative and easily accessible compared to Brazil.
12:25 attitudes towards this quickly changed 12:27 however when other Europe European 12:29 explorers particularly the French began 12:31 to develop interests of their own in the 12:33 territory and established a trading post 12:35 there in 12:37 1531 the Portuguese response as decreed 12:40 by King XO III on the 28th of September 12:43 1532 was to deter further French 12:45 incursions to the region by initiating a 12:47 large-scale colonization program that 12:50 would see the land divided up and ruled 12:52 by 15 separate captaincies with 12:55 instructions to build settlements Grant 12:57 allotments and administer Justice 12:59 each Captain was responsible for 13:01 developing and absorbing the costs of 13:03 colonization although they were not 13:05 allowed to own the land 13:06 outright despite their best efforts 13:09 however only two of the captaincies 13:11 reached any stage of significant 13:12 development owing principally to their 13:15 dedication in growing the highly 13:16 profitable crop of sugar cane this 13:19 required an enormous amount of Labor to 13:21 produce and over time it became 13:23 exclusively reliant on enslaved Africans 13:25 to work in its Fields such was the scale 13:28 and importance of the sugar industry 13:30 that of the estimated 4 million Africans 13:32 who were sold into slavery in the 13:33 Americas between the 16th and 19th 13:35 centuries up to 40% ended up in Brazil 13:40 the Portuguese presence in South America 13:42 began to slowly develop As Time passed 13:44 with the cities of Bahia sa Paulo and 13:47 Rio de Janeiro all being founded in the 13:49 mid-6th 13:50 century however a significant change in 13:53 the progress of the Portuguese Empire 13:55 occurred in 1580 when a succession 13:58 crisis triggered by the untimely death 14:00 of King Sebastian 2 years earlier saw 14:02 Philip II of Spain invade Portugal and 14:05 take the throne for himself with that 14:09 the two crowns and overseas empires of 14:11 Spain and Portugal were United under the 14:13 Iberian Union although they would 14:16 continue to be ruled separately and 14:18 distinctly from one 14:19 another during this time however in the 14:22 late 16th century Spain was at war with 14:25 England France and the Netherlands and 14:28 as a result of the union with its 14:29 Iberian neighbor Portugal quickly found 14:31 itself embroiled in The Wider conflict 14:33 with European Rivals who were all 14:35 competing to establish overseas empires 14:37 of their own the Dutch in particular 14:40 posed the most comprehensive threat to 14:42 Portugal at this time for they had just 14:44 gained their independence from the 14:45 Spanish hapsburg monarchy in 1581 and 14:48 being Adept merchants and Maritime 14:50 explorers were Keen to participate in 14:52 the lucrative trade to Asia for 14:54 themselves these Ambitions were also 14:56 shared by the English and both soon 14:58 learned of the navigational routes