Portuguese Empire

Background

The Portuguese Empire and overseas interests

The Portuguese Empire (Portuguese: Império Português) was the first global empire in history.^[1]^[2] It spread from South America to Africa, India and South East Asia. It began with the Portuguese exploration of the world during the 15th century and it lasted longer than all the other modern European empires. It lasted 486 years, longer than the Spanish, British, and French Empires.

The Portuguese Empire had trade with the following areas:

Goa, Malacca and Southeast Asia
China and Japan
Spice Islands (Moluccas) and the Treaty of Zaragoza
South Asia, Persian Gulf and Red Sea
Sub-Saharan Africa
Brazil, but it was a colony of Portugal

The 1890 British Ultimatum was an ultimatum by the British government that was delivered on 11 January 1890 to Portugal. The ultimatum forced the retreat o Portuguese military forces from areas in Africa that had been claimed by the Portuguese but were occupied by the British.

Fall

The Portuguese Empire, like the British, French and German Empires, was heavily influenced by the outcome of the two world wars in the 20th century. This namely includes the first World War because Portugal was participating in the war and suffered many deaths from the war. However, in the second world war, Portugal was mostly neutral and didn't fight. However it helped the Allies get resources such as tungsten for their war efforts. The European powers, including Portugal, were pressured by the Soviet Union and the United States and by independence movements inside the colonial territories. By the end of the 20th century, all of those colonial empires had been history.

The rise of Soviet and communist influence in the working class and the cost of the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974) led to the collapse of the Portuguese Second Republic (Estado Novo) in 1974. The National Salvation Junta (Junta de Salvação Nacional) ended the wars and made Portugal leave its African colonies.

Civil wars soon broke out in Angola and Mozambique. That was a cause for thousands of Portuguese refugees living there to come from the former African colonies.

Portugal gave Macau, its last colony, back to China in 1999, the same year the British did to Hong Kong/

Legacy

The seven former colonies of Portugal have Portuguese as their official language and are members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries with Portugal. Portuguese is now one of the world's major languages. It is the language of Brazil, which is the largest country in South America, and arguably the most powerful.

Portuguese Empire Media

The Conquest of Ceuta on 21 August 1415, led by Henry the Navigator (1394–1460), marked the beginning of the Portuguese Empire.
16th century map showing Portuguese claims to Guinea and the castle São Jorge da Mina
Portuguese possessions in Morocco, 15th-18th century
The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas meridian divided the world between the crowns of Portugal and of Castile.
Vasco da Gama (1469–1524)
The carrack Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai epitomised the might and the force of the Portuguese Armada.
Second viceroy of India Afonso de Albuquerque, credited with laying the foundations of Portuguese power in Asia
Iberian 'mare clausum' in the Age of Discovery. Albuquerque's strategy to encircle the Indian Ocean is shown.
Portugal was the first European nation to establish trade routes with Japan and China. A significant portion of the crews on Portuguese ships on the Japan voyage were Indian Catholics.
Portuguese carracks unload cargo in Lisbon. Original engraving by Theodor de Bry, 1593, coloured at a later date