Questions tagged [portuguese-empire]
The Portuguese Empire was the first global empire. It existed for almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the handover of Portuguese Macau to China in 1999.
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Why wasn’t Japan colonized by the European empires?
Why wasn’t Japan colonized by the European empires?
That is a question that I have some doubts, European countries like Portugal had already been there, but they never colonized that land.
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Who was Ribeiro Pacheco, Portuguese journalist in colonial Mozambique during the 1960s/70s?
I am stuck in the search for information about Portuguese journalists in colonial Mozambique and would like to ask for help. I've asked the question already on /Historiaemportugues/ on Reddit, and was ...
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What is the first recorded contact with Taiwan by Europeans?
Apparently every book and website on or accessible through the internet repeats the exact same "they say..." "everyone knows..." story about the first European contact with Taiwan.¹...
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What did Portugal do with the money from Brazilian independence?
Brazil paid 2 million pounds sterling to Portugal as compensation for independence; this was established in the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro (1825) which was mediated by Britain.
ART. IV - There will now ...
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Why did the Portuguese permit an Italian commercial agent to accompany Vasco da Gama on the 4th Portuguese India Armada?
From Conquerors by Roger Crowley,
A second detachment of five ships under Estevao de Gama followed on April 1. The amplified expedition included a number of observers who would write eyewitness ...
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Do maps dating back to 1489/90 show Ascension and St Helena even though these islands were supposedly only discovered in 1501 and 1502 respectively?
The 1504 Vesconte Maggiolo Map appears to be the first map to name and accurately locate the islands of St Helena and Ascension as single isloated islands.
Ascension was shown in a similar location ...
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What happened where in 1541? (Portuguese in the Horn of Africa)
Was trying to check the following description from the introduction to a board game:
In 1541, Portuguese soldiers [...] slipped into the port of Massawa
[and] join[ed] the Christian forces. At the ...
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When did the Portuguese decide to extend their West African exploration to finding a sea passage to India?
In 1421, when the Portuguese began the southwards exploration of the West African coast under Prince Henry the Navigator, their primary aim (there were several) was to find the source of wealthy goods ...
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When the Portuguese began the exploration of the West African Coast, did they believe the Indian Ocean was an enclosed sea?
The Ptolemy map shows the Indian Ocean as an enclosed sea separated from the Atlantic by land extending from Africa to Malaya. Therefore, it suggests it is impossible to reach the Indian Ocean from ...
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How possible was it for colonizers to sail up the Paraná River to today's states of Paraná and São Paulo?
I know that there was a harbor as far as in Porto Feliz (state of São Paulo) on Tietê river. But I wonder whether it was only for the downstream transport, or also the upstream.
I have searched on ...
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Were the islands/countries discovered by Hispanic explorers named after Mozarabic feast days? [closed]
The Spanish and Portuguese often named newly discovered countries and islands after the feast days they were discovered, especially during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. It is always assumed ...
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Did the Portuguese get anything in return when they handed back Macau?
In 1999, Portugal fully returned Macau to China. However, did they get something for giving Macau back to China, or was it just a sign of good faith and decolonization in general?
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Did the Portuguese Crown sponsor Brazilian gold-seeking expeditions (bandeiras) in the 17th century?
The end of the 17th century is the beginning of the gold rush in Brazil. Shortly before there were expeditions (bandeiras) of explorers (later called bandeirantes) who were seeking precious minerals ...
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Why did the Chinese not use military power to force out early Portuguese, Dutch and English trade encroachments?
From what I understand, during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the Chinese were more advanced in trade and warfare than the Portuguese and Dutch who tried to (and eventually succeeded in) take over ...
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In WW2, why didn't Japan invade Macau?
Macau was a Portuguese Colony right next door to Hong Kong. Why didn't Japan invade it during WW2?
Japan did invade Hong Kong, and they did invade Portuguese Timor too. Yet I am not even sure if ...
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Was the British Empire bigger than the combined empires of the Iberian Union in terms of claimed land area?
The Iberian Empire (1580-1640 AD), under Phillip II, a Habsburg, was a period when there was only one crown in the Iberian Peninsula. The 16th Century had been an Age of Discovery and Exploration for ...
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Why didn't Portugal found universities in its colonies like Spain?
Imperial Spain and Portugal conquered and developed huge empires. Both monarchies were Catholic and seized huge amounts of land in the 1500s.
Both European motherlands had numerous universities, but ...
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How can a diamond shape be a reference to Napoleon?
The green and yellow on the Brazilian flag are references to the Houses of Bragança and Lorraine (of Francis I and II of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine), respectively. It seems that the diamond shape ...
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Why did the Portuguese colonies stay united whereas the Spanish ones split up? [duplicate]
Why did the South-American Portuguese colonies unite into one country, Brazil, whereas the South-American Spanish colonies split into many different countries, i.e. Argentina, Peru, Chile, etc?
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Spain's tributary empire vs. Portugal's seaborne empire
While the Spanish built a huge colonial empire in the Americas, why didn't Portugal colonize the South Asian coast and only aimed at controlling trade?
Why did these empires pursue such different ...
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Why did the Spanish take the island of Annobon in the Treaty of El Pardo in 1778?
The conditions of the Treaty of El Pardo (1778) have always been a mystery to me. From Wikipedia:
The Treaty of El Pardo was signed on March 11, 1778 between Queen Maria I of Portugal and King ...
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