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This is a timeline of Portuguese history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Portugal and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Portugal
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Portuguese Empire of the East, or Estado da Índia ("State of India"), with its capital in Goa, included possessions (as subjected areas with a certain degree of autonomy) in all the Asian sub-continents, East Africa, and Pacific.
Portuguese discoveries and explorations: first arrival places and dates; main Portuguese spice trade routes in the Indian Ocean (blue); territories of the Portuguese Empire under King John III rule (1521–1557) (green).
The Portuguese Empire was established from the 15th century and eventually stretched from the Americas to Japan. Very often a string of coastal trading centres with defensive fortifications, there were larger territorial colonies like Brazil, Angola, and Mozambique.
- Mark Cartwright
- Publishing Director
- The Key Colonies
- The North Atlantic Islands
- West Africa & Slavery
- East Africa
- India & Spices
- The Far East
- Brazil
- Southern Africa
- Decline, Decolonization & Legacy
The most important colonies in the Portuguese Empire were: 1. Madeira (founded 1420) 2. Azores (1439) 3. Cape Verde (1462) 4. São Tomé and Principe (1486) 5. Portuguese Cochin(1503) 6. Portuguese Mozambique (1506) 7. Portuguese Goa(1510) 8. Portuguese Malacca(1511) 9. Portuguese Hormuz (1515) 10. Portuguese Colombo (1518) 11. Portuguese Brazil(1532...
The Portuguese were intrepid mariners and so it is entirely appropriate that their first colonies should be relatively remote islands. Searching for new resources and land which might solve Portugal’s deficit in wheat requirements, mariners sailed towards the unknown mid-Atlantic Ocean. The Portuguese navigators were able to mount these expeditions...
The Portuguese, keen to access the West African gold and salt trade, set up several fortified trading settlements along the southern coast (modern Ghana) such as at Elmina in 1482. However, tropical diseases, a lack of manpower, and a reluctance by local rulers to allow male slaves to be exported meant that, at least initially, the profits were lim...
When in 1498 the explorer Vasco da Gama(c. 1469-1524) sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean, suddenly the Portuguese gained access to a whole new trade network involving Africans, Indians, and Arabs. This had been going on for centuries, but when the Portuguese arrived commerce became violent. Using superior ships and cannon...
One of Vasco da Gama’s prime objectives was to find a maritime route to Asia so that Portugal could gain direct access to the lucrative spice trade. Spices like pepper, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon fetched high prices in markets from England to China. When he reached India’s Malabar Coast, the mariner did indeed find a wealth of trade going...
Another Portuguese strategy to control trade was to find the source of the precious spices. Many spices came from one small island group in Indonesia, the Spice Islands (the Maluku Islands or the Moluccas). Most of the spices from these islands were shipped to Malacca (Melaka) on the southwest coast of the Malay peninsula which controlled the Malay...
Brazil was 'discovered' by the Portuguese in 1500, and it would become the most important of all their colonies. Brazil was rich in natural resources such as hardwoods, diamonds, and gold (from the Minas Gerais region). Captaincies were handed out, and São Vicente became the first Portuguese settlement in 1532. The first governor of Brazil was appo...
The Angola region was colonised by the Portuguese from 1571, and it became the first European territorial colony in Africa (as opposed to a mere city-stateor coastal settlement). The Kingdom of Ndongo (formed c. 1500) collapsed, but not before it had been exploited as an ally against Kongo to the north. The Europeans had the advantage of gunpowder ...
Besides an often ever-present threat from local rulers, the Portuguese faced fierce competition from other European maritime powers who soon began to eye enviously their empire. This was especially so given the lack of upkeep of Portuguese forts and the general isolation of individual coastal cities, which had no supporting local population to come...
- Mark Cartwright
Jul 28, 2021 · By the time Portuguese Brazil was created, it had truly become the first global, inter-continental empire. In this collection of resources, we examine the process by which the empire was built and maintained, its key colonies, and its impact on local peoples, environments and trade networks.
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Oct 13, 2024 · The First Portuguese Republic spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy marked by the 5 October 1910 revolution and the 28 May 1926 coup d'état.
