The Portuguese went on exploring the African coast. The discoveries of Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama took them round the tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean. This map of the West African Coast is from A new and accurate description of the coast of Guinea published in London in 1705.
What did the Portuguese explorers discover?
During this period, Portugal was the first European power to begin building a colonial empire as Portuguese sailors and explorers discovered an eastern route to India (that rounded the Cape of Good Hope) as well as several Atlantic archipelagos (like the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde) and colonized the African coast …
What were the results of the Portuguese explorations of Africa?
What were the results of the Portuguese explorations of Africa? The Portuguese sent up trading posts for gold and slaves. Slavery disrupted African communities and inhibited the expression of regional African cultures and tribal identities.
What did the Portuguese do in Africa?
The Portuguese destroyed the Arab trade routes in the Indian Ocean between Africa, Arabia and India. The Portuguese replaced Arab control of the trade in ivory, gold and slaves with their own. They traded up the Zambezi river and interfered with the existing inland African trade.
What countries did the Portuguese discover?
In the 1500s, Portugal colonized the present-day west African country of Guinea-Bissau and the two southern African countries of Angola and Mozambique. The Portuguese captured and enslaved many people from these countries and sent them to the New World. Gold and diamonds were also extracted from these colonies.
Who is the most famous Portuguese explorer?
Important Portuguese Explorers
- Prince Henry (1394–1460)
- Bartolomeu Dias (1450-1500)
- Vasco da Gama (1460–1524)
- Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467–1520)
- Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521)
- Francis Xavier (1506 –1552)
Did the Portuguese discover America?
And the first voyage had to have occurred prior to 1492. BEFORE 1492 presents a compelling argument, based upon known historical facts and reasonable scientific deductions, that Portuguese mariners discovered America at least a decade before Columbus set sail on the Santa María, Niña and Pinta.
What were the main reasons for the Portuguese interest in Africa?
Access to commodities such as fabrics, spices, and gold motivated a European quest for a faster means to reach South Asia. It was this search that led the Portuguese down the coast of West Africa to Sierra Leone in 1460.
How did the Portuguese obtain most of their African slaves?
How did Portuguese merchants obtain most of their slaves in Africa? They traded for slaves with local leaders.
How did the Portuguese change African slavery?
Henrique began selling African slaves in Lagos in 1444. In 1455, Pope Nicholas V gave Portugal the rights to continue the slave trade in West Africa, under the provision that they convert all people who are enslaved. The Portuguese soon expanded their trade along the whole west coast of Africa.
Why did the Portuguese bring slaves to Brazil?
Gold and diamond deposits were discovered in Brazil in 1690, which sparked an increase in the importation of enslaved African people to power this newly profitable mining.
Who started slavery in Africa?
The transatlantic slave trade began during the 15th century when Portugal, and subsequently other European kingdoms, were finally able to expand overseas and reach Africa. The Portuguese first began to kidnap people from the west coast of Africa and to take those they enslaved back to Europe.
Why did Portuguese empire fall?
By the end of the 20th century these colonial empires were history. The rise of Soviet 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.
Did Portugal rule the world?
One of the longest-lived empires in world history, it existed for almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415, to the handover of Portuguese Macau to China in 1999.
What was Portugal called before?
By the 11th and 12th centuries, Portugale was already referred to as Portugal. The etymology of Cale points to Cale being a Celtic name, like many others found in the region.
Who colonized Portugal?
Portugal… Portugal, in the 20th century the poorest and least developed of the western European powers, was the first nation (with Spain) to establish itself as a colonial power and the last to give up its colonial possessions.