Although Ceuta proved to be a disappointment for the Portuguese, the decision was taken to hold it while exploring along the Atlantic African coast. At the time, Europeans did not know what lay beyond
Cape Bojador on the African coast. Henry wished to know how far the Muslim territories in Africa extended, and whether it was possible to reach Asia by sea, both to reach the source of the lucrative
spice trade and perhaps to join forces with the fabled Christian kingdom of
Prester John that was rumoured to exist somewhere in the "Indies". Under his sponsorship, soon the Atlantic islands of
Madeira (1419) and
Azores (1427) were reached and started to be settled, producing wheat for export to Portugal. Soon its ships were bringing into the European market highly valued gold, ivory, pepper, cotton, sugar, and slaves. The slave trade, for example, was conducted by a few dozen merchants in Lisbon. In the process of expanding the trade routes, Portuguese navigators mapped unknown parts of Africa, and began exploring the Indian Ocean. In 1487, an overland expedition by
Pêro da Covilhã made its way to India, exploring trade opportunities with the Indians and Arabs, and winding up finally in Ethiopia. His detailed report was eagerly read in Lisbon, which became the best-informed centre for global geography and trade routes.
Initial African coastline excursions Fears of what lay beyond
Cape Bojador, and whether it was possible to return once it was passed, were assuaged in 1434 when it was rounded by one of Infante Henry's captains,
Gil Eanes. Once this psychological barrier had been crossed, it became easier to probe further along the coast. In 1443,
Infante Dom Pedro, Henry's brother and by then regent of the Kingdom, granted him the monopoly of navigation, war and trade in the lands south of Cape Bojador. Later this monopoly would be enforced by the
papal bulls
Dum Diversas (1452) and
Romanus Pontifex (1455), granting Portugal the trade monopoly for the newly discovered lands. A major advance that accelerated this project was the introduction of the
caravel in the mid-15th century, a ship that could be sailed closer to the wind than any other in operation in Europe at the time. Using this new maritime technology, Portuguese navigators reached ever more southerly
latitudes, advancing at an average rate of one degree a year.
Senegal and
Cape Verde Peninsula were reached in 1445. The first
feitoria trade post overseas was established in 1445 on the island of
Arguin, off the coast of Mauritania, to attract Muslim traders and monopolise the business in the routes travelled in North Africa. In 1446,
Álvaro Fernandes pushed on almost as far as present-day
Sierra Leone, and the
Gulf of Guinea was reached in the 1460s. The
Cape Verde Islands were discovered in 1456 and settled in 1462. Expansion of
sugarcane in Madeira started in 1455, using advisers from
Sicily and (largely)
Genoese capital to produce the "sweet salt" that was rare in Europe. Already cultivated in
Algarve, the accessibility of Madeira attracted Genoese and Flemish traders keen to bypass Venetian monopolies. Slaves were used, and the proportion of imported slaves in Madeira reached 10% of the total population by the 16th century. By 1480
Antwerp had some seventy ships engaged in the Madeira sugar trade, with the refining and distribution concentrated in Antwerp. By the 1490s Madeira had overtaken Cyprus as a producer of sugar. The success of sugar merchants such as
Bartolomeo Marchionni would propel the investment in future travels. In 1469, after prince Henry's death and as a result of meagre returns of the African explorations, King
Afonso V granted the monopoly of trade in part of the
Gulf of Guinea to merchant
Fernão Gomes. Gomes, who had to explore of the coast each year for five years, discovered the islands of the Gulf of Guinea, including
São Tomé and Príncipe, and found a thriving
alluvial gold trade among the natives and visiting Arab and Berber traders at the port then named
Mina (the mine), where he established a trading post. Trade between Elmina and Portugal grew throughout a decade. During the
War of the Castilian Succession, a large
Castilian fleet attempted to wrest control of this lucrative trade, but were decisively defeated in the 1478
Battle of Guinea, which firmly established an exclusive Portuguese control. In 1481, the recently crowned
João II decided to build
São Jorge da Mina in order to ensure the protection of this trade, which was held again as a royal monopoly. The equator was crossed by navigators sponsored by Fernão Gomes in 1473 and the
Congo River by
Diogo Cão in 1482. It was during this expedition that the Portuguese first encountered the
Kingdom of Kongo, with which it soon developed a rapport. During his 1485–86 expedition, Cão continued to
Cape Cross, in present-day
Namibia, near the
Tropic of Capricorn. (1415–1769) In 1488,
Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa and reached
Great Fish River on the coast of Africa, proving false the view that had existed since
Ptolemy that the Indian Ocean was
land-locked. Simultaneously
Pêro da Covilhã, travelling secretly overland, had reached
Ethiopia, suggesting that a sea route to the Indies would soon be forthcoming. As the Portuguese explored the coastlines of Africa, they left behind a series of
padrões, stone crosses engraved with the Portuguese coat of arms marking their claims, and built forts and trading posts. From these bases, they engaged profitably in the slave and gold trades. Portugal enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the African seaborne slave trade for over a century, importing around 800 slaves annually. Most were brought to the Portuguese capital Lisbon, where it is estimated black Africans came to constitute 10 percent of the population.
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) meridian divided the world between the crowns
of Portugal and
of Castile.
Christopher Columbus's 1492 discovery for Spain of the
New World, which he believed to be Asia, led to disputes between the Spanish and the Portuguese. These were eventually settled by the
Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which divided the world outside of Europe in an exclusive
duopoly between the Portuguese and the Spanish along a north–south meridian 370
leagues, or , west of the Cape Verde islands. However, as it was not possible at the time to correctly measure
longitude, the exact boundary was disputed by the two countries until 1777. The completion of these negotiations with Spain is one of several reasons proposed by historians for why it took nine years for the Portuguese to follow up on Dias's voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, though it has also been speculated that other voyages were in fact taking place in secret during this time. Whether or not this was the case, the long-standing Portuguese goal of finding a sea route to Asia was finally achieved in a
ground-breaking voyage commanded by
Vasco da Gama.
The Portuguese enter the Indian Ocean (1469–1524) The squadron of
Vasco da Gama left Portugal in 1497, rounded the Cape and continued along the coast of East Africa, where a local pilot was brought on board who guided them across the Indian Ocean, reaching
Calicut (
Kozhikode), the capital of the kingdom ruled by
Zamorins, in south-western India in May 1498. The second voyage to India was dispatched in 1500 under
Pedro Álvares Cabral. While following the same south-westerly route as Gama across the Atlantic Ocean, Cabral made landfall on the Brazilian coast. This was probably an accidental discovery, but it has been speculated that the Portuguese secretly knew of Brazil's existence and that it lay on their side of the Tordesillas line. Cabral recommended to the Portuguese King that the land be settled, and two follow up voyages were sent in 1501 and 1503. The land was found to be abundant in
pau-brasil, or brazilwood, from which it later inherited its name, but the failure to find gold or silver meant that for the time being Portuguese efforts were concentrated on India. In 1502, to enforce its trade monopoly over a wide area of the
Indian Ocean, the Portuguese Empire created the
cartaz licensing system, granting merchant ships protection against pirates and rival states. Profiting from the rivalry between the
ruler of Kochi and the
Zamorin of
Calicut, the Portuguese were well-received and seen as allies, as they obtained a permit to build the
fort Immanuel (
Fort Kochi) and a trading post that was the first European settlement in India. They established a trading hub at
Tangasseri,
Quilon (
Coulão,
Kollam) city in (1503) in 1502, which became the centre of trade in pepper, and after founding manufactories at
Cochin (
Cochim, Kochi) and
Cannanore (
Canonor, Kannur), built a factory at
Quilon in 1503. In 1505 King
Manuel I of Portugal appointed
Francisco de Almeida first
Viceroy of Portuguese India, establishing the Portuguese government in the east. That year the Portuguese also conquered
Kannur, where they founded
St. Angelo Fort, and
Lourenço de Almeida arrived in
Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), where he discovered the source of
cinnamon. Although
Cankili I of
Jaffna initially resisted contact with them, the
Jaffna kingdom came to the attention of Portuguese officials soon after for their resistance to missionary activities as well as logistical reasons due to its proximity with
Trincomalee harbour among other reasons. In the same year, Manuel I ordered Almeida to fortify the Portuguese fortresses in Kerala and within eastern Africa, as well as probe into the prospects of building forts in Sri Lanka and Malacca in response to growing hostilities with Muslims within those regions and threats from the Mamluk sultan. '' epitomised the might and the force of the
Portuguese Armada. A Portuguese fleet under the command of
Tristão da Cunha and
Afonso de Albuquerque conquered
Socotra at the entrance of the
Red Sea in 1506 and
Muscat in 1507. Having failed to conquer
Ormuz, they instead followed a strategy intended to close off commerce to and from the Indian Ocean.
Madagascar was partly explored by Cunha, and
Mauritius was discovered by Cunha whilst possibly being accompanied by Albuquerque. After the capture of Socotra, Cunha and Albuquerque operated separately. While Cunha travelled India and Portugal for trading purposes, Albuquerque went to India to take over as governor after Almeida's three-year term ended. Almeida refused to turn over power and soon placed Albuquerque under house arrest, where he remained until 1509. Although requested by Manuel I to further explore interests in Malacca and Sri Lanka, Almeida instead focused on western India, in particular the
Sultanate of Gujarat due to his suspicions of traders from the region possessing more power. The
Mamlûk Sultanate sultan
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri along with the Gujarati sultanate attacked Portuguese forces in the harbor of
Chaul, resulting in the death of
Almeida's son. In retaliation, the Portuguese fought and destroyed the Mamluks and Gujarati fleets in the sea
Battle of Diu in 1509. Along with Almeida's initial attempts, Manuel I and his council in Lisbon had tried to distribute power in the Indian Ocean, creating three areas of jurisdiction: Albuquerque was sent to the Red Sea,
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to South-east Asia, seeking an agreement with the Sultan of Malacca, and Jorge de Aguiar followed by Duarte de Lemos were sent to the area between the Cape of Good Hope and Gujarat. However, such posts were centralised by Afonso de Albuquerque after his succession and remained so in subsequent ruling. File:Portuguese discoveries and explorationsV2en.png|
Portuguese discoveries and explorations: first arrival places and dates; main Portuguese
spice trade routes (blue) File:Codice Casanatense Portuguese Nobleman.jpg|16th century Portuguese illustration from the
Códice Casanatense, depicting a Portuguese nobleman with his retinue in India File:Portuguese Nau.png|16th century heavy Portuguese carrack
Trade with Maritime Asia, Africa and the Indian Ocean Goa, Malacca and Southeast Asia , credited with laying the foundations of Portuguese power in Asia By the end of 1509, Albuquerque became viceroy of the
East Indies with the capital at
Velha Goa, after the
Cape route was discovered by Vasco da Gama. In contrast to Almeida, Albuquerque was more concerned with strengthening the navy, as well as being more compliant with the interests of the kingdom. His first objective was to conquer Goa, due to its strategic location as a defensive fort positioned between Kerala and Gujarat, as well as its prominence for
Arabian horse imports. In Goa, Albuquerque began the first Portuguese
mint in India in 1510. He encouraged Portuguese settlers to marry local women, built a church in honor of
St. Catherine (as it was recaptured on her feast day), and attempted to build rapport with the Hindus by protecting their temples and reducing their tax requirements. In April 1511, Albuquerque sailed to
Malacca on the
Malay Peninsula, the largest spice market of the period. Though the trade was largely dominated by the Gujarati, other groups such as the Turks, Persians, Armenians, Tamils and
Abyssinians traded there. By July 1511, Albuquerque had captured Malacca and sent
António de Abreu and
Francisco Serrão (along with Ferdinand Magellan) to explore the Indonesian archipelago. ' in the Age of Discovery. Albuquerque's strategy to encircle the Indian Ocean is shown. The Malacca peninsula became the strategic base for Portuguese trade expansion with China and Southeast Asia. A strong gate, called the
A Famosa, was erected to defend the city and remains. Learning of Siamese ambitions over Malacca, Albuquerque immediately sent
Duarte Fernandes on a diplomatic mission to the
Kingdom of Siam (modern Thailand), where he was the first European to arrive, establishing amicable relations and trade between both kingdoms. The Portuguese empire pushed further south and proceeded to discover Timor in 1512.
Jorge de Meneses discovered
New Guinea in 1526, naming it the "Island of the Papua". In 1517,
João da Silveira commanded a fleet to
Chittagong, and by 1528, the Portuguese had established a
settlement in Chittagong. The Portuguese eventually based their centre of operations along the
Hugli River, where they encountered Muslims, Hindus, and Portuguese deserters known as
Chatins.
China and Japan Jorge Álvares was the first European to reach China by sea, while the Romans were the first overland via Asia Minor. He was also the first European to discover Hong Kong. In 1514, Afonso de Albuquerque, the viceroy of the Estado da India, dispatched
Rafael Perestrello to sail to China in order to pioneer European trade relations with the nation. In their first attempts at obtaining trading posts by force, the Portuguese were defeated by the Ming Chinese at the
Battle of Tunmen in
Tamão or
Tuen Mun. In 1521, the Portuguese lost two ships at the
Battle of Sincouwaan in
Lantau Island. The Portuguese also lost two ships at
Shuangyu in 1548 where several Portuguese were captured and near the
Dongshan Peninsula. In 1549 two Portuguese junks and
Galeote Pereira were captured. During these battles the Ming Chinese captured weapons from the defeated Portuguese which they then reverse engineered and mass-produced in China such as
matchlock musket arquebuses which they named
bird guns and
breech-loading swivel guns which they named as Folangji (
Frankish) cannon because the Portuguese were known to the Chinese under the name of Franks at this time. The Portuguese later returned to China peacefully and presented themselves under the name Portuguese instead of Franks in the
Luso-Chinese agreement (1554) and rented Macau as a trading post from China by paying annual lease of hundreds of silver
taels to Ming China. Despite initial harmony and excitement between the two cultures, difficulties began to arise shortly afterwards, including misunderstanding, bigotry, and even hostility. The Portuguese explorer
Simão de Andrade incited poor relations with China due to his pirate activities, raiding Chinese shipping, attacking a Chinese official, and kidnappings of Chinese. He based himself at Tamao island in a fort. The Chinese claimed that Simão kidnapped Chinese boys and girls to be molested and cannibalised. The Chinese sent a squadron of junks against Portuguese caravels that succeeded in driving the Portuguese away and reclaiming Tamao. As a result, the Chinese posted an edict banning men with Caucasian features from entering Canton, killing multiple Portuguese there, and driving the Portuguese back to sea. After the Sultan of Bintan detained several Portuguese under Tomás Pires, the Chinese then executed 23 Portuguese and threw the rest into prison where they resided in squalid, sometimes fatal conditions. The Chinese then massacred Portuguese who resided at
Ningbo and
Fujian trading posts in 1545 and 1549, due to extensive and damaging raids by the Portuguese along the coast, which irritated the Chinese.
Spice Islands (Moluccas) and Treaty of Zaragoza and
China. A significant portion of the crews on Portuguese ships on the
Japan voyage were
Indian Catholics. Portuguese operations in Asia did not go unnoticed, and in 1521
Magellan arrived in the region and claimed the Philippines for Spain. In 1525, Spain under Charles V sent an expedition to colonise the
Moluccas islands, claiming they were in his zone of the
Treaty of Tordesillas, since there was no set limit to the east. The expedition of
García Jofre de Loaísa reached the Moluccas, docking at
Tidore. With the Portuguese already established in nearby Ternate, conflict was inevitable, leading to nearly a decade of skirmishes. A resolution was reached with the
Treaty of Zaragoza in 1529, attributing the Moluccas to Portugal and the Philippines to Spain. The Portuguese traded regularly with the
Bruneian Empire from 1530 and described the capital of Brunei as surrounded by a stone wall.
South Asia, Persian Gulf and Red Sea The Portuguese empire expanded into the Persian Gulf, contesting control of the spice trade with the
Ajuran Empire and the
Ottoman Empire. Albuquerque
conquered the
Huwala state of
Hormuz at the head of the Persian Gulf in 1515, establishing it as a vassal state.
Aden, however,
resisted Albuquerque's expedition in that same year and another attempt by Albuquerque's successor
Lopo Soares de Albergaria in 1516. In 1521 a force led by
António Correia captured
Bahrain, defeating the
Jabrid King,
Muqrin ibn Zamil.
Bahrain was under full Portuguese control by 1521, making it the first Middle Eastern country to be fully colonised by a European power. In a shifting series of alliances, the Portuguese dominated much of the southern Persian Gulf for the next hundred years. With the regular maritime route linking Lisbon to Goa since 1497, the
island of Mozambique became a strategic port, and there was built
Fort São Sebastião and a hospital. In the Azores, the Islands Armada protected the ships en route to Lisbon. . In 1534, Gujarat faced attack from the
Mughals and the Rajput states of
Chitor and
Mandu. The Sultan
Bahadur Shah of Gujarat was forced to sign the
Treaty of Bassein with the Portuguese, establishing an alliance to regain the country, giving in exchange
Daman,
Diu,
Mumbai and
Bassein. It also regulated the trade of Gujarati ships departing to the
Red Sea and passing through Bassein to pay duties and allow the horse trade. After Mughal ruler
Humayun had success against Bahadur, the latter signed another treaty with the Portuguese to confirm the provisions and allowed the fort to be built in Diu. Shortly afterward, Humayun turned his attention elsewhere, and the Gujarats allied with the Ottomans to regain control of Diu and lay siege to the fort. The two failed sieges of
1538 and
1546 put an end to Ottoman ambitions, confirming the Portuguese hegemony in the region, as well as gaining superiority over the Mughals. However, the Ottomans fought off attacks from the Portuguese in the Red Sea and in the
Sinai Peninsula in 1541, and in the northern region of the Persian Gulf in 1546 and 1552. Each entity ultimately had to respect the sphere of influence of the other, albeit unofficially.
Sub-Saharan Africa unload cargo in Lisbon. Original engraving by
Theodor de Bry, 1593, coloured at a later date After a series of prolonged contacts with Ethiopia, the Portuguese embassy made contact with the
Ethiopian (Abyssinian) Kingdom led by Rodrigo de Lima in 1520. This coincided with the Portuguese search for Prester John, as they soon associated the kingdom as his land. The fear of Turkish advances within the Portuguese and Ethiopian sectors also played a role in their alliance. The
Adal Sultanate defeated the Ethiopians in the
battle of Shimbra Kure in 1529, and Islam spread further in the
region. Portugal responded by aiding king
Gelawdewos with Portuguese soldiers and muskets. Though the Ottomans responded with support of soldiers and muskets to the Adal Sultanate, after the death of the Adali sultan
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi in the
battle of Wayna Daga in 1543, the joint Adal-Ottoman force retreated. The Portuguese also made direct contact with the
Kongolose vassal state
Ndongo and its ruler Ngola Kiljuane in 1520, after the latter requested missionaries. Kongolese king
Afonso I interfered with the process with denunciations, and later sent a Kongo mission to Ndongo after the latter had arrested the Portuguese mission that came. However, when the
Jaga attacked and conquered regions of Kongo in 1568, Portuguese assisted Kongo in their defeat. In response, the Kongo allowed the colonisation of Luanda Island; Luanda was established by
Paulo Dias de Novais in 1576 and soon became a slave port. De Novais' subsequent alliance with Ndongo angered Luso-Africans who resented the influence from the Crown. In 1579, Ndongo ruler Ngola Kiluanje kia Ndamdi massacred Portuguese and Kongolese residents in the Ndongo capital
Kabasa under the influence of Portuguese renegades. Both the Portuguese and Kongo fought against Ndongo, and off-and-on warfare between the Ndongo and Portugal would persist for decades. In east-Africa, the main agents acting on behalf of the Portuguese Crown, exploring and settling the territory of what would become Mozambique were the '''', to whom vast estates around the Zambezi River were leased by the King as a reward for their services. Commanding vast armies of
chikunda warrior-slaves, these men acted as feudal-like lords, either levying tax from local chieftains, defending them and their estates from marauding tribes, participating in the ivory or slave trade, and becoming involved in the politics of the
Kingdom of Mutapa, to the point of installing client kings upon its throne.
Missionary expeditions requesting
John III of Portugal for a missionary expedition in Asia In 1542, Jesuit missionary
Francis Xavier arrived in Goa at the service of João III of Portugal, in charge of an
Apostolic Nunciature. At the same time
Francisco Zeimoto,
António Mota, and other traders arrived in Japan for the first time. According to
Fernão Mendes Pinto, who claimed to be in this journey, they arrived at
Tanegashima, where the locals were impressed by
firearms, that would be immediately made by the Japanese on a large scale. By 1570 the Portuguese bought part of a Japanese port where they founded a small part of the city of
Nagasaki, and it became the major trading port in Japan in the triangular trade with China and Europe. Guarding its trade from both European and Asian competitors, Portugal dominated not only the trade between Asia and Europe, but also much of the trade between different regions of Asia and Africa, such as India, Indonesia, China, and Japan.
Jesuit missionaries, followed the Portuguese to spread
Catholicism to Asia and Africa with mixed success.
Colonisation efforts in the Americas Canada in 1499 and the 1500s. Based on the
Treaty of Tordesillas, the Portuguese Crown, under the kings Manuel I, João III and Sebastão, also claimed territorial rights in North America (reached by
John Cabot in 1497 and 1498). To that end, in 1499 and 1500,
João Fernandes Lavrador explored
Greenland and the north Atlantic coast of Canada, which accounts for the appearance of "Labrador" on topographical maps of the period. Subsequently, in 1500–1501 and 1502, the brothers
Gaspar and
Miguel Corte-Real explored what is today the Canadian province of
Newfoundland and Labrador, and Greenland, claiming these lands for Portugal. In 1506, King Manuel I created taxes for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters. Around 1521,
João Álvares Fagundes was granted
donatary rights to the inner islands of the
Gulf of St. Lawrence and also created a settlement on
Cape Breton Island to serve as a base for cod fishing. Pressure from natives and competing European fisheries prevented a permanent establishment and it was abandoned five years later. Several attempts to establish settlements in Newfoundland over the next half-century also failed.
Brazil Within a few years after Cabral arrived from Brazil, competition came along from France. In 1503, an expedition under the command of
Gonçalo Coelho reported French raids on the Brazilian coasts, and explorer
Binot Paulmier de Gonneville traded for brazilwood after making contact in southern Brazil a year later. Expeditions sponsored by
Francis I along the North American coast directly violated of the
Treaty of Tordesilhas. By 1531, the French had stationed a trading post off of an island on the Brazilian coast. In 1531, a royal expedition led by
Martim Afonso de Sousa and his brother Pero Lopes went to patrol the whole Brazilian coast, banish the French, and create some of the first colonial towns – among them
São Vicente, in 1532. Sousa returned to Lisbon a year later to become
governor of India and never returned to Brazil. The French attacks did cease to an extent after retaliation led to the Portuguese paying the French to stop attacking Portuguese ships throughout the Atlantic, Upon Sousa's arrival and success, fifteen latitudinal tracts, theoretically to span from the coast to the Tordesillas limit, were decreed by João III on 28 September 1532. The plot of the lands formed the hereditary
captaincies (Capitanias Hereditárias) to grantees rich enough to support settlement, as had been done successfully in
Madeira and
Cape Verde islands. Each
captain-major was to build settlements, grant allotments and administer justice, being responsible for developing and taking the costs of colonisation, although not being the owner: he could transmit it to offspring, but not sell it. Twelve recipients came from Portuguese gentry who become prominent in Africa and India and senior officials of the court, such as
João de Barros. Of the fifteen original captaincies, only two,
Pernambuco and
São Vicente, prospered. Both were dedicated to the crop of
sugar cane, and the settlers managed to maintain alliances with
Native Americans. The rise of the sugar industry came about because the Crown took the easiest sources of profit (brazilwood, spices, etc.), leaving settlers to come up with new revenue sources. The establishment of the sugar cane industry demanded intensive labour that would be met with Native American and, later, African slaves. Deeming the
capitanias system ineffective, João III decided to centralise the government of the colony in order to "give help and assistance" to grantees. In 1548 he created the first General Government, sending in
Tomé de Sousa as first governor and selecting a capital at the
Bay of All Saints, making it at the
Captaincy of Bahia. Tomé de Sousa built the capital of Brazil,
Salvador, at the Bay of All Saints in 1549. Among Sousa's 1,000 man expedition were soldiers, workers, and six
Jesuits led by
Manuel da Nóbrega. The Jesuits would have an essential role in the settlement of Brazil, including the cities of São Vicente, and
São Paulo, the latter co-founded by Nóbrega. Along with the Jesuit missions later came disease among the natives, among them
plague and
smallpox. Subsequently, the French would resettle in Portuguese territory at
Guanabara Bay, which would be called
France Antarctique. While a Portuguese ambassador was sent to
Paris to report the French intrusion, João III appointed
Mem de Sá as new Brazilian governor general, and Sá left for Brazil in 1557. The Tamoio had been allied with the French since the settlement of France Antarctique, and despite the French loss in 1560, the Tamoio were still a threat. They launched two attacks in 1561 and 1564 (the latter event was assisting the French), and were nearly successful with each. By this time period, Manuel de Nóbrega, along with fellow Jesuit
José de Anchieta, took part as members of attacks on the Tamoios and as spies for their resources. By 1575, the Tamoios had been subdued and essentially were extinct,
Iberian Union, Protestant rivalry, and colonial stasis (1580–1663) in 1598, during the reign of
Philip I and II, King of Portugal and Spain In 1580, King
Philip II of Spain invaded Portugal after a
crisis of succession brought about by king
Sebastião of Portugal's death during a disastrous
Portuguese attack on Alcácer Quibir in
Morocco in 1578. At the Cortes of Tomar in 1581, Philip was crowned Philip I of Portugal, uniting the two crowns and overseas empires under
Spanish Habsburg rule in a
dynastic Iberian Union. At Tomar, Philip promised to keep the empires legally distinct, leaving the administration of the Portuguese Empire to Portuguese nationals, with a
Viceroy of Portugal in Lisbon seeing to his interests. Philip even had the capital moved to Lisbon for a two-year period (1581–83) due to it being the most important city in the
Iberian peninsula. All the Portuguese colonies accepted the new state of affairs except for the
Azores, which held out for
António, a Portuguese rival claimant to the throne who had garnered the support of
Catherine de Medici of France in exchange for the promise to cede Brazil. Spanish forces eventually captured the islands in 1583. The Tordesillas boundary between Spanish and Portuguese control in South America was then increasingly ignored by the Portuguese, who pressed beyond it into the heart of Brazil, These expeditions lasted for years venturing into unmapped regions, initially to capture natives and force them into slavery, and later focusing on finding gold, silver and diamond mines. , by
Philip III of Portugal, from the
Dutch Republic However, the union meant that Spain dragged Portugal into its conflicts with England, France and the
Dutch Republic, countries which were beginning to establish their own overseas empires. The primary threat came from the Dutch, who had been engaged in a
struggle for independence against Spain since 1568. In 1581, the
Seven Provinces gained independence from the
Habsburg rule, leading Philip II to prohibit commerce with Dutch ships, including in Brazil where Dutch had invested large sums in financing sugar production. Spanish imperial trade networks now were opened to Portuguese merchants, which was particularly lucrative for Portuguese slave traders who could now sell slaves in Spanish America at a higher price than could be fetched in Brazil. In addition to this newly acquired access to the Spanish
asientos, the Portuguese were able to solve their bullion shortage issues with access to the production of the silver mining in Peru and Mexico.
Manila was also incorporated into the Macau-Nagasaki trading network, allowing Macanese of Portuguese descent to act as trading agents for Philippine Spaniards and use Spanish silver from the Americas in trade with China, and they later drew competition with the Dutch East India Company. In 1592, during the
war with Spain, an English fleet
captured a large Portuguese carrack off the Azores, the
Madre de Deus, which was loaded with 900 tons of merchandise from India and China estimated at half a million
pounds (nearly half the size of English Treasury at the time). This foretaste of the riches of the East galvanised English interest in the region. That same year,
Cornelis de Houtman was sent by Dutch merchants to Lisbon, to gather as much information as he could about the Spice Islands. 's 1596 print of "
The Market of Goa" in
Linschoten's
Itinerario, showing the main street of Portuguese Goa in the 1580s The Dutch eventually came to acknowledge the importance of Goa in breaking up the Portuguese empire in Asia. In 1583, merchant and explorer
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten (1563– 8 February 1611), formerly the Dutch secretary of the Archbishop of Goa, had acquired information while serving in that position that contained the location of secret Portuguese trade routes throughout Asia, including those to the East Indies and Japan. It was published in 1595 and then greatly expanded the next year as his
Itinerario. Dutch and English interests used this new information, leading to their commercial expansion, including the foundation of the English
East India Company in 1600, and the Dutch East India Company in 1602. These developments allowed the entry of
chartered companies into the East Indies. ended Dutch presence in
Pernambuco. The Dutch took their fight overseas, attacking Spanish and Portuguese colonies and beginning the
Dutch–Portuguese War, which would last for over sixty years (1602–1663). Other European nations, such as Protestant England, assisted the
Dutch Empire in the war. The Dutch attained victories in Asia and Africa with assistance of various indigenous allies, eventually wrenching control of
Malacca (1641),
Portuguese Gold Coast (1642;
Elmina Castle seized by the Dutch already in 1637),
Ceylon (1658), and
Kochi (1663). The Dutch also had regional control of the lucrative sugar-producing region of
northeast Brazil as well as
Luanda, but the Portuguese regained these territories after considerable struggle. Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf region, the Portuguese also lost control of
Bahrain in 1602,
Ormuz was captured by a joint alliance of the
Safavids and the English in 1622, The
1625 Battle off Hormuz, one of the most important of the
Portuguese–Safavid wars, would result in a draw. They would continue to use Muscat as a base for repetitive incursions within the Indian Ocean,
including capturing Fort Jesus in 1698, which resulted in a loss of
Zanzibar in 1698. In Ethiopia and Japan in the 1630s, the ousting of missionaries by local leaders severed influence in the respective regions. == Second Empire (1663–1822) ==