Group

Portuguese Empire

State Defunct 1415 CE – 1999 CE Capital Lisbon > Lisboa Lisboa Portugal

The Portuguese Empire (Portuguese: Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire (Ultramar Português) or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (Império Colonial Português), is the first global empire in history.

In addition, it is the longest-lived of the modern European colonial empires, spanning almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the handover of Macau in 1999.

The empire spreads throughout a vast number of territories that are now parts of 53 different sovereign states.Portuguese sailors begin exploring the coast of Africa in 1419, using recent developments in navigation, cartography and maritime technology such as the caravel, in order that they might find a sea route to the source of the lucrative spice trade.

In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama reaches India.

In 1500, either by an accidental landfall or by the crown's secret design, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovers Brazil on the South American coast.

Over the following decades, Portuguese sailors continue to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia, establishing forts and factories as they go.

By 1571, a string of outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa, the Middle East, India, and Asia.

This commercial network brings great wealth to Portugal.Between 1580 and 1640 Portugal becomes a partner, with Spain, in a personal union of the two countries' crowns.

Though the empires continue to be administered separately, Portuguese colonies become the subject of attacks by three rival European powers hostile to Spain and generally envious of Iberian successes overseas: the Dutch Republic, England, and France.

With its smaller population, Portugal is unable to effectively defend its overstretched network of trading posts, and the empire begins a long and gradual decline.

Eventually, significant losses to the Dutch in Portuguese India and Southeast Asia during the 17th century bring an end to the Portuguese trade monopoly in the Indian Ocean.

Brazil becomes Portugal's most valuable colony until, as part of the wave of independence movements that sweep the Americas during the early 19th century, it breaks away in 1822.

Portugal's Empire is reduced to its colonies on the African coastline (which are expanded inland during the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century), Portuguese Timor, and enclaves in India and Macau.After World War II, Portugal's leader, António Salazar, attempts to keep what remains of the pluricontinental Empire intact at a time when other European countries are beginning to withdraw from their colonies.

In 1961, the handful of Portuguese troops garrisoned in Goa are unable to prevent the numerically superior Indian troops from seizing the colony.

Salazar begins a long and bloody war to quell anti-colonialist forces in the African colonies.

The unpopular war lasts until the overthrow of the regime in 1974.

The new government immediately changes policy and recognizes the independence of all its colonies, except for Macau, which by agreement with the Chinese government is returned to China in 1999, thereby unofficially marking the end of the Portuguese Empire.

Currently, the Azores and Madeira archipelagos are the only overseas territories that remain politically linked to Portugal.

Presently, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) serves as the cultural and intergovernmental successor of the Empire.

Member Cities

Moran, J. (n.d.). Portuguese Empire. History Atlas. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from https://www.historyatlas.com/groups/portuguese-empire/

Menu

Related events