The Portuguese Seaborne Empire - Essay Example

Surname: Presented to Institution Name, Location Date The Portuguese Seaborne Empire Introduction The age of exploration in the early days marked the beginning of the imperial power and the gaining of great wealth by the Portuguese. At the start of the fifteenth century, Portugal was one of the smallest countries in Europe that had a population of about one and a quarter million (Emmer 2002). The economy of Portugal as a country at the time depended mainly on the maritime trade that was transacted within the northern Europe region. Although Portugal did not have enough wealth as compared to other European countries, it led the countries into the exploration of sea routes that led to African continent, Asia, South Africa, and the Atlantic islands. This exploration was done during the course of the sixteenth century (Abernethy 2000). There are good number factors that contributed to Portuguese taking the lead in the exploration. Many discoveries of maritime exploration were named after the Portuguese. (Abernethy 2000). The Portuguese sailors were the ones who led the European overseas exploration since they were very aggressive in discovering many things that helped them solve many problems that include gaining of wealth through trading activities. The exploration was very methodical; it included the discovering and the mapping of the coast of Africa and also other continents including Asia (A. Disney 2009). The exploration was done by famous Portuguese explorers who were sponsored by Prince Henry. Prince Henry also participated in the exploration and he managed to explore the south African cape of good hope and other parts of Africa in 1488 (Emmer 2002). There are many other navigators from Portugal who travelled around the world; they include the famous Vasco da Gama, who ten years after the navigation of prince Henry to South Africa led the first group of explores around Africa and India. They were very aggressive and they even went to Calicut and started a maritime route that started from Portugal to India, they latter went to Brazil and Japan (Abernethy 2000). The achievements of the Portuguese explorer in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries The Portugal maritime exploration had very many achievements compared to what other countries did in the exploration. Following the exploration of the Christopher Columbus first voyage, who were the rulers of both Portugal and Spain, granted the power by the treaty of Tordessillas of 1494(A. Disney 2009). This treaty divided the non-Christians into two regions by making up an imaginary line that existed in the Atlantic Ocean. The two countries made the agreement that Portugal could claim anything they wanted to the east of the line and Spain could claim and occupy the west (Emmer 2002). The Portuguese had the power to claim and rule India, Brazil and the East Indies, the treaty also gave the Portuguese an opportunity to make discoveries on the papal sanctions. The Portuguese dominated the east for nearly a century without any interference or competitions from other European nations. In spite of the fact the Portuguese had full power over the region, they faced challenges including the infrequent oriental enemies, however, the Portuguese with their highly superior ships, weapons and shipman ship defeated them (Abernethy 2000). Considering the boundaries of their territories, the Portugal’s organisation at the time was less of an empire; it was more of a commercial operation that was based mainly on the possession of fortifications and the environment that was strategically situated for trading. This particular policy on exploration was monitored and carried out mainly Francisco de Almeida and Alfonso de Albuquerque. Almeida took power over most parts of the eastern Africa and the some parts of India; he also managed to defeat the Muslim naval coalition off Diu. Albuquerque was very optimistic at gaining the individual domination of the European spice mainly for his country (Abernethy 2000). This was done by sealing all the entrances and exits of the Indian Ocean that were thought would compete with the Portuguese route in the region of the Cape of Good Hope (Emmer 2002). In about the 1510 the Portuguese won over Goa which they used the place as their stronghold in the east, and in about 1511 they managed to capture Malacca which was situated at the farthest end of the ocean. They latter captured Hormuz now named Iran and this made them the commanders of the Persian Gulf. Although the Portuguese brought soldiers from their homeland in very small numbers, they relied heavily on the alliances that they made with the native nations and the enlisted Sepoy troops, this policy was in the later times used by the other nations including England and French (Morison 2012). The reason why the Portuguese never dominated completely the Indian Ocean was because they did not have enough warships that were very necessary to control the enormous waters breadth. The Portuguese failed to capture Aden which was at the red sea and allowed the entrance of the old traffic that came through Egypt in the year 1517 to Venice, but they managed to take control of the trade on the Indian Ocean which was initially conducted by the Arabs and the Muslims (Abernethy 2000). The Portuguese had an intention of displacing the Arabs and the Muslims completely from the region but they found it impossible to operate without them. The Hindus with whom the Portuguese had planned to use them in conducting their local trade affairs failed them since they proved to be very unproductive to them (Frost 2003). This was due to the fact that Hindus had very strong restrictions concerning the voyages in the sea. With time, the Muslims again started trafficking vigorously for the trade with the Portuguese sanctions (Frost 2003). The Portuguese also had the courage to stretch their empire beyond the Strait of Malacca to the East Indies at the moment called Thailand, they also went to china. The Portuguese had a problem trying to trade first with Celestial Empire of china; this was due to the china’s policies that excluded some countries from trading with them but they managed to break through this particular problem with time especially after Portugal leased Macau in the year 1557. The leasing of Macau allowed them to conquer the occidental trade with china for about 300 years. Some very aggressive individuals managed to reach Japan in the year 1542 and were followed latter by traders who were accompanied by Francis Xavier who was latter made a saint. He was a very renowned Jesuit missionary who worked hard with minimal success to make great converts. The Japanese adopted exclusionist policy that brought bad restrictions, but they were lenient enough to allow the successors of Portugal who were the Dutch to conduct trading activities though very limited in the Deshima Islands near the great city of Nagasaki (Morison 2012). The partial domination of the Indian Ocean did not bring much of a profit to the explorers of the Portugal as they had expected. The main intention of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean was to make trade a royal monopoly in the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese in an effort to humble the soldiers and the seamen made up their minds to do trade as private merchants and lined their individual pockets towards lack of the royal reserves. According to the merchants, the eastern footholds were very expensive to uphold, and the most frequent mishaps that occurred with the fleets in the Indian Ocean caused by ship wreckers and very destructive enemies reduced their gains from the trade very significantly (Abernethy 2000). The success of the Portuguese had been measured by the fact that they did not have any racial discrimination, although in the 16th and 17th century they did not tolerate the oriental regions. They wanted to convert all these regions to be their catholic strongholds but they latter realised that it was impossible hence they stopped. They managed to convert some Africans to catholic but they did not give them any leadership position. The Portuguese generally treated the black Africans people with a lot of inferiority (Abernethy 2000). The entire coast of Brazil was taken over by the Portuguese through the strong leadership of Tordesillas. The government that was formed by Manuel paid very minimal attention to trading activities of the Portuguese for about 30 years (Morison 2012). The reasons why Portugal took an initiative in exploration and colonisation There are very many factors that contribute to the Portugal’s abilities to be the pioneers of both maritime exploration and colonisation. The first and the most important factor that lead to their success was their geographical position which was around the western coast of the renown Iberian peninsula this allowed the development of natural seafaring culture. The second is the great evolution of maritime complex economy. This economy made the famous cities of Lisbon and Oporto to become some of the most prominent commercial centres in Portugal. The merchants used the port cities as their place of operation, from these very cities they financed and made the exploration ventures a success (Abernethy 2000). The monarchy style of leadership that was practised in Portugal was also another boosting factor that led to their success in maritime exploration. The stable leadership of great king s that supported the maritime trade and exploration was very significant boost to the Portugal’s ventures (Frost 2003). The leadership gave a lot of incentives towards maritime trade by implementing the tax privileges and the insurance funds to the merchants. The provision insurance was meant to protect the ship owners from enormous lose in case of a tragedy due to the natural disasters or the attacks from enemies. The members of the great aristocracy were also very great investor in the maritime trade this also won their commitment in the exploration, the members of the aristocracy that traded include prince Henry the navigator (Abernethy 2000). The aristocracy who were very supportive of the maritime trade used their power politically to influence the crowns granting of the royal sanctions that made great guidelines on the voyages of exploration made by the community of merchants. The country of Portugal was very lucky to have had great kings who realised the fact that the country mainly depended on the maritime trade and gave very significant assistance to the navigators (Abernethy 2000). The stability of the monarchy leadership was very important for the achievement of the sustainable financial growth. The stability of the leadership gave the country a seventy-year head start over the Spanish who were frequently destructed by the civil war and also the Reconquista of Granada. It was only until the Columbus voyage in the year 1492 when the Spanish got position to challenge the Portuguese in the exploration ventures (Morison 2012). Factors that contributed to the contraction of the Portuguese seaborne empire In the year 1580 the king of Spain called Phillip the second managed to take over the Portuguese throne, the throne had fallen unoccupied to which the king had some blood claim. Although Portugal remained very independent theoretically, it was bound only by their personal union with its neighbours (Abernethy 2000). The monarchs who succeeded their kings encroached steadily on the liberties of kingdom until the small and very magnificent kingdom became just but a conquered province to the Spanish. The European enemies of Spain started to destroy the Portuguese empire and ended the eastern supremacy of Portuguese before the bringing back of independence in Portugal in 1640. The movement of Macau sovereignty to China on the December 20th 1999 under the terms of accord that was agreed upon by the two nations, that is the people Republic of China and Portugal at about 10 years earlier marked the end of the Portuguese abroad empire. Even though the Portuguese empire ended at the time their language remained the co-official language with the Cantonese in Macau (Morison 2012). The break out of the civil war in Angola and Mozambique, which was caused by the incoming communist government that was created by the previous rebels and backed heavily by the soviet union and Cuba without forgetting the countries that practised communism fought against the insurgence groups and supported by many nations which included the south Africa and united states this led the beginning of the end of the Portuguese empire in Africa (Abernethy 2000). The East Timor, was also declared independent in the year 1975 this was done by making the exodus of the numerous Portuguese refugees back to Portugal, this action was also named retornados. Immediately after retornados, East Timor was invaded by its neighbours including Indonesia which won power over the place and occupied the place until 1999. Through a referendum that was sponsored by the United Nations, it gave the people living in the east of Timorese the chance to choose independence. The full independence was finally achieved in the year 2002. This was the final end of Portuguese trading in the east Timor (Morison 2012). Conclusion The early venturing of the Portuguese into exploration and trade made them the most superior maritime traders in the world at that time. Portugal left a great legacy after their trading and exploration affairs. One of the most important legacies that they left is that seven of their former colonies have Portuguese as their national official languages. The countries that have Portuguese as their official languages have formed an organisation called the community of Portuguese language speaking countries together with Portugal itself. At the moment, Portuguese is one of the most spoken languages in the world, it is ranked the sixth world wide with about two hundred and forty million speakers throughout the world, it is ranked the third most famous language spoken in America due to Brazil which was colonised by the Portuguese. References Abernethy, David B. The Dynamics of Global Dominance: European Overseas. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. Cooke, Jacob Ernest,. Encyclopaedia of the North American colonies,. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,, 1993. Disney, A.R. A history of Portugal and the Portuguese empire: from beginnings to . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Emmer, P.C. & Morner, M. European Expansion and Migration: essays on the . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Frost, Alan M. The global reach of empire: Britain's maritime expansion in the Indian . Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 2003. Hart, Jonathan. Comparing empires: European colonialism from Portuguese . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Morison, Samuel Eliot. The European Discovery of America, Vol. 2: The Southern . New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Pedreira, Jorge M. "To Have and to Have not’. The Economic Consequences of ." Revista de Historia Económica, Vol. 16(1), 2002: 93-122. Schuman, Howard et.al. "“Elite Revisionists and Popular Beliefs: Christopher ." Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol.69 (1), 2005: 2-29. Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500-1700: A Political and . London: Wiley-Blackwell publishers, 2012. Read More