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Portugal in the Age of Discovery

Kingdom of
Portugal and the Algarves
Reino de Portugal e dos Algarves
1415–1580


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Capital Lisbon
Languages Galician-Portuguese, Early Modern Portuguese
Religion Roman Catholic
Government Absolute Monarchy
Monarch
 •  1415-1433 João I (first)
 •  1578-1580 Henrique I (last)
History
 •  Conquest of Ceuta 14 August 1415
 •  Death of Henrique I 31 January 1580
Currency Portuguese dinheiro, Portuguese real
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Portugal in the Middle Ages
Iberian Union


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The Kingdom of Portugal in the 15th century was one of the first European powers to begin building a colonial empire. The Portuguese Renaissance was a period of exploration during which Portuguese sailors discovered several Atlantic archipelagos like the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde, explored and colonized the African coast, discovered an eastern route to India that rounded the Cape of Good Hope, discovered Brazil, explored the Indian Ocean and established trading routes throughout most of southern Asia, and sent the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to Ming China and to Japan.

The Portuguese Renaissance produced a plethora of poets, historians, critics, theologians, and moralists, for whom the Portuguese Renaissance was their golden age. The Cancioneiro Geral by Garcia de Resende (printed 1516) is taken to mark the transition from Old Portuguese to the modern Portuguese language.


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