Portuguese Eastern Empire

Portuguese Empire Império Português
Coat of arms
actual possessions      explorations      areas of influence and trade      claims of sovereignty      trading posts      main sea explorations, routes and areas of influence.
Capital	Lisbon a
Official languages	Portuguese
Government	Colonialism
• Monarchs	(1415–1433)  João I (1908–10)  Manuel II
• Presidents	(1911–15)  Manuel de Arriaga  (1996–2002)  Jorge Sampaio
Landmark events
• Conquest of Ceuta	1415
• Sea route to India	1498
• Discovery of Brazil	1500
• Iberian Union	1580–1640
• Anglo-Spanish War	1585–1604
• Dutch–Portuguese War	1588–1654
• Restoration War	1640–1668
• Brazilian independence	1822
• Loss of Indian provinces	1961
• Portuguese Colonial War	1961–1974
• Carnation Revolution	1974–1975
• Handover of Macau	1999
• Independence of East Timor	2002
^ The capital was de facto located in Rio de Janeiro from 1808 to 1821.

The Portuguese Empire (Portuguese: Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (Ultramar Português), was the first colonial empire, spanning almost six centuries from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the grant of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002. It was one of the largest empires in world history.

The first era of the Portuguese empire originated at the beginning of the Age of Discovery. Initiated by the Kingdom of Portugal, it would eventually expand across the globe. Portuguese sailors began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in 1418–19, 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 rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India. In 1500, either by an accidental landfall or by the crown's secret design, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil on the South American coast.

Over the following decades, Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia, establishing forts and factories as they went. By 1571, a string of naval outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa, the Middle East, India and South Asia. This commercial network brought great wealth to Portugal.

When Philip II of Spain, I of Portugal, inherited the Portuguese crown in 1580, this began a 60-year union between Spain and Portugal that has since been given the historiographic term of the Iberian Union. Though the realms continued to be administered separately, the Council of Portugal ruled the country and its empire from Madrid. As the King of Spain was also King of Portugal, Portuguese colonies became the subject of attacks by three rival European powers hostile to Spain: the Dutch Republic, England, and France. With its smaller population, Portugal was unable to effectively defend its overstretched network of trading posts, and the empire began a long and gradual decline. Eventually, Brazil became the most valuable colony of the second era until, as part of the wave of independence movements that swept the Americas during the early 19th century, it broke away in 1822.