| Manuel 'The Fortunate' was João II's cousin, and the great-grandson
of King João I. During his reign, called the golden era of Portuguese
history, great explorations and discoveries took place. He sponsored the
expedition of Vasco da Gama, which resulted in the opening of a sea route to
India around the Cape of Good Hope; the voyage of Pedro Álvares Cabral,
on which Cabral reached Brazil, claimed it for Portugal, and then sailed
westward to India; the exploration of Gaspar Corte-Real of the coasts of
Labrador and Newfoundland; and the expedition of Afonso de Albuquerque, who
established the Portuguese empire in the Far East. During his reign, commercial
relations were established with Persia and China, and great wealth was acquired
from New World possessions. Manuel made his court a center of the arts and
sciences and issued a code of laws that bears his name. His great religious zeal
led him to sponsor missionary enterprises in his overseas possessions and
endeavor to promote a crusade against the Turks. It also, however, led him to
persecute the Jews in Portugal and to expel them from the country in 1497-98. |
Discoveries after
Prince Henry
|
