Who Was When

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Portuguese EmpireImpério Português

EuropeHeartland today: Portugal

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The overseas realm of the Portuguese crown, which began with the seizure of Ceuta in 1415. It held coastal posts in Africa, India and East Asia, and Brazil until 1822. Most of what remained left Portuguese rule in 1975, and Macau did in 1999.

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Key events

  1. King John I seizes Ceuta in Morocco with Prince Henry among the commanders, the start of Portuguese expansion overseas

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  2. Portuguese expeditions begin seizing Africans on the West African coast and taking them to Portugal as slavesDisputed

    The sources date the start to 1440, to the 1440s, and to 1444, the first large raid, on Arguin Island.

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  3. Vasco da Gama, having rounded the Cape of Good Hope, reaches Calicut in May: the first Portuguese voyage to India

    The two sources give 18 May and 20 May for the arrival.

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  4. Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet, bound for India, sights the coast of Brazil on 22 April and stays eight daysDisputed

    Some accounts say Cabral sailed too far west by accident. World History Encyclopedia notes the landfall may have been planned.

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  5. Afonso de Albuquerque takes Goa, first in March and, after a Muslim army drove him out in May, again in November

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  6. Portuguese traders settle at Macau, on the Pearl River estuary, and the port becomes their base for trade with China and JapanDisputed

    The date and terms vary between accounts. 1557 is the usual date, but one version places it between 1555 and 1557 and says the Chinese authorities granted a trading base. Another says Portugal leased the peninsula from 1670, and that China never ratified the 1862 Treaty of Tianjin that made Macau a Portuguese colony.

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  7. Prince Regent Pedro declares Brazil independent of Portugal on 7 September and is acclaimed emperor
  8. – After the coup in Lisbon on 25 April 1974, Portugal grants independence to Mozambique on 25 June 1975 and to Angola in November 1975
  9. Under the 1987 Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, Portugal hands Macau over to China on 20 December, and it becomes a special administrative region

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