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138-754: As the pioneer of the Age of Discoveries , Portugal flourished in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, with voyages to India, the Orient, the Americas, and Africa. This immense trade network would create an extremely wealthy Portuguese nobility and monarchy, that would become patrons for an immense flourishing of culture, arts, and technology in Portugal and all over the world. Diplomats, merchants, students, humanists, scholars, and artists, from all over Europe, were drawn to Portugal during its Renaissance. The maritime trade of

276-655: A mare clausum policy in the Atlantic. The king, who had been inquiring of Genoese experts about a seaway to India, commissioned the Fra Mauro world map , which arrived in Lisbon in 1459. In 1456, Diogo Gomes reached the Cape Verde archipelago. In the next decade captains at the service of Prince Henry, discovered the remaining islands which were occupied during the 15th century. The Gulf of Guinea would be reached in

414-418: A faster-than-exponential population growth world-wide. The concept of discovery has been scrutinized, critically highlighting the history of the core term of this periodization . The term "age of discovery" is in historical literature and still commonly used. J. H. Parry , calling the period the Age of Reconnaissance , argues that not only was the era one of European explorations, but it also produced

552-629: A fief to the Order of the Knights Templar . In 1160, Gualdim Pais , the Order's Grand master in Portugal and Tomar's somewhat mythical founder, laid the first stone of the Castle and Convent of the Knights Templar that would become the headquarters of the Order in Portugal. Local traditional legends preach that the choice was for mystical reasons and by divine inspiration, and from practices by

690-575: A 'discovery'. Something of which they had no prior knowledge had suddenly presented itself to their gaze." O'Gorman argues that the physical encounter with new territories was less important than the Europeans' effort to integrate this new knowledge into their worldview, what he calls "the invention of America". Pagden examines the origins of the terms "discovery" and "invention". In English, "discovery" and its forms in romance languages derive from " disco-operio , meaning to uncover, to reveal, to expose to

828-675: A Castilian armada of 35 caravels, and a Portuguese fleet for the hegemony of the Guinea trade (gold, slaves, ivory, and malagueta pepper). The war ended with a Portuguese naval victory, followed by the official recognition by the Catholic Monarchs of Portuguese sovereignty over most of the disputed West African territories embodied in the Treaty of Alcáçovas, 1479. This was the first colonial war among European powers. In 1481, João II decided to build São Jorge da Mina factory . In 1482

966-508: A Muslim merchant to India and Southeast Asia. In 1466–1472, Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin of Tver travelled to India, which he described in his book A Journey Beyond the Three Seas . These overland journeys had little immediate effect. The Mongol Empire collapsed almost as quickly as it formed and soon the route to the east became more difficult and dangerous. The Black Death of the 14th century also blocked travel and trade for

1104-677: A Venetian merchant, dictated an account of journeys throughout Asia from 1271 to 1295, describing being a guest at the Yuan dynasty court of Kublai Khan in Travels . It was read throughout Europe. The Muslim fleet guarding the Strait of Gibraltar was defeated by Genoa in 1291. In that year, the Genoese attempted their first Atlantic exploration when merchant brothers Vadino and Ugolino Vivaldi sailed from Genoa with two galleys, but disappeared off

1242-522: A book of supposed travels compiled by John Mandeville acquired popularity. Despite the unreliable and often fantastical nature of its accounts, it was used as a reference for the East, Egypt, and the Levant in general, asserting the old belief that Jerusalem was the centre of the world . Following the period of Timurid relations with Europe , in 1439, Niccolò de' Conti published an account of his travels as

1380-545: A confederation of merchant guilds and their towns in north Germany, along the North Sea and Baltic Sea, was instrumental in the commercial development of the region. In the 12th century, the regions of Flanders , Hainault , and Brabant produced the finest quality textiles in northwest Europe, which encouraged merchants from Genoa and Venice to sail there from the Mediterranean, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and up

1518-687: A constant deficit in silver and gold , as it only went out, spent on eastern trade now cut off. Several European mines were exhausted, The lack of bullion led to the development of a complex banking system to manage the risks in trade (the first state bank, Banco di San Giorgio , was founded in 1407 at Genoa). Sailing also into the ports of Bruges (Flanders) and England, Genoese communities were then established in Portugal, who profited from their enterprise and financial expertise. European sailing had been primarily close to land cabotage , guided by portolan charts . These charts specified proven ocean routes guided by coastal landmarks: sailors departed from

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1656-563: A cultural mix, which was reflected in the arts and literature of the Portuguese Renaissance. The contact with the civilisations of Africa and the East led to the importation of numerous objects of ceramics, textiles and furniture, precious woods, ivory and silk, in turn, led to the emergence of new artistic forms resulting cultural exchanges between Europe, and East Africa, through the Portuguese. The new trade of items with

1794-644: A degree. With Vasco da Gama 's arrival in India and the Portuguese Empire's expansion into that land, many scientists were sent eastward to study and compile new drugs from medicinal plants . The botanist Tomé Pires and physicians Garcia de Orta and Cristóvão da Costa collected and published works on new plants and local medicines. Portuguese portolan chart were in great demand in Europe, for their greater knowledge and accuracy. Although protected as

1932-571: A distinct period of time. Published in 1496 by the Jewish astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician Abraham Zacuto , the Almanac Perpetuum included some of these tables for the movements of stars. These tables revolutionized navigation, allowing the calculation of latitude . Exact longitude remained elusive from mariners for centuries. Using the caravel, systematic exploration continued ever more southerly, advancing on average one degree

2070-552: A flourishing Renaissance of its own; of arts, humanities, religion, and sciences alike, not just on the European mainland, but throughout its empire, due to the special link that the Portuguese Empire had to Portugal. The arts in the Portuguese Renaissance are a matter of historiographical dispute. This is because despite arts flourishing in this time, they did not follow the classicist aesthetic standards on which

2208-463: A former capital of Portugal, and Évora, which allowed these three cities to establish themselves as the largest centers of the Portuguese Renaissance. In Coimbra, the School of Coimbra was founded by Vicente Gil and his son, Manuel Vicente. In Évora, Manuel I of Portugal established a rich court, which would see its height under his son, Cardinal Infante Henrique of Aviz, Archbishop of Évora , who founded

2346-464: A frenzy of persecution that peaked around 1550. Many others (c. 38,000) were expropriated of their property or penance. Jewish ascendancy, more than Jewish religion, together with personal wealth determined who would be persecuted, since the expropriations reverted to the institution of the Inquisition itself. With the persecution of its merchants and professionals Tomar lost most of its relevance as

2484-458: A government policy in several European states. As such, it is sometimes synonymous with the first wave of European colonization . The colonization reshaped power dynamics causing geopolitical shifts in Europe and creating new centers of power beyond Europe. Having set human history on the global common course, the legacy of the Age still shapes the world today. European oceanic exploration started with

2622-494: A horse were obliged to pay military service in return for privileges. They were not allowed the title of Knight which was reserved to the Templars . Women were also admitted to the Order, although they did not fight. In 1190 Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur , an Almohad caliph , and his army attacked Tomar . However the knights and their 72-year-old leader, Gualdim Pais , kept them at bay. A plaque commemorates this bloody battle at

2760-562: A known point, followed a compass heading, and tried to identify their location by its landmarks. For the first oceanic exploration Western Europeans used the compass, as well as progressive new advances in cartography and astronomy. Arab navigational tools like the astrolabe and quadrant were used for celestial navigation . The Muslim lands in Asia were generally more economically developed and had better infrastructure than Europe at this time, despite Europe's economic changes brought about by

2898-571: A personal interest in exports. In 1317, he made an agreement with Genoese merchant sailor Manuel Pessanha , appointing him first admiral of the Portuguese Navy , to defend the country against Muslim pirate raids. Outbreaks of bubonic plague led to severe depopulation in the second half of the 14th century: only the sea offered alternatives, with most population settling in fishing and trading coastal areas. Between 1325 and 1357, Afonso IV of Portugal encouraged maritime commerce and ordered

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3036-648: A state secret, the cartographic knowledge would eventually be passed clandestinely by some of those involved in the operation. One such example is the Cantino planisphere , which was stolen from the Casa da Índia , the Portuguese royal ministry for all things maritime, for the Duke of Ferrara in 1502, or the Dieppe maps , commissioned by Henry II of France and Henry VIII of England , which were copies of stolen Portuguese maps of

3174-508: A time. Religion played a critical role in motivating European expansionism . In 1487, Portuguese envoys Pero da Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva were sent on a covert mission to gather intelligence on a potential sea route to India and inquire about Prester John , a Nestorian patriarch and king, believed to rule over parts of the subcontinent. Covilhã was warmly received upon his arrival in Ethiopia, but forbidden from leaving. During

3312-604: A trading centre. New Christian names among the inhabitants are very common today. In 1581 the city was the seat of the Portuguese Cortes (feudal parliament) which acclaimed the King of Spain Felipe II as Portugal's Filipe I (see Iberian Union ). During the 18th century Tomar was one of the first regions of Portugal to develop industry. In the reign of Maria I , with royal support, a textile factory of Jácome Ratton

3450-744: A year. Senegal and Cape Verde Peninsula were reached in 1445 and in 1446, Álvaro Fernandes pushed on almost as far as present-day Sierra Leone . In 1453, the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans was a perceived blow to Christendom and established business links with the East. In 1455, Pope Nicholas V issued the bull Romanus Pontifex reinforcing the previous Dum Diversas (1452), granting all lands and seas discovered beyond Cape Bojador to King Afonso V of Portugal and his successors, as well as mostly cutting off trade to and permitting conquest and increased war against Muslims and pagans, initiating

3588-595: Is a city and a municipality in the Santarém district of Portugal . The town proper has a population of about 20,000. The municipality population in 2011 was 40,677, in an area of 351.20 km (135.60 sq mi). The town of Tomar was created inside the walls of the Convento de Cristo , constructed under the orders of Gualdim de Pais , the fourth Grand Master of the Knights Templar in Portugal in

3726-593: Is an excellent examples of the pure Renaissance classical architecture from the Portuguese Renaissance. Some examples of the strong and pure classical Renaissance are Miguel de Arruda's Igreja da Graça , in Évora , Diogo de Arruda 's Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa , in Vila Viçosa , and the Cloister of King D. John III, at the Convent of the Order of Christ, by Diogo de Torralva and Filippo Terzi , considered one of

3864-407: Is considered the world's first illustrated text book. The great interest in philology , during the Portuguese Renaissance, spread the use of etymological spellings, creating Portuguese words through justification of their Latin roots. The 1576 Orthographia da lingoa portuguesa , by Duarte Nunes de Leão, a great pioneer in the study of Portuguese orthography, was one of the major works in support for

4002-635: Is likely this last expedition reached as far as Madagascar . The travels were reported by Ma Huan , a Muslim voyager and translator who accompanied Zheng He on three of the expeditions, his account published as the Yingya Shenglan (Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores) (1433). The voyages had a significant and lasting effect on the organization of a maritime network , using and creating nodes and conduits in its wake, thereby restructuring international and cross-cultural relationships and exchanges. It

4140-504: Is the Monastery of Jesus of Setubal , by the architect Diogo de Boitaca , one of the originators and masters of the style. The nave of the monastery's church, supported by spiral columns, reveals the attempt to render the balanced nave and aisles of a Hall church . This style reaches its climax in the church of Jerónimos Monastery , completed in 1520 by architect João de Castilho . Francisco de Arruda's Belém Tower and chapter window of

4278-640: The Saint Vincent Panels and designer of the Pastrana Tapestries , is considered one of the precursors of Portuguese Renaissance painting. In his panels, considered one of the most important pieces of painted art in Portuguese history, he depicts prominent figures of Portuguese nobility, royalty, and clergy of the time with a dry style but powerfully realistic. His concern of portraying each figure individually, shows heavy Flemish influence, and foreshadows later Renaissance concerns. At

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4416-486: The Age of Discovery played a decisive role in the evolution of the Portuguese Renaissance. Trade intensified contacts with important centres of the Italian Renaissance and it allowed a new commercial bourgeoisie to prosper and have excess funds to become patrons of the Portuguese Renaissance, much like the other Renaissances of Europe. The discovery of new worlds and contact with other civilisations led to

4554-487: The Black Death allowing for more freedoms for lower- and upper-class people. The gunpowder empires concealed knowledge to European Christian traders about where lucrative locations such as Indonesia were, spurring a further desire for Christian trade with other Muslim nations besides the gunpowder empires despite European Christians generally having antipathy towards Muslims. In 1297, King Denis of Portugal took

4692-475: The Black Death , died here. Just after 1492 with the expulsion of Jews from Spain , the town increased further with Jewish refugee artisans and traders. The very large Jewish minority dynamized the city with new trades and skills. Their experience was vital in the success of the new trade routes with Africa. The original synagogue, the Synagogue of Tomar still stands. In the reign of Manuel I of Portugal

4830-603: The Christian reconquest of Al-Andalus in what is now southern Spain and the siege of Lisbon (1147 AD), in Portugal. The decline of Fatimid Caliphate naval strength, which started before the First Crusade , helped the maritime Italian states, mainly Venice, Genoa and Pisa, dominate trade in the Eastern Mediterranean , with merchants there becoming wealthy and politically influential. Further changing

4968-588: The Congo River was explored by Diogo Cão , who in 1486 continued to Cape Cross (modern Namibia ). The next crucial breakthrough was in 1488, when Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa, which he named Cabo das Tormentas, "Cape of Storms", anchoring at Mossel Bay and then sailing east as far as the mouth of the Great Fish River , proving the Indian Ocean was accessible from

5106-697: The Convent of the Order of Christ , in Tomar , are some of the most famous examples of the Manueline style, and Portuguese Renaissance architecture as a whole. Austere Renaissance classicism did not flourish much in the Portuguese Renaissance, but slowly established itself from the 1530s and onward, with the help of both foreigners and nationals, like Francisco de Holanda and Diogo de Torralva. The Hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Conceição , in Tomar, by Diogo de Torralva,

5244-497: The King of Portugal , built the first known globe, which had Europe and Asia were separated by a single ocean, a theory that Christopher Columbus , who was also trained in Portugal, would test later that year. In Portugal, as in the rest of Europe, the printing press played a key role in its Renaissance. The first printing presses came to Portugal by the hand of Jewish printers via Italy. The first book printed in Portuguese in Portugal

5382-538: The Knights Hospitaler . Instead, King Dinis negotiated the transfer of the Order's possessions and personnel in Portugal to a newly created Order of Christ . This Order moved in 1319 to Castro Marim , but in 1356 it returned to Tomar. In the 15th century and thereafter, the (ordained) Grand Master of the Order was nominated by the Pope and the (lay) Master or Governor by the King, instead of being elected by

5520-523: The Levant raised curiosity and commercial interest in countries which lay further east. There are a few accounts of merchants from North Africa and the Mediterranean, who traded in the Indian Ocean in late medieval times. Christian embassies were sent as far as Karakorum during the Mongol invasions of the Levant , from which they gained a greater understanding of the world. The first of these travellers

5658-656: The Médio Tejo (Mid- Tagus river) region. The Nabão River cuts across what was the ancient city of Nabantia: its inhabitants are called Nabantinos . Administratively, the municipality is divided into 11 civil parishes ( freguesias ): Under the modern city lies the Roman city of Sellium . After the conquest of the region from the Moors in the Portuguese Reconquista , the land was granted in 1159 as

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5796-540: The New World (the Americas and Australia). This exchange involved the transfer of plants, animals, human populations (including slaves ), communicable diseases , and culture across the Eastern and Western Hemispheres . The Age of Discovery and European exploration involved mapping of the world , shaping a new worldview and facilitating contact with distant civilizations. The continents drawn by European mapmakers of

5934-625: The New World . By the late 16th and 17th centuries, the latter's presence increased as they sought to reassert their power and revive the Catholic culture of Europe, which had been damaged by the Reformation . The Chinese had wide connections through trade in Asia and been sailing to Arabia , East Africa , and Egypt since the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907). Between 1405-21, the third Ming emperor Yongle sponsored long range tributary missions in

6072-453: The Treaty of Tordesillas , ratified by Pope Julius II . In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa, opening up direct trade with Asia. While other exploratory fleets were sent from Portugal to northern North America, Portuguese India Armadas also extended this Eastern oceanic route, touching South America and opening a circuit from

6210-550: The University of Évora and its school of arts. As the pioneer in Age of Discovery, Portugal and its Renaissance attracted experts in astronomy, mathematics, and naval technology, which made Portugal a technical and scientific capital of Europe. During the Portuguese Renaissance, there was a plethora of technical works being created, such as mappa mundi , globes, treatises on the art of sailing, scripts, reports of shipwrecks, itineraries, and studies on tropical medicine. Among

6348-556: The sonnet and the sestina . From 1502 until 1536, Gil Vicente wrote and staged forty one pieces of drama, both in Portuguese and Castilian, including mysteries, farces, comedies, and tragedies, which would earn him a space in history as the "Father of Iberian drama". Bernardim Ribeiro introduced the Pastoral novel to the Iberian Peninsula with his 1554 Menina e Moça , alongside the eclogues of Cristóvão Falcão . From

6486-580: The transatlantic voyages of the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus , which from 1492 to 1504 marked the start of colonization in the Americas, and the expedition of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to open a route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, which later achieved the first circumnavigation of the globe between 1519 and 1522. These Spanish expeditions significantly impacted

6624-490: The " frontier " (as in Frontier Thesis ) and manifest destiny , up to the contemporary age of space exploration . Alternatively, the term contact , as in first contact , has been used to shed more light on the age of discovery and colonialism, using the alternative names of Age of Contact or Contact Period , discussing it as an "unfinished, diverse project". The Portuguese began systematically exploring

6762-564: The 11th century. It was adopted by Arab traders in the Indian Ocean. The compass spread to Europe by the late 12th or early 13th century. Use of the compass for navigation in the Indian Ocean was first mentioned in 1232. The first mention of use of the compass in Europe was in 1180. The Europeans used a "dry" compass, with a needle on a pivot. The compass card was also a European invention. Ships grew in size, required smaller crews and were able to sail longer distances without stopping. This led to significant lower long-distance shipping costs by

6900-613: The 1460s. In 1460, Pedro de Sintra reached Sierra Leone. Prince Henry died in November of that year after which, given the meagre revenues, exploration was granted to Lisbon merchant Fernão Gomes in 1469, who in exchange for the monopoly of trade in the Gulf of Guinea had to explore 100 miles (161 kilometres) each year for five years. With his sponsorship, explorers João de Santarém , Pedro Escobar , Lopo Gonçalves, Fernão do Pó , and Pedro de Sintra made it beyond those goals. They reached

7038-544: The 14th century. Cogs remained popular for trade because of their low cost. Galleys were also used in trade. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , a document from 40-60 AD, describes a newly discovered route through the Red Sea to India, with descriptions of the markets in towns around Red Sea, Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, including along the east coast of Africa, which states "for beyond these places

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7176-402: The 1541 Cronica do famoso e muito esforçado cavalleiro Palmeirim d´Inglaterra by Francisco de Moraes , and the 1522 Crónica do Imperador Clarimundo , by João de Barros. Age of Discoveries The Age of Discovery ( c.  1418  – c.  1620 ), also known as the Age of Exploration , was part of the early modern period and largely overlapped with the Age of Sail . It

7314-411: The 1580 Chinese-Portuguese Dictionary, by Miguel Ruggeiro and Mateus Rigo , the 1603 Nippo Jisho Japanese-Portuguese Dictionary, by João Rodrigues , and the 1651 Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum Portuguese-Latin-Vietnamese Dictionary, by Alexandre de Rhodes . Because of the great prestige and importance of the Portuguese Renaissance on nautical studies and sciences, most explorers of

7452-408: The Aegean, Bosporus, and Black Sea. The Venetians and other maritime republics maintained more limited access to Asian goods, via south-eastern Mediterranean trade, in such ports as Antioch, Acre, and Alexandria. Forced to reduce their activities in the Black Sea, and at war with Venice, the Genoese had turned to North African trade of wheat, olive oil and a search for silver and gold. Europeans had

7590-435: The Age developed from abstract "blobs" into the outlines more recognizable to us today. Simultaneously, the spread of new diseases, especially affecting American Indians , led to rapid population declines . The era saw widespread enslavement , exploitation and military conquest of native populations , concurrent with the growing economic influence and spread of western and European culture , science and technology leading to

7728-463: The Arab seamen, and its southern extent was unknown. There were reports of great African Sahara , but the knowledge was limited for the Europeans, to the Mediterranean coast and little else, since the Arab blockade of North Africa precluded exploration inland. Knowledge about the Atlantic African coast was fragmented and derived mainly from old Greek and Roman maps based on Carthaginian knowledge, including Roman exploration of Mauritania . The Red Sea

7866-472: The Atlantic coast of Africa in 1418, under the sponsorship of Prince Henry the Navigator . In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route. In 1492, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain funded Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus 's ( Italian : Cristoforo Colombo ) plan to sail west to reach the Indies , by crossing the Atlantic. Columbus encountered a continent uncharted by Europeans (though it had been explored and temporarily colonized by

8004-460: The Atlantic coast. Nicolòzzo Spinola made the first recorded direct voyage from Genoa to Flanders in 1277. Technological advancements that were important to the Age of Exploration were the adoption of the magnetic compass and advances in ship design. The compass was an addition to the ancient method of navigation based on sightings of the sun and stars. It was invented during the Chinese Han dynasty and had been used for navigation in China by

8142-431: The Atlantic. Simultaneously Pero da Covilhã , sent out travelling secretly overland, had reached Ethiopia having collected important information about the Red Sea and Quenia coast, suggesting a sea route to the Indies would soon be forthcoming. Soon the cape was renamed by King John II of Portugal the " Cape of Good Hope ", because of the great optimism engendered by the possibility of a sea route to India, proving false

8280-407: The Canary Islands in 1402 but became distracted by internal Iberian politics and the repelling of Islamic invasion attempts and raids through most of the 15th century. Late in the century, following the unification of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, an emerging modern Spain became fully committed to the search for new trade routes overseas. The Crown of Aragon had been an important maritime power in

8418-443: The European perceptions of the world. These discoveries led to numerous naval expeditions across the Atlantic , Indian, and Pacific Oceans , and land expeditions in the Americas, Asia , Africa , and Australia that continued into the late 19th century, followed by the exploration of the polar regions in the 20th century. European exploration initiated the Columbian exchange between the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) and

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8556-399: The Grand Master of geomancy , based on exercises taken from luck and predestination. Reinforcing this magical view is the setting of the site among a small chain of seven elevations ( lugar dos sete montes ), which became known as the city of seven hills , as the seven hills of Jerusalem , the seven hills of Rome or the seven columns of Constantinople . The foral or feudal contract

8694-439: The Indian Ocean under the command of admiral Zheng He . A large fleet of new junk ships was prepared for the international diplomatic expeditions. The largest of these junks—that the Chinese termed bao chuan (treasure ships) —may have measured 121 metres, and thousands of sailors were involved. The first expedition departed in 1405. At least seven well-documented expeditions were launched, each bigger and more expensive than

8832-492: The Indian Ocean, tapping source regions in the Far East and shipping for trading emporiums in India, mainly Kozhikode , westward to Ormus in the Persian Gulf and Jeddah in the Red Sea . From there, overland routes led to the Mediterranean coasts. Venetian merchants distributed the goods through Europe until the rise of the Ottoman Empire , which eventually led to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, barring Europeans from some important combined-land-sea routes in areas around

8970-452: The Italians built their Renaissance. The arts of the Portuguese Renaissance were unique amongst other Renaissance arts. They were a mixing of Late Gothic style with the innovations of the fifteenth century and a Portuguese national twist all at once. The assimilation with the Italian Renaissance arts model only really begins around 1540, when Portuguese Renaissance artists started breaking away from their national norms and adapting their works to

9108-406: The Mediterranean, controlling territories in eastern Spain, southwestern France, major islands like Sicily , Malta , and the Kingdom of Naples and Sardinia , with mainland possessions as far as Greece. In 1492 the joint rulers conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada , which had been providing Castile with African goods through tribute, and decided to fund Christopher Columbus 's expedition in

9246-458: The Middle Ages, the spread of Christianity throughout Europe fueled the desire to sermonise in lands beyond. This evangelical effort became a significant part of the military conquests of European powers, like Portugal , Spain , and France , often leading to the conversion of indigenous peoples, voluntarily or forced. Religious orders such as the Franciscans , Dominicans , Augustinians , and Jesuits partook in most missionary endeavours in

9384-436: The Ming treasure fleet generated and intensified competition among contending polities and rivals, each seeking an alliance with the Ming. The expeditions developed into a maritime trade enterprise, with imperial control over local markets and court-monitored transactions, generating revenue for China and its partners. They boosted regional trade and production, caused a supply shock in Eurasia and led to price spikes in Europe in

9522-458: The Moroccan coast, feeding fears of oceanic travel. From 1325 to 1354, a Moroccan scholar from Tangier , Ibn Battuta , journeyed through North Africa, the Sahara desert, West Africa, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, having reached China. After returning, he dictated an account to a scholar he met in Granada, The Rihla ("The Journey"), the unheralded source on his adventures. Between 1357 and 1371

9660-405: The New World to Asia (starting in 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral ), and explored islands in the South Atlantic and Southern Indian Oceans. The Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the valuable Spice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year later. Japan was reached by the Portuguese in 1543. In 1513, Spanish Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached the "other sea" from

9798-403: The New World. Thus, Europe first received news of the eastern and western Pacific within a one-year span around 1512. East and west exploration overlapped in 1522, when a Spanish expedition sailing westward, led by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and, after his death by navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano , completed the first circumnavigation of the world. Spanish conquistadors explored

9936-495: The Norse 500 years earlier). Later, it was called America after Amerigo Vespucci , a trader working for Portugal . Portugal quickly claimed those lands under the terms of the Treaty of Alcáçovas , but Castile was able to persuade the Pope, who was Castilian, to issue four papal bulls to divide the world into two regions of exploration, where each kingdom had exclusive rights to claim newly discovered lands. These were modified by

10074-578: The Pacific Ocean around South America, and eventually by following the Portuguese around Africa, into the Indian Ocean; discovering Australia in 1606, New Zealand in 1642, and Hawaii in 1778. From the 1580s to the 1640s, Russians explored and conquered almost the whole of Siberia and Alaska in the 1730s. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire largely severed the connection between Europe, and lands further east, Christian Europe

10212-647: The Porta do Sangue at the Castelo Templário (Castle of Tomar). In 1314, under pressure from the Pope Clement V , the order was suppressed. Philip IV of France , who owed the Templars huge debts, held the pope a virtual prisoner and coerced him to suppress the order on bases of false accusations and forced confessions. The Order was suppressed in most of Europe and its holdings were to be transferred to

10350-539: The Portuguese Renaissance, chivalric romances were a literary phenomenon of the Iberian Peninsula, and of Europe as a whole, to a lesser extent. These novels based themselves on the idealization of mediaeval chivalric codes, and were filled with princes and princesses, knights and damsels, and almost always had a Christian moral. This type of novel was best personified in the 1508 version of João de Lobeira 's Amadis de Gaula by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo ,

10488-661: The Portuguese Renaissance, the largest center of learning and arts was Lisbon , which thrived as a great city of Europe, because of its privileged position as a major trading center, open to a constant flow of new information, cultures, and finance. Lisbon was a true center of the European Renaissance, where artists and scholars from the corners of Europe came to try to make money. The rich Lisbon nobility funded countless paintings, often for either religious institutions in Lisbon or in their feudal estates. The Portuguese royal court often transferred between Lisbon, Coimbra ,

10626-456: The Portuguese Renaissance, there was no greater writer than Luís de Camões , whose treasured works have nicknamed the Portuguese language as the Language of Camões . Camões was instrumental in reintroducing classical forms of literature, most importantly the epic, through his 1572 masterpiece, Os Lusíadas , considered one of the greatest pieces of Portuguese literature from all time. During

10764-528: The Portuguese language. In 1540, João de Barros , a distinguished officer of the Portuguese crown, published the Grammatica da Língua Portuguesa com os Mandamentos da Santa Madre Igreja , which taught the standards of the Portuguese language alongside the morals and culture of the Portuguese people . João de Barros's Grammatica was the second piece that sought to standardize the Portuguese language, and

10902-665: The Southern Hemisphere and islands of the Gulf of Guinea, including São Tomé and Príncipe and Elmina on the Gold Coast in 1471. There, in what came to be called the "Gold Coast" in what is today Ghana , a thriving alluvial gold trade was found among the natives, Arab and Berber traders. In 1478, during the War of the Castilian Succession , near the coast at Elmina a large battle was fought between

11040-592: The Western Ocean's regional integration and increase in international circulation of people, ideas, and goods. It provided a platform for cosmopolitan discourses, which took place in locations such as the ships of the Ming treasure fleet, the Ming capitals of Nanjing as well as Beijing, and the banquet receptions organized by the Ming court for foreign representatives. Diverse groups of people from maritime countries congregated, interacted, and traveled together as

11178-418: The beginning of the 16th century, various schools of painters were active throughout Portugal and its empire, often in collaboration with foreigners. A common trend amongst these schools was to give credit to their works of art as a school, and leave the actual author anonymous, making it difficult to attribute authorship. Even amongst those painters that gave their name to their works, it is complicated to verify

11316-467: The classicist Italian and Spanish model, while still possessing a Portuguese flavour. In terms of architecture, much like many sections of the arts, the Portuguese Renaissance did not, initially or mainly, follow the path of the Renaissance elsewhere in Europe. These latter focused on the sophistication and simplicity of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Rather, Portuguese Renaissance in its architecture

11454-409: The complexity of the Portuguese language. The sixteenth century Cancioneiro Geral , by Garcia de Resende , is often agreed upon to mark the end of Old Portuguese and the beginning of Modern Portuguese. The standardization of the Portuguese language started in 1536, when Fernão de Oliveira published his Grammatica da lingoagem portuguesa , the first literary piece that laid rules and standards for

11592-410: The concept of colonial claiming of "discovery" over their lands and people, as forced and negating indigenous presence. The period alternatively called the Age of Exploration , has been scrutinized through reflections on the exploration . Its understanding and use, has been discussed as being framed and used for colonial ventures, discrimination and exploitation , by combining it with concepts such as

11730-593: The convent took its final form within the Manueline renaissance style. With the growing importance of the town as master of Portugal's overseas empire, the leadership of the Order was granted to the King by the Pope. However, under pressure from the monarchs of Spain, the King soon proclaimed by edict that all the Jews remaining within the territory of Portugal would be after a short period considered Christians, although simultaneously he forbade them to leave, fearing that

11868-551: The creation of some of the best known pieces of the Portuguese language. Because of Portugal's importance during the Age of Discovery and strategic location as a waypoint between Europe and the rest of the world, many of these literary works were able to circulate outside of Portugal and achieve popularity throughout Europe. In 1516, Garcia de Resende published the Cancioneiro General , which contained more than two hundred separate literary works, of various authors, from

12006-408: The early 15th century. The tributary relations promoted during the voyages manifested a trend toward cross-regional interconnections and early globalization in Asia and Africa. Diplomatic relations were built on mutually beneficial maritime trade and China's strong naval presence in foreign waters, with Chinese naval superiority being a key factor in these interactions. The voyages brought about

12144-523: The emperor's death, as the Chinese lost interest in what they termed barbarian lands, turning inward, and successor emperors felt the expeditions were harmful to the Chinese state; Hongxi Emperor ended further expeditions and Xuande Emperor suppressed much of the information about Zheng He's voyages. From the 8th until the 15th century, the Republic of Venice and neighboring maritime republics held

12282-567: The exodus of Jewish men of knowledge and capital would harm Portugal's burgeoning commercial empire. Jews were largely undisturbed as nominal Christians for several decades, until the establishment of a Tribunal of the Portuguese Inquisition by the initiative of the clergy in the town. Under persecution, wealthier Jews fled, while most others were forced to convert. Hundreds of both Jews and New Christians were arrested, tortured and about 1,000 were executed in autos da fé , in

12420-430: The expansion of geographical knowledge and empirical science . "It saw also the first major victories of empirical inquiry over authority, the beginnings of that close association of science, technology, and everyday work which is an essential characteristic of the modern western world." Anthony Pagden draws on the work of Edmundo O'Gorman for the statement that "For all Europeans, the events of October 1492 constituted

12558-405: The exploration of the coast of Africa. This was an existing Iberian ship type, used for fishing, commerce and military purposes. Unlike other vessels of the time, the caravel had a sternpost-mounted rudder (as opposed to a side-mounted steering oar). It had a shallow draft, which was helpful in exploring unknown coastlines. It had good sailing performance, with a windward ability that was notable by

12696-552: The first explorations. The Canary Islands , already known to the Genoese, were claimed as officially discovered under the patronage of the Portuguese, but in 1344 Castile disputed them, expanding their rivalry into the sea. To ensure their monopoly on trade, Europeans (beginning with the Portuguese) attempted to install a Mediterranean system of trade which used military might and intimidation, to divert trade through ports they controlled; there it could be taxed. In 1415, Ceuta

12834-751: The gaze", what was revealed existed previously. Few Europeans during the period used the term "invention" for the European encounters, with the exception of Martin Waldseemüller , whose map first used the term " America ". A central legal concept of the discovery doctrine , expounded by the US Supreme Court in 1823, draws on assertions of European powers' right to claim land during their explorations. The concept of "discovery" has been used to enforce colonial claiming and discovery, but has been challenged by indigenous peoples and researchers. Many indigenous peoples have fundamentally challenged

12972-423: The greater Latinisation of the Portuguese language. The printing press was key in the expansion of the Portuguese language, allowing new spellings, words, and grammar to be seen by most Portuguese speakers. Due to the success of the Portuguese Empire, and the padroado of the Portuguese missionary efforts, the Portuguese language came to be known as the "Christian language" in many parts of Asia. In concordance with

13110-511: The hope of bypassing Portugal's monopoly on west African sea routes, to reach "the Indies" (east and south Asia) by travelling west. Twice before, in 1485 and 1488, Columbus had presented the project to the king John II of Portugal , who rejected it. Tomar Tomar ( Portuguese pronunciation: [tuˈmaɾ] ), also known in English as Thomar (the ancient name of Tomar),

13248-530: The idea that the Indian Ocean was landlocked. A prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European expeditions crossing Eurasia by land in the late Middle Ages. The Mongols had threatened Europe, but Mongol states also unified much of Eurasia and, from 1206 on, the Pax Mongolica allowed safe trade routes and communication lines from the Middle East to China. The close Italian links to

13386-521: The interconnecting of river and sea trade routes. Before the 12th century, an obstacle to trade east of the Strait of Gibraltar , which divided the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean, was Muslim control of territory, including the Iberian Peninsula and the trade monopolies of Christian city-states on the Italian Peninsula, especially Venice and Genoa . Economic growth of Iberia followed

13524-688: The interior of the Americas, and some of the South Pacific islands. Their main objective was to disrupt Portuguese trade in the East. From 1495, the French, English, and Dutch entered the race of exploration, after learning of Columbus' exploits, defying the Iberian monopoly on maritime trade by searching for new routes. The first expedition was John Cabot in 1497 to the north, in the service of England, followed by French expeditions to South America and later to North America. Later expeditions went to

13662-438: The last. The fleets visited Arabia , East Africa , India , Malay Archipelago and Thailand (then called Siam ), exchanging goods along the way. They presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk ; in return, received such novelties as ostriches , zebras , camels , ivory and giraffes . After the emperor's death, Zheng He led a final expedition departing from Nanking in 1431 and returning to Beijing in 1433. It

13800-554: The late 12th century. Tomar was the last Templar town to be commissioned for construction and one of Portugal's historical jewels. The town was especially important in the 15th century when it was a center of Portuguese overseas expansion under Henry the Navigator , the Grand Master of the Order of Christ , successor organization to the Knights Templar in Portugal. Tomar lies in the most fertile region of Portugal, and one of

13938-619: The maritime expeditions of Portugal to the Canary Islands in 1336, and later with the Portuguese discoveries of the Atlantic archipelagos of Madeira and Azores , the coast of West Africa in 1434, and the establishment of the sea route to India in 1498 by Vasco da Gama , which initiated the Portuguese maritime and trade presence in Kerala and the Indian Ocean . During the Age of Discovery, Spain sponsored and financed

14076-596: The marriage was in negotiations, the Burgundian court sent the famed Jan van Eyck to paint the Portrait of Isabel of Aviz . Van Eyck remained in Portugal for over a year, where he established a school of art, alongside Olivier de Gand and Jean d'Ypres. This school gave origin to the School of Masters of the Sé Cathedral of Angra do Heroísmo , which was fostered by Jácome de Bruges . Nuno Gonçalves , author of

14214-477: The mercantile situation in the east Mediterranean, was the waning of Christian Byzantine naval power following the death of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in 1180, whose dynasty had made notable treaties and concessions with Italian traders, permitting the use of Byzantine Christian ports. The Norman Conquest of England, in the late 11th century, allowed for peaceful trade on the North Sea . The Hanseatic League ,

14352-610: The monks. Henry the Navigator was made the Governor of the Order, and it is believed that he used the resources and knowledge of the Order to succeed in his enterprises in Africa and in the Atlantic. The Order of Christ Cross was painted in the sails of the caravels that crossed the seas, and the Catholic missions in the new lands were under the authority of the Tomar clerics until 1514. Henry, enriched by his overseas enterprises,

14490-561: The monopoly of European trade with the Middle East. The silk and spice trade , involving spices, incense , herbs, drugs and opium , made these Mediterranean city-states phenomenally rich. Spices were among the most expensive and demanded products of the Middle Ages, as they were used in medieval medicine , religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumery, as well as food additives and preservatives. They were all imported from Asia and Africa. Muslim traders dominated maritime routes throughout

14628-409: The most emblematic pieces of the Portuguese Renaissance. The Quinta da Bacalhoa and the Casa dos Bicos are good examples of strong classical Renaissance style palaces, which still hold Manueline tendencies. Painting was one of the more distinguishing factors of the Portuguese Renaissance, being one of the more contrasting arts to the other Renaissances of Europe. Painting in the Portuguese Renaissance

14766-456: The most fertile in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula : the Ribatejo ("by the river Tagus ") meadows. It is located in the district of Santarém . The predominant landscape is agricultural, consisting of olive , pine and fig trees. The seat of the municipality is the city of Tomar, which comprises the parishes of Santa Maria dos Olivais and São João Batista. Tomar is also the capital of

14904-549: The newly discovered lands is also what allowed the Portuguese Renaissance to be funded, by creating a wealthy Portuguese nobility and merchant class. It was Portugal's connection, through the vast Portuguese Empire , to a full world of trade, culture, and commerce, from Japan to Brazil and from the Azores to Goa , that allowed the Portuguese Renaissance to be born. Portugal's unique ability to interact and colonise other peoples (later called Lusotropicalism ), permitted funding

15042-729: The opening of maritime routes to the Indies and the European colonization of the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese , later joined by the English , French and Dutch , spurred in the International global trade . The interconnected global economy of the 21st century has its origins in the expansion of trade networks during this era. The exploration also created colonial empires and marked an increased adoption of colonialism as

15180-536: The period. In 1475, for the first time a Latin translation of Ptolemy's world map , from the second century, was printed. Portuguese exploration and studies soon revealed the gaps of ancient knowledge, such as how in 1488, passing the Cape of Good Hope, Bartolomeu Dias proved Ptolemy was erroneous in that there was no passage to the Indian Ocean. In 1492, Martin Behaim , after his training in Portugal, and in service to

15318-449: The principles of the Portuguese Renaissance, many schools of learning and colleges were founded throughout Portugal and its empire. It was the scholars of the Portuguese Renaissance that compiled some of the first interlingua dictionaries and literary works, able to do so because of the great distribution of the Portuguese Empire. These dictionaries were often the first linguistic interactions Europeans had to these far east cultures, such as

15456-425: The rebuilding of Lisbon after the earthquake in 1755. Scattered throughout the town there are many interesting houses with Renaissance , Baroque and Romantic façades. By the river Nabão, near the bridge, there is a park and garden that offer views of the city and surroundings. Tomar has several schools including primary, junior high school, high schools and a polytechnic. These include: The municipal holiday day

15594-574: The reigns of D. Afonso V and D. John II. Among the various authors represented in the Cancioneiro Geral , Francisco de Sá de Miranda , Gil Vicente , and Bernardim Ribeiro were the most important and famous authors to the literary scene of the Portuguese Renaissance. Sá de Miranda was crucial to the internationalization of the literary works of the Portuguese Renaissance. After returning from his studies abroad, in 1526, Sá de Miranda introduced new forms of literary expression to Portugal, like

15732-402: The religious orders, including the Order of Christ, were disbanded. Tomar is twinned with: Tomar attracts many tourists because of its varied monuments. These include: The streets and squares of the picturesque centre of Tomar are organised following a chessboard pattern, a rare feature for a mediaeval city, instituted by Prince Henry the Navigator, which later inspired the pattern used for

15870-483: The south like the supposed long-lost Christian kingdom of Prester John and probe whether it was possible to reach the Indies by sea, the source of the lucrative spice trade . He invested in sponsoring voyages down the coast of Mauritania , gathering a group of merchants, shipowners and stakeholders interested in new sea lanes. Soon the Atlantic islands of Madeira (1419) and the Azores (1427) were reached. The expedition leader who established settlements on Madeira,

16008-450: The standards of the time. The lateen rig was less useful when sailing downwind – which explains Christopher Columbus ( Italian : Cristoforo Colombo ) re-rigging the Niña with square rig . For celestial navigation the Portuguese used the ephemerides , which experienced a remarkable diffusion in the 15th century. These were astronomical charts plotting the location of the stars over

16146-576: The time studied in Portugal and carried the Portuguese language to newly discovered lands. Many Portuguese words have entered the lexicon of other languages, such as sepatu , shoe in Indonesian , from the Portuguese sapato , Keju , cheese in Malay , from the Portuguese queijo , meza , table in Swahili , from the Portuguese mesa , and botan , buton, from botão , kappa , cover, from capa , and from

16284-479: The time, literary works of the Portuguese Renaissance influenced a great deal of foreign literary movements and linguistic studies. The Portuguese Renaissance produced a plethora of poets, historians, critics, theologians, and moralists, of whom the Portuguese Renaissance was their golden age. Language was one of the purest parts of the Portuguese Renaissance, due to the large number of erudite words imported from classical Latin and ancient Greek, which greatly increased

16422-465: The total validity of authorship due to the habit of collective works. A famous example of this was by court painter Jorge Afonso , whose pieces were often worked on by his colleagues at court, such as Frei Carlos, Francisco Henriques , Cristóvão de Figueiredo , Garcia Fernandes , Gregório Lopes , and Jorge Leal, amongst others. In Northern Portugal , a similar group existed, centered on Vasco Fernandes , alongside Gaspar Vaz and Fernão de Anes. During

16560-408: The treasure fleet sailed from and to China. For the first time, the maritime region from China to Africa was under the dominance of a single imperial power and allowed for the creation of a cosmopolitan space. These long-distance journeys were not followed up, as the Ming dynasty retreated in the haijin , a policy of isolationism , having limited maritime trade. Travels were halted abruptly after

16698-469: The treatises on astronomy, oceanography, and nautical studies, major works included the following: Pedro Nunes , one of the first Europeans to apply mathematics to cartography, discovered the concept of rhumb lines , later applied to the Mercator projection , which, in 1569, revolutionized cartography. He was also the inventor of several measuring apparatus, including the nonius , to measure fractions of

16836-620: The unexplored ocean curves around toward the west, and running along by the regions to the south of Aethiopia and Libya and Africa, it mingles with the western sea (possible reference to the Atlantic Ocean)". European medieval knowledge about Asia beyond the reach of the Byzantine Empire was sourced in partial reports, often obscured by legends, dating back from the conquests of Alexander the Great and successors. Another source

16974-572: The various Japanese words of Portuguese origin . Simultaneously, following the expansionist and knowledge seeking nature of the Portuguese Renaissance, the Portuguese language imported many words from foreign idioms, such as cachimbo , meaning pipe, from the Kimbundu kixima , and algodão , meaning cotton, from the Arabic al-qutun . The Portuguese Renaissance was a golden age for literary works in Portugal. The abundance of funds and interest lead to

17112-413: The view that had existed since Ptolemy that the Indian Ocean was land-locked . Based on many later stories of the phantom island known as Bacalao and the carvings on Dighton Rock some have speculated that Portuguese explorer João Vaz Corte-Real discovered Newfoundland in 1473, but the sources are considered unreliable. Portugal's Iberian rival, Castile , had begun to establish its rule over

17250-634: Was Giovanni da Pian del Carpine , dispatched by Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan , who journeyed to Mongolia and back from 1241 to 1247. Russian prince Yaroslav of Vladimir , and his sons Alexander Nevsky and Andrey II of Vladimir , travelled to the Mongolian capital. Though having strong political implications, their journeys left no detailed accounts. Other travellers followed, like French André de Longjumeau and Flemish William of Rubruck , who reached China through Central Asia. Marco Polo ,

17388-738: Was conquered by the Portuguese aiming to control navigation of the African coast. The young prince Henry the Navigator was there and became aware of profit possibilities in the trans-Saharan trade routes. For centuries slave and gold trade routes linking West Africa with the Mediterranean passed over the Western Sahara Desert, controlled by the Moors of North Africa. Henry wished to know how far Muslim territories in Africa extended, hoping to bypass them and trade directly with West Africa by sea, find allies in legendary Christian lands to

17526-525: Was Portuguese explorer João Gonçalves Zarco . Europeans did not know what lay beyond Cape Non ( Cape Chaunar ) on the African coast, and whether it was possible to return once it was crossed. Nautical myths warned of oceanic monsters or an edge of the world, but Henry's navigation challenged such beliefs: starting in 1421, systematic sailing overcame it, reaching the difficult Cape Bojador that in 1434 one of Henry's captains, Gil Eanes , finally passed. From 1440 onwards, caravels were extensively used for

17664-444: Was a period from approximately the late 15th century to the 17th century, during which seafarers from a number of European countries explored, colonized, and conquered regions across the globe. The Age of Discovery was a transformative period in world history when previously isolated parts of the world became connected to form the world-system and laid the groundwork for globalization . The extensive overseas exploration, particularly

17802-475: Was barely known and only trade links with the Maritime republics , Venice especially, fostered the collection of accurate maritime knowledge. Indian Ocean trade routes were sailed by Arab traders. By 1400, a Latin translation of Ptolemy 's Geographia reached Italy from Constantinople. The rediscovery of Roman geographical knowledge was a revelation, both for map-making and worldview, although reinforcing

17940-509: Was especially impactful as no other polity had exerted naval dominance over all sectors of the Indian Ocean, prior to these voyages. The Ming promoted alternative nodes as a strategy to establish control over the network. For instance, due to Chinese involvement, ports such as Malacca (in Southeast Asia), Cochin (Malabar Coast), and Malindi (Swahili Coast) had grown as key alternatives to other established ports. The appearance of

18078-485: Was established against the opposition of the Order. The hydraulic resources of the river Nabão were used to supply energy to this and many other factories, namely paper factories, foundries, glassworks, silks and soaps. Tomar was occupied by the French during the Peninsular War , against which it rebelled. The Duke of Wellington , with his Portuguese and English troops, liberated the city afterwards. In 1834 all

18216-447: Was granted in 1162 by the Grand Master to the people. The Templars ruled from Tomar a vast region of central Portugal which they pledged to defend from Moorish attacks and raids. Like many lords of the unpopulated former frontier region of central Portugal, the villagers were given relatively liberal conditions in comparison with those of the northern regions of Portugal, in order to attract new immigrants. Those inhabitants who could sustain

18354-571: Was largely a backwater compared to the Arab world, which conquered and incorporated large territories in the Middle East and North Africa. The Christian Crusades to retake the Holy Land , from the Muslims, were not a military success, but did bring Europe into contact with the Middle East and the valuable goods manufactured or traded there. From the 12th century, the European economy was transformed by

18492-489: Was largely a continuation and elaboration of the Gothic . The profits of the spice trade , during the reigns of John II , Manuel I , and John III , financed the sumptuous and dominant style of the Portuguese Renaissance, the Manueline style. The Manueline was largely an intricate and complex style, with heavy gothic and light neo-classical influence, that was unique to Portugal. The first known building in Manueline style

18630-558: Was largely sober and almost exclusively religious, being more in line with the Northern Renaissance in nature, not following the pomp and excess of the Italian and Spanish Renaissances. Portuguese Renaissance painting was largely in contact with Flemish style. Links between the two movements reached a new level, in 1430, with the marriage of Isabel of Aviz, Infanta of Portugal , to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy . While

18768-716: Was the Radhanite Jewish trade networks of merchants established as go-betweens between Europe and the Muslim world during the time of the Crusader states . In 1154, the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi created a description of the world and a world map , the Tabula Rogeriana , at the court of King Roger II of Sicily , but still Africa was only partially known to either Christians, Genoese and Venetians, or

18906-570: Was the Sacramental, printed in Chaves , in 1488, by Clemente Sanches de Vercial. By 1490, books were being printed in Lisbon, Porto , and Braga . Because of the new access to mass production of language and literature pieces, the Portuguese Renaissance saw a great flourishment for written work, from treatises to theatre, as well as the advancement and sophistication of the Portuguese language . Because of Portugal's key place in global relations, at

19044-493: Was the first ruler to improve the buildings of the Convento de Cristo since their construction by Gualdim Pais. He also ordered dams to be built to control the Nabão River and swamps to be drained. This allowed the burgeoning town to attract more settlers. Henry ordered the new streets to be designed in a rational, geometrical fashion, as they can still be seen today. In 1438, King Duarte , who had fled Lisbon because of

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