Portuguese background history;

Beginning in the 1400s, the Portuguese, led by famous explorers like Bartolomeo Dias and Vasco de Gama and financed by the great Prince Henry the Navigator, sailed to, explored, and settled in South America, Africa, and Asia. Portugal’s empire, which survived for more than six centuries, was the first of the great European global empires. Its former possessions are now located in across fifty countries around the world. The Portuguese created colonies for numerous reasons – to trade for spices, gold, agricultural products and other resources, to create more markets for Portuguese goods, to spread Catholicism, and to “civilize” the natives of these distant places. Portugal’s colonies brought great wealth to this small country. The empire gradually declined because Portugal did not have enough people or resources to maintain so many overseas territories. Here are the most important former Portuguese possessions.

Brazil

Brazil was by far…