Exploration Age of Portugal

Portugal Exploration Analysis

Revolution-era Portugal was a declining world power. Portugal had been a great world power. Portugal, at one point for a while, was one of the strongest, wealthiest, and most culturally influential five countries in the world. By the revolutionary era, Portugal was nowhere near its former glory… Today, Portugal is mostly known for its beautiful beaches, nice weather, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Portugal in the revolutionary era was losing its colonies, losing its wealth, and losing its prestige.

Portugal originally was one of the great exploration countries of the world; it had colonies all over the world that were mostly plantations, spice farms, and trading posts. Portugal contributed to the development of nation-states in its colonies and the development/spread of Christianity. Portugal has spread Portuguese to many of its former colonies that still speak Portuguese today. Revolution era, Portugal had lost its status as one of the great world powers by the 18^th century.#_ftn1 Portugal had lands in South America that were explicitly viewed as Portugal-only territory by the Catholic Pope.#_ftn2 The Catholic Pope at this time had heavy influence on European Colonization of the world and sent missionaries all over the world. Revolutionary era authors were extremely elitist; however, that may have been normal at the time.#_ftn3 However, Portugal still had many colonies throughout the world, including in the Maldives, in Southeast Asia, in the Caribbean, and in Brazil.

One of Portugal’s colonies was the Island of Porto Santo. Today Porto Santo is a resort, beach, and port town. However, when Portugal first discovered Porto Santo, it was a mostly unvegetated island and had high elevation in large parts.#_ftn4 The island in original exploration sketches was comprised of multiple medium to small islands.#_ftn5 The islands were mostly comprised of large cliffs, large hills, and a little bit of vegetation.#_ftn6 The current modern-day island has clearly been significantly terraformed and changed. It is amazing to imagine what it would be like being an explorer during the exploration age. Additionally, it is amazing today to look at how much development and terraforming has happened since then.

Revolutionary era contributed to the development of the modern world, was responsible for exploring many parts of the world, and also spread Christianity. Portugal was important for the development of the New World, as Portugal was one of the main explorers originally. Additionally, the Portuguese were important because they developed their colonies into above-average (income and happiness) countries in their former colonies. Examples include Brazil and Indonesia. The Portuguese colonies eventually broke off and were able to develop; however, many of the authors were extremely elitist. I consulted a sketch of Santo Porto, an old pamphlet, and an old book from the Library of Congress to write this paper.

Bibliography:

The National Archives (UK), ADM [series/reference], “Sketch of Porto Santo,” [10/7/2026].

(Unknown). General History of the Vast Continents and Islands of America. City: (Unknown). Publisher (Unknown), Year (Unknown). Library of Congress, Main Reading Room.

(Unknown)) Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Pamphlet. City: Publisher, Year. Library of Congress, Main Reading Room.

#_ftnref1 First Name Last Name, Title of Pamphlet (City: Publisher, Year), page number, Library of Congress, Main Reading Room. Pg. 54

#_ftnref2 First Name Last Name, History of America (City: Publisher, Year), page number, Library of Congress, Main Reading Room. Pg. 182-183

#_ftnref3 First Name Last Name, Title of Pamphlet (City: Publisher, Year), page number, Library of Congress, Main Reading Room. Pg. 54

#_ftnref4 The National Archives (UK), ADM [series/reference], “Sketch of Porto Santo,” [10/7/2026].

#_ftnref5 TNA, ADM [reference], “Sketch of Porto Santo.”

#_ftnref6 TNA, ADM [reference], “Sketch of Porto Santo.”