archeologia: History of Portugal (1415–1578)

Evidence: 65 • authority: 72

The Portuguese Empire was the first and longest lasting of the European colonial empires. Initiated during the Age of Discovery, at one point territories included parts of the Americas and Africa, along with ports and trading posts throughout Asia and Oceania. In the wake of the Reconquista, Portuguese sailors began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in 1418–1419, using recent developments in navigation, cartography, and maritime technology such as the caravel, with the aim of finding a sea route to the source of the lucrative spice trade. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama finally reached India. In 150…

Evidence: 65 • authority: 72

The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices, such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric, were known and used in antiquity and traded in the Eastern world. These spices found their way into the Near East before the beginning of the Christian era, with fantastic tales hiding their true sources. The maritime aspect of the trade was dominated by the Austronesian peoples in Southeast Asia, namely the ancient Indonesian sailors who established routes from Southeast Asia to Sri Lanka and India, and later China, by 1500 BC. These goods were then transported by land toward the Mediterranean and the Gr…

Evidence: 64 • authority: 72

Evidence: 58 • authority: 72

Evidence: 55 • authority: 72

Evidence: 49 • authority: 72

The Black Sea slave trade trafficked people across the Black Sea from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to slavery in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Black Sea slave trade was a center of the slave trade between Europe and the rest of the world from antiquity until the 19th century. One of the major and most significant slave trades of the Black Sea region was the trade of the Crimean Khanate, known as the Crimean slave trade. The Black Sea is situated in a region historically dominated by the margins of empires, conquests and major trade routes between Europe, the Mediterranean and Central Asia, notably the Ancient Silk Road, which made the Black Sea ideal for a slave trade of war…

Evidence: 42 • authority: 72

The Portuguese Indian Armadas were the fleets of ships funded by the Crown of Portugal, and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India. The principal destination was Goa, and previously Cochin. These armadas undertook the Carreira da Índia ('India Run') from Portugal, following the maritime discovery of the Cape Route, to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama in 1497–99. The annual Portuguese India armada was the main carrier of the spice trade between Europe and Asia during the 16th Century. The Portuguese monopoly on the Cape route was maintained for a century, until it was breached by Dutch and English competition in the early 1600s. The Portuguese India armadas declined in…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 80

Evidence: 37 • authority: 80

The Portuguese and Foreign European Overland Merchants Trading Between the Eastern Mediterranean and South and Southwest Asia, c. 1515–1645

Evidence: 36 • authority: 72

A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Ancient trade routes were long-distance networks used in the ancient world to exchange goods, ideas, cultures, and technologies between civilizations. The term can also be used to refer to trade over land or water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long-distance arteries, which may further be connected to smaller networks of commercial and noncommercial transportation routes. Among notable trade routes was the Amber Road, which served as a dependable network for long-distance trade. Maritime trade along the Spice Route became…

Evidence: 32 • authority: 80

The Portuguese Trading System in Monsoon Asia

Evidence: 32 • authority: 80

Private Trading in Portuguese Asia: A Substantial Will-O'-the-Wisp