Exhibition

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Learning and Education

Catalog

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360° Panoramas

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Portuguese Version

 

 

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Prologue | Portugal in the Middle Ages | Conditions at the Start | Voyages of Discovery

Cartography and Nautics | New Worlds – Old Empires | Portugal Overseas | Art and Curiosity Cabinets

Portugal in the 16th Century | International Conflicts | Foreign Images

 

 

2. Portugal in the Middle Ages

In the course of the Reconquista, the Portuguese captured, in the 12th and 13th centuries, territories on the Iberian Peninsula that had previously been under Moorish rule. At the time the frontiers of the country, still valid today, were largely established. In the year 1179 the Pope recognized Portugal as a kingdom. The first king of the country was Dom Afonso Henriques. Portugal soon experienced a remarkable economic upswing as a connecting link between the Mediterranean and North Sea territories.

 

In 1385 King Dom João I founded the dynasty of the Aviz. The capture of the North African city of Ceuta in the year 1415 marks the beginning of Portuguese expansionism. It was above all the infante Henrique, or Henry, a son of Dom João I, later to become known as “the Navigator”, who organized the exploration along the coast of Africa. For military and economic support he was able to rely primarily on the power of the Order of Christ in Portugal, which was founded in the wake of the Order of the Templars.