Evolution of the Portuguese Empire

This article is a comprehensive list of all former possessions of Portugal.[1][2][3][4]

Europe

Portuguese founded factories in various places in Europe, with a purely commerce-focused strategy, different from the other continents.

Africa

Portuguese presence in Africa started in 1415 with the conquest of Ceuta and is generally viewed as ending in 1975, with the exception of the Madeira autonomous region, still under Portuguese sovereignty, located in the African Plate.

Asia-Pacific

India was reached by the Portuguese in 1498 by Vasco da Gama. Macau was the last possession in Asia and was handed over to the People's Republic of China in 1999.

Middle East

  • Aden: Attempted conquest by Albuquerque (1513) and Albergaria (1516). Occupied for a few months in 1547–1548 before being recaptured by Piri Reis[11]
  • Bahrain: possession (1521–1602). Driven out by a native revolt and occupied by Persian troops.
  • Bandar-e-Kong/Bandar Congo: free factory and port, by treaty with Persia (1629-1725)[12]
  • Basra (1550–1668): Portuguese vassal (1550–1595). Occupation (1595–1624). Integral part of the Portuguese Empire (1624–1668). Lost to the Ottomans.
  • Bushehr (1506–1622): Lost to the Safavids.
  • Comorão/Bandar Abbas: possession (1506–1615). Conquered by Persian forces.
  • Chabahar (1508–1621): Lost to the British.
  • Failaka Island/Ilha de Aguada: Possible portuguese settlements[13][14]
  • Isfahan (1602–1748): Augustinian convent founded in 1602; acted as an informal embassy[12]
  • Portuguese Oman (1507–1656): String of forts, port cities, and trading posts along the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
    • Borca/Barka: Trading post.
    • Calaiate/Calha/Qalhat: Quickly abandoned in favor of Muscat.
    • Cassapo/Khasab: Coastal fort.
    • Corfacão/Khor Fakkan (1513–1666): Major economic center.
    • Curiate/Qurayyat: Coastal fort.
    • Doba/Dibba (1623–1650): Taken on behalf of Hormuz. Lost to the Omanis.
    • Ghallah/Quelba/Kalba: Coastal fort.
    • Julfar: Trading post.
    • Libidia/Al Badiyah: Coastal fort. Abandoned in 1600.
    • Lima/Limah: Possession.
    • Madá/Madha: Fortified post.
    • Matara/Muttrah: Coastal fort.
    • Muscat (1507–1650): Driven out by native inhabitants.
    • Mocombira/Mocombi: Possession.
    • Sibo/Seeb: Coastal fort.
    • Soar/Sohar: Coastal fort.
  • Qatar: possession (1517–1538). Lost to the Ottomans.
  • Queixome/Qeshm Island (1515–1622).
  • Hormuz/Ormus: possession subordinate to Goa (1515–1622). Captured by a joint force between the Safavid Empire and the English East India Company.
  • Socotra: possession (1506–1511). Became part of Mahri Sultanate of Qishn and Suqutra

Indian Subcontinent

  • Ceylon: colony (1597–1658). Dutch took control in 1656, Jaffna taken in 1658.
  • Maldives: possession (1518–1521, 1558–1573)
  • Índia Portuguesa/Portuguese India: overseas province (1946–1962). Taken over by India in 1962 and recognised by Portugal in 1974.

Colonies

Trading Posts

East Asia

  • Chinese concessions: Territories gained through the Unequal Treaties of the 19th and 20th century.
  • Japanese Voyages (1550–1639): Portuguese arrive and begin to settle in 1543. Officially established by the government in Goa in 1550. Ended in 1639 by decree of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
    • Deshima (1570–1639): Constructed by the Portuguese. Forced out by the Shōgun and granted to the Dutch in 1641.
    • Fukuda (1565–1571): Portuguese invited into the port in 1565. Abandoned in 1571 due to bad weather conditions.
    • Funai/Ōita (16th century): Port of call.
    • Hirado (1543–1571): Abandoned in favor of Nagasaki.
    • Kagoshima (1543–1639): center of Jesuit activity. Anti-Christian bans forced out the Jesuits in 1639.
    • Nagasáqui/Nagasaki (1543–1639): Unofficial settlement (1543–1570). Leased territory (1570–1580). Administrative control (1580–1587). Trading post and settlement (1587–1639). Portuguese forced out as a part of the Shōgun's policy of Sakoku.
    • Vocoxiura/Yokoseura (1562–1571): Initial base for Jesuit activities in Japan. Abandoned in favor of Nagasaki.
  • Liampó/Ningbo (1522–1548): Heavy Portuguese presence in the city itself and settlement in nearby Shuangyu. Settlement destroyed by Ming authorities in 1548 as a part of an anti-piracy campaign.[16][17]
  • São João Island/Shangchuan Island: possession (15??–1557). Abandoned in favor of Macao.
  • Tamão: (1513–1521) Trade settlement. Driven out by the Ming Navy.
  • Yuegang: (1533–???) Popular trading and smuggling port for Portuguese merchants. Unknown when Portuguese merchants ceased trading. Port closed in 1727.

Southeast Asia

  • Ayutthaya: portuguese settlement (1516-1767)[18]
  • Bassein/Pathein/Cosmim (1516): Expelled by the Burmese[19]
  • Cambodia (1593-1597): Joint Spanish-Portuguese invasion against the Siamese occupation of cambodia; ultimately failed.
  • Portuguese East Indies (1511–1975/2002). Colonial dependency of Goa (1522–1844); Subordinated to Macao (1844–1850); Independent colony (1850–1851); Subordinated to Macao (1851–1856); Subordinated to Goa (1856–1863); Overseas province (1863–1866); Subordinate to Macao (1866–1896); Independent colony (1896–1950); Overseas province (1950–1975); Unilateral Independence and Indonesian Occupation (1975–1999); UN Administration (1999–2002).
  • Calapa (1522–1619): Port granted to the Portuguese by the Hindu Sunda Kingdom in return for military support against their Muslim neighbors. Lost to the Dutch.
  • Malacca: colony (1511–1641).
  • Muar Fortress (1604–1641).
  • Forts in Maluku Islands:
  • Makassar (1544–1665); portuguese settlement and important commercial center; lost to the Dutch.[22][23]
  • Pacem (1521–1524): Occupied, then quickly abandoned.
  • Timor: claimed and partially possessed from 1520 to 1640.
  • Cupão/Kupang: Trading post. Taken by the Dutch in 1613
  • Flores Island: possession (16th–19th century). Sold the island to the Dutch East Indies
  • Solor: possession (1520–1636).
  • Fort Solor/Forte de Nossa Senhora da Piedade de Solor (1566-1613)
  • Portuguese Timor: colony subordinate to Portuguese India (1642–1844); subordinate to Macau (1844–1896); separate colony (1896–1951); overseas territory (1951–1975); republic and unilateral independence proclaimed, annexed by Indonesia (1975–1999, UN recognition as Portuguese territory). UN administration from 1999 until independence in 2002.[24]
  • Ilha de Ataúro (1859–1975): Granted to the Portuguese by the Dutch in 1859.
  • Martaban: Factory (1521–?)[25]
  • Pattani: factory (1516-1640)[26][27]
  • Syriam/Thanlyin: possession (1599–1613). Ruled by Filipe de Brito e Nicote.

South America

Brazil was explored and claimed in 1500, and become independent in 1822. Unlike the Spanish, the Portuguese did not divide their possession in South America in several vice-royalties.

  • Brazil: possession known as Ilha de Vera Cruz, later Terra de Santa Cruz (1500–1530); colony (1530–1714); vice-kingdom (1714–1815); kingdom united with the Kingdom of Portugal (1815–1822), independence in 1822.
  • French Guiana - occupation - 1809 - 1817.
  • Tabocas (Colombia) - village between the Cahuinari and Miritiparaná rivers, founded in 1781.
  • La Cruz (Bolivia) - settlement.
  • Puerto Villazon (Bolivia) - settlement (named Guarajus by Portugal).
  • Fuerte Olimpo (Paraguay) - occupation - 1812.
  • Uruguay: settlement, such as Nova Colónia do Sacramento and Montevideo. Invasion in 1811-1812. Invasion in 1816. Captaincy in 1817 (of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves). Adhered as a province of the new Empire of Brazil in 1822. Became independent 1827, changing its name to Uruguay.

See also

References

  1. ^ A. J. R. Russell-Wood, The Portuguese empire, 1415–1808: a world on the move (JHU Press, 1998).
  2. ^ W. G. Clarence-Smith, The Third Portuguese Empire, 1825–1975: a study in economic imperialism (Manchester University Press, 1985).
  3. ^ Timothy J. Coates, "The Early Modern Portuguese empire: A commentary on recent studies." Sixteenth Century Journal 37.1 (2006): 83–90 JSTOR 20477699.
  4. ^ Norrie MacQueen, The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire (1997).
  5. ^ a b Montenegro, António (2001). "A feitoria portuguesa na Flandres e Manuel Cirne". Público. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  6. ^ Rau, Virgínia (1966). Feitores e feitorias, "instrumentos" do comércio internacional português no século XVI: comunicação apresentada, em francês, no 3o. Congresso Internacional de História Económica que se realizou em Munique, de 25 a 27 de agosto de 1965 (in Portuguese). Edições Brotéria. p. 10.
  7. ^ Lopes, Paulo (2019). Portugal e a Europa nos séculos XV e XVI: Olhares, Relações, Identidade(s) (in Portuguese). Lisbon: Instituto de Estudos Medievais (IEM). p. 353. ISBN 978-989-99567-3-5.
  8. ^ Peter Cooper Mancall (2007). The Atlantic World and Virginia: 1550 - 1624. UNC Press Books. pp. 149–150. ISBN 978-0-8078-3159-5. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  9. ^ Teixeira, Manuel. "Goreia/Gorée/Goeree [Ilha de Palma or of Bezeguiche]". H.P.I.P - Heritage of Portuguese Influence. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  10. ^ Hair, P.E.H. (2000). "Franciscan Missionaries and the 1752 «Donation of Sierra Leone»". Journal of Religion in Africa. 30 (4): 408–432. doi:10.2307/1581582. JSTOR 1581582.
  11. ^ F. M. Hunter, An Account of the British Settlement of Aden in Arabia, Trübner & Co., London, 1877, p. 162–163.
  12. ^ a b "PORTUGAL i. RELATIONS WITH PERSIA IN THE EARLY MODERN AGE (1500-1750)". Encyclopaedia Iranica. July 20, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2025.
  13. ^ "Al Quraniya in Failaka Island". ICESCO. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  14. ^ Lawler, Andrew (March–April 2013). "Pirate Hideout". Archaeology Magazine. Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  15. ^ Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1991). "THE PORTUGUESE, THATTA AND THE EXTERNAL TRADE OF SIND, 1515-1635". Revista de Cultura, (Macau). 13/14. Instituto Cultural de Macau: 48–58.
  16. ^ Morais Simões, José (6 August 2016). "Inícios de Liampó português" [Beginnings of Portuguese Liampó] (in Portuguese). Macau: Jornal Hoje Macau. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  17. ^ Morais Simões, José (12 August 2016). "Fim do Liampó português em Shuangyu" [End of Portuguese Liampó in Shuangyu] (in Portuguese). Macau: Jornal Hoje Macau. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  18. ^ Tricky Vandenberg (July 2009). "THE PORTUGUESE IN AYUTTHAYA". History of Ayutthaya. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
  19. ^ Wijaya, Daya Negri (2022). Malacca Beyond European Colonialism (15th-17th Centuries) (Doctor in History thesis). Porto: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  20. ^ Lobato, Manuel. "Fort of the Magi Tidore, North Maluku, Indonesia". H.P.I.P - Heritage of Portuguese Influence. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  21. ^ Lobato, Manuel. "Forte (Tafasoho) Makian [Maquiém], Maluku, Indonésia". H.P.I.P - Heritage of Portuguese Influence. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  22. ^ Villiers, John (June 12, 1986). "As origens das primeiras comunidades portuguesas no Sueste Asiático". Instituto Cultural, Macau. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  23. ^ Borges, Maria do Carmo Mira (1996). Os portugueses e o sultanato de Macassar no século XVII (Mestrado História dos Descobrimentos e da Expansão Portuguesa thesis). Lisbon: Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
  24. ^ James Cotton, East Timor, Australia and regional order: intervention and its aftermath in Southeast Asia. (Routledge, 2004).
  25. ^ Gutman, Pamela (2002). "The Martaban Trade: An Examination of the Literature from the Seventh Century until the Eighteenth Century". Asian Perspectives. 40 (1). University of Hawai'i press: 108–118. doi:10.1353/asi.2001.0007. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  26. ^ Hutchinson, E.W. (1940). Adventurers in Siam in the Seventeenth Century. London: Royal Asiatic Society. p. 22. ISBN 9789744054753. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  27. ^ Alves Santos, Jorge (28 February 2022). "A. Patani and the Luso-Asian Networks (1516-1642)". Patani Through Foreign Eyes: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. 2. Association Archipel: 37–65. Retrieved 10 February 2025.

Further reading

  • Cotton, James. East Timor, Australia and regional order: intervention and its aftermath in Southeast Asia (Routledge, 2004).
  • De Meneses, Filipe Ribeiro, and Robert McNamara, eds. The White Redoubt, the Great Powers and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1960–1980 (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2017).
  • James, W. Martin. Historical dictionary of Angola (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
  • Lloyd-Jones, Stewart, and António Costa Pinto, eds. The last Empire: thirty years of Portuguese decolonization (Intellect Books, 2003).
  • MacQueen, Norrie. The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire (1997).
  • MacQueen, Norrie. "Belated Decolonization and UN Politics against the Backdrop of the Cold War: Portugal, Britain, and Guinea-Bissau's Proclamation of Independence, 1973–1974." Journal of Cold War Studies 8.4 (2006): 29–56.
  • Springhall, John. Decolonization since 1945: the collapse of European overseas empires (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001).