The impact of the Portuguese Age of Discovery on modern world history cannot be overstated. In 1500, the expedition of Pedro Álvares Cabral was blown off course on its way to India and reached the shores of Brazil. From 1497 to 1510, the Portuguese established supremacy in the Indian Ocean, in the face of stiff opposition from Muslim and Hindu rivals. Seeking to establish direct trade links with Asia, in 1497 a fleet under the command of Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape to India, followed by yearly expeditions. From 1415, Portuguese merchants and mariners explored the coasts of western Africa, reaching the Cape of Good Hope in the 1480s. Margaret Small is lecturer in early modern history at the University of Birmingham, with a focus on European exploration and colonisation in the 16th century François Soyer: “The Portuguese took the decisive first steps in the creation of a lasting European stranglehold on world trade”Īs the first monarchy to send explorers beyond the geographical limits of Europe, Portugal can claim the title of initiator of the so-called Age of Exploration. In a sense, our modern world is built on the back of the changes introduced by the European Age of Exploration – so it becomes a question of judgement on the modern world. The Age of Exploration provided opportunities for societies and cultures to interact it brought all parts of the world into contact with each other, paving the way for the globalised economies we see today it enabled a knowledge network to extend across the whole globe. Considering the issue from a global perspective rather than a regional one, it becomes more of a philosophical question.
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