Portuguese History, Portuguese Empire and Historical Figures

[Golden Iberian]

This is Elmina Castle, in present-day Ghana. It was built by the Portuguese in 1482 and remains the oldest European building still standing south of the Sahara. In 1478, the Portuguese defeated a nearby Castilian navy while fighting for control of trade in Africa.

[Golden Iberian]

Perspective of Lisbon from Almada - 1750 (5 years before the Great Earthquake)

[Golden Iberian]

Maximum Length of the Portuguese Empire

[Golden Iberian]

Number of Notable People from 1000 to 1850 per capita and the World's Best Countries for Cultural Heritage Influence

[Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas]

I've always thought that the Netherlands and Portugal would be among the most notable European countries in terms of their size over the last millennium. Nice to see a chart that backs this up.

[Golden Iberian]

I've always thought that the Netherlands and Portugal would be among the most notable European countries in terms of their size over the last millennium. Nice to see a chart that backs this up.

And is considered one of those that had the greatest impact on Western civilization, to the point of being considered hegemonic throughout part of history.

[Golden Iberian]

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Portuguese Empire of the East, or Estado da Índia ("State of India"), with its capital in Goa, included possessions (as subjected areas with a certain degree of autonomy) in all the Asian sub-continents, East Africa, and Pacific.

[Golden Iberian]

Gualdim Pais and the Foundation of the City of Tomar
March 1, 1160 - Day of the Foundation of Tomar



Today marks 864 years since the TEMPLAR MASTER GUALDIM PAIS founded what would become the future headquarters of the Order of the Temple in Portugal. After the conquest of Santarém and as a reward for their services in the conquest of the territory from the Moors, D. Afonso Henriques donated to the Templars the castle and lands of Ceras (near Tomar) in 1159, to which the castles of Almourol and Pombal were later added.

Upon arriving in the region to take possession of the castle of Ceras, the warrior-monks of the Temple preferred, however, to settle on the hill opposite the old Selium. In 1160, D. Gualdim Pais founded on that hill, located near the banks of the river Nabão, the castle that would be the headquarters of the Order, as well as the town that would be called Tomar.

Gualdim Pais had been a former comrade-in-arms of D. Afonso Henriques, having, at the age of 21, participated in the battle of Ourique, where he was knighted. He then left as a crusader for Palestine, where he distinguished himself in the important battle of Ascalon and in the capture of Sidon. He was said to have been at the siege of Gaza and performed legendary feats. In the Holy Land, he joined the Order of the Temple, where his merits led him to ascend to high positions in the Templar hierarchy. Inspired by the inner spirit of the Order and imbued with its dual mission, material and spiritual, he returned as a warrior-monk to Portugal, being appointed commander in Braga and later in Sintra, under the mastership of D. Pedro Arnaldo. When the latter resigned in 1157, Gualdim Pais became master of the Order of the Temple in Portugal.

D. Afonso Henriques held a deep appreciation for the Master of the Order, and it was no coincidence that in 1157 he donated many goods to Gualdim Pais, passing the following year a charter of immunity to the Order of the Temple. Thus, among the vast lands he owned was Ceras, near the ancient Nabância, with all its vast territory, from the Mondego to the Tagus, running along the line of the Zêzere. As the castle of Ceras, near Tomar, was in ruins, Gualdim Pais opted for the construction of a new fortress in Tomar. He planned to establish the main headquarters of the Order there, which until then had been in Braga. It was on March 1, 1160, that Gualdim laid the first stone for the construction of the castle of Tomar, the future headquarters of the Order of the Temple in Portugal.

[Golden Iberian]

Gualdim Pais and the Foundation of the City of Tomar
March 1, 1160 - Day of the Foundation of Tomar



Today marks 864 years since the TEMPLAR MASTER GUALDIM PAIS founded what would become the future headquarters of the Order of the Temple in Portugal. After the conquest of Santarém and as a reward for their services in the conquest of the territory from the Moors, D. Afonso Henriques donated to the Templars the castle and lands of Ceras (near Tomar) in 1159, to which the castles of Almourol and Pombal were later added.

Upon arriving in the region to take possession of the castle of Ceras, the warrior-monks of the Temple preferred, however, to settle on the hill opposite the old Selium. In 1160, D. Gualdim Pais founded on that hill, located near the banks of the river Nabão, the castle that would be the headquarters of the Order, as well as the town that would be called Tomar.

Gualdim Pais had been a former comrade-in-arms of D. Afonso Henriques, having, at the age of 21, participated in the battle of Ourique, where he was knighted. He then left as a crusader for Palestine, where he distinguished himself in the important battle of Ascalon and in the capture of Sidon. He was said to have been at the siege of Gaza and performed legendary feats. In the Holy Land, he joined the Order of the Temple, where his merits led him to ascend to high positions in the Templar hierarchy. Inspired by the inner spirit of the Order and imbued with its dual mission, material and spiritual, he returned as a warrior-monk to Portugal, being appointed commander in Braga and later in Sintra, under the mastership of D. Pedro Arnaldo. When the latter resigned in 1157, Gualdim Pais became master of the Order of the Temple in Portugal.

D. Afonso Henriques held a deep appreciation for the Master of the Order, and it was no coincidence that in 1157 he donated many goods to Gualdim Pais, passing the following year a charter of immunity to the Order of the Temple. Thus, among the vast lands he owned was Ceras, near the ancient Nabância, with all its vast territory, from the Mondego to the Tagus, running along the line of the Zêzere. As the castle of Ceras, near Tomar, was in ruins, Gualdim Pais opted for the construction of a new fortress in Tomar. He planned to establish the main headquarters of the Order there, which until then had been in Braga. It was on March 1, 1160, that Gualdim laid the first stone for the construction of the castle of Tomar, the future headquarters of the Order of the Temple in Portugal.

THE NEW MISSION OF THE KNIGHTS OF CHRIST

The Portuguese expansion was not the work of chance, but rather the fruit of initiatic Orders, fundamentally that of the Templars. For this purpose, superior souls from various places flocked to Portugal, where they developed their activity in initiatic centers guarded by monastic-military Orders.

In the first decades of the existence of the Order of Christ, former Templar knights built shipyards in Lisbon, entered into ship maintenance contracts, and developed nautical technology. At the same time, they prepared plans to return to action, circumventing Africa by sea and, allied with Eastern Christians, expelling the Moors from the spice trade.

The new cavalry of Christ continued the plan that had already been prepared in Portugal by the Templar Order. The action and mission of the Order of Christ would have not only a temporal but also, and above all, a spiritual character. The new Order was responsible for expansion, settlement, and the realization of the Empire of the Holy Spirit, thus giving a new spiritual and universal dimension to the old Templar joaninism.

Moreover, the Portuguese idea of the Fifth Spiritual and Universal Empire, incomprehensible to the materialistic and consumeristic minds of the present historical moment, represented for our ancestors, true giants carrying the Portuguese soul, a great ideal that they tirelessly strove to fulfill, "giving new worlds to the world and if there were more land…".

[Golden Iberian]

It can be said that the history of the world and its nations is the biography of great men. Luis Vaz de Camões lost an eye fighting the Moors in Ceuta, in 1552 he was arrested for wounding a member of the Court with a sword. In Cambodia, after fighting in other wars after imprisonment, the Portuguese poet survived a shipwreck - and it is reported that he swam to shore with just one hand, holding his magnum opus "Os Lusíadas" in the other.