Path · Portugal · History
The country that faced the sea
From caravels to 1755
A small kingdom wedged between Spain and the ocean, and it picks the ocean. This chapter follows the caravels down the coast of Africa to the Indies, the line drawn on a map to share out a world nobody had seen yet, then the morning when Lisbon falls in a few minutes. Every lesson starts from the texts of the time.
Context first
This one opens without an account, and it is read before the lessons.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this path
- 1How Lisbon opened the route to the IndiesLisbon didn’t open the route to the Indies in one go: sixty-four years of staircase, from Cape Bojador in 1434 to Calicut in 1498. And the first Portuguese sent ashore summed it up: Christians and spices.8 min
- 2Tordesillas, a world cut in twoIt wasn’t the pope who split the world: his 1493 bull granted lands to Castile alone. The split came a year later, when John II wrenched it out king to kings, pushing the line from 100 to 370 leagues. Rome only confirmed it in 1506.8 min
- 31755, the day Lisbon shookOn 1 November 1755, Lisbon shakes, sees the river surge, then burns for days. Nobody agrees on the time or the death toll. But by 1756 every parish is being questioned: the earthquake becomes an investigation.8 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from a brief and from period sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives and museum websites. A fact that cannot be tied to one of them does not get written. The sources are listed under each lesson, linked directly.
The rhythm
A lesson takes five minutes, four questions at the end, then a review the next day, at three days, seven, twenty-one and sixty. It is that spaced return that makes what you read stay. One a day is enough, and nothing stops you doing several.