P O R T U G A L I T Y

In 1434, Portugal had less than one million inhabitants. Yet, the tiny nation, cornered between the ocean and the kingdom of Castille, launched into an oceanic adventure that forever changed the world and mankind.

Cape Bojador (as it's spelt in Portuguese), a bend in the African coast in what is now Western Sahara, was surrounded by shallow waters and sharp reefs. 5 kms into the ocean, water depth was no more than 2 meters because of sand blown from the desert. The surf in there reminded those early navigators of boiling water. This is the place where the winds change making it impossible to sail southwards along the coastline. Sailors believed that beyond was the end of the world packed with monsters and sure death. Bojador was the cape of fear.

15 expeditions were sent there by Prince Henry the Navigator, a hero of the Portuguese conquest of Ceuta and son of King John I and Lady Philippa of Lancaster, whose marriage sealed the political alliance between Portugal and England, the longest lasting in the world of today. It took Prince Henry all his persuasion power to get yet another expedition to Bojador. He convinced his squire, Gil Eanes, to go there one last time and try something new. Gil Eanes took one lone 30 ton. boat with a single mast, a round sail and deck cover and sailed southwards from the city of Lagos in Algarve in May. When near Bojador, instead of forcing south like all 15 before him, he sailed due west until no more land was seen. After a full day of sailing he came onto a zone with soft breezes blowing southeast and he took the same direction. When he sighted land again he knew he had passed the cape of fear.

Africa was then open for exploration and in the next 200 years, the Portuguese established a trade empire going from Brazil all the way to Japan and the Isles of Spice (Indonesia). Diogo Cão explored the Coast of Gold (Ghana) and the Kingdom of Congo (Zaire), Bartolomeu Dias proved there was a connection between the Atlantic and Indian oceans in 1488, Vasco da Gama established the trade route to India in 1498, Pedro Alvares Cabral took possession of Brazil for the Portuguese King in 1500, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Ormuz in 1507, Goa in 1510, Melaka in 1511 and started the first contacts with the Moluccas islands in 1512 and China in 1513, Fernão de Magalhães became in 1522 the first man to sail around the world, João Rodrigues Cabrilho sailed into the San Diego Bay in 1542 and Fernão Mendes Pinto was the first European to visit Japan in 1544.

The 1 million strong nation secured a world empire for the next 500 years, one that ended with the return of Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999. But the political empire was survived by the cultural empire, one that still exists today, crystallized around the 240 million speakers of Portuguese around the world and the many monuments and remains scattered around the world, testifying to the extreme diversity of the mix generated from the encounter of Portuguese culture with the cultures of the world.

The Facebook group page Portugality (bi-lingual) was created and has been administered to serve as the meeting point for people who are today the living evidence of this improbable adventure in Universal History, to know about each other and to raise awareness about the common heritage we share and keep for mankind.

This webpage will serve as a repository of information about the built heritage still existing today all over the world, which testifies to the presence of the Portuguese and their influence in architecture, art, religion and civil organization. Here, organized by geographies, will be detailed locations of all places where the heritage built by the Portuguese can be found, resources as to the history, pictures and drawings of each one. To achieve this, I will use information readily available in the Internet and will make every effort to ensure proper credits are given. If, however, you feel that intellectual property has been infringed in any way, please contact me and I will immediately proceed to set it right. The work in this project will be long-winded and subject to error, as many sources' accuracy will be difficult to confirm. I will, therefore, welcome all information, suggestions and corrections you feel inclined to send. I will also welcome any help you may wish to volunteer, as I can only devote work to Portugality in my free time.