During the 15th and 16th centuries, with a
global empire that included possessions in
Africa,
Asia, and
South America, Portugal was one of the world's major economic, political and military powers. It was then united with Spain during a period called the
Iberian Union. Although Portugal did not lose its formal independence, it was governed by the same monarch who governed
Spain, briefly forming a
union of kingdoms, as a
personal union; The joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of a separate foreign policy, and led to the involvement in the
Eighty Years War being fought in Europe at the time between Spain and The Netherlands. War led to a deterioration of the relations with Portugal's oldest ally, and the loss of Hormuz. From 1595 to 1663 the
Dutch-Portuguese War primarily involved the Dutch companies invading many Portuguese
colonies and commercial interests in Brazil, Africa, India and the Far East, resulting in the loss of the Portuguese Indian Sea trade monopoly.
In 1640,
John IV spearheaded an uprising backed by disgruntled nobles and was proclaimed king. The
Portuguese Restoration War between Portugal and Spain on the aftermath of the 1640 revolt, ended the sixty-year period of the
Iberian Union under the
House of Habsburg. This was the beginning of the
House of Braganza. John IV was a beloved monarch, a patron of fine art and music, and a proficient composer and writer on musical subjects. He collected one of the largest libraries in the world. The current king,
Pedro II has not only inherited his brother's throne but also married his wife, Queen
Marie-Françoise of Savoy (1646 +1683). They had one daughter, Princess
Isabella Louise (1669-90), princess of Beira and heiress-presumptive, a.k.a
"a Sempre-Noiva" (
the ever-engaged), because of the many marriage projects intended for her that were never completed. The Queen, apparently incapable of birthing more offspring, died as late as in 1683, 14 years after Isabella's birth, and because the Princess was a fragile and sick child, the King decided to marry again. In the 17th century the Portuguese emigrated in large numbers to Brazil. By 1709,
John V prohibited emigration, since Portugal had lost a sizable fraction of its population. Brazil was elevated to a vice-kingdom.
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I'm quite new here.
Originally Posted by Nizam
