Portuguese Nation and Spanish Empire in the Sixteenth Century

This chapter shows how the transition into the early modern period for the Portuguese was carried by a process of overseas extension—into the Atlantic basin and then into the Indian Ocean and seas of Asia. It was accompanied by fundamental transformations of their cultural makeup and political arrangements. Each of these entwined around the other, and all were tightly raveled to the history of what would become, over the course of the 16th century, Europe's first modern empire—the universal monarchy of Spain.

Ancient history · Art · Economic history · Empire · Geography · Monarchy · Period (music) · Political science · Politics · Portuguese · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · History · Law · Philosophy