Special features of the Portuguese colonial expansion of the XV–XVI centuries

Abstract

The overview of the causes of the early colonial conquests of Portugal was carried out by using the basic scientific methods of historical research and analyzing sources and literature. The Portuguese expansion was not caused by immediate needs of its economic development unlike the colonial expansion of England and Holland. The article attempts to understand the specifics of Portuguese colonialism and the historical conditions in which it developed. Colonial expansion was carried out in the interests and under the leadership of the fidalgu (nobles). Consequently, the enormous funds coming from the colonies were not spent on the development of production, but on the strengthening of the feudal organization of society. Special attention is paid to the discovery of the sea route to India in 1498, because after that Portugal became a leading world power, controlling the most important trade routes linking Europe and Asia. The novelty of the study can be seen in the fact that the considered topic was a prologue to globalization and the creation of a single world market, and Portugal was at the origins of this process, providing a basis of Western European expansion to the East. Portugal was able to build an empire, controlling vast territories located in the Indian Ocean basin, but could not retain the palm, finding limited material and human resources. The study of Portuguese expansion leads to the conclusion that there were several reasons that influenced the phenomenon of Portuguese colonialism: subjective internal and objective external. Some of these reasons are highlighted in this article.