Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire was one of the earliest overseas empires. There are several reasons for its early colonial flourishing: Hemmed in territorially on all sides by territories controlled by Castille, Portugal had nowhere to expand besides seawards. This resulted in the first and largest colonial empire of the 16th century.
In East Africa, small Islamic states along the coast of Mozambique, Kilwa, Brava and Mombasa were destroyed or became subjects or allies of Portugal. Pedro de Covilham had reached Abyssinia as early as 1490. In the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, one of Cabral's ships discovered Madagascar (1501), which was partly explored by Triste da Cunha (1507); Mauritius was discovered in 1507, Socotra occupied in 1506, and in the same year D. Lourenço d'Almeida visited Ceylon.
Expansion to the Far East
At the height of its power, the Portuguese Empire had bases in west Africa, India and Japan. Its major colonies were in Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea, Portuguese India, São Tomé and Príncipe, Macau, Cape Verde, and Portuguese Timor.
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