Portugal was one of the two earliest European colonial powers, with its neighbour Spain. It started with expeditions sponsored by the Portuguese crown to find new commerce routes with the Far East. The Magellan expedition famously circled the globe for the first time in 1521. Over time, their alliances with local tribes with which they established trading posts turned to treaties of protection or annexation of lands.
By 1800, although some of their earlier possessions in the Middle East and the Far East had been captured by other powers, Portugal still retained two crown jewels in Brazil and India. Their possessions in Africa were going to expand all the way to the end of the 19th Century, with the possession of Mozambique and Angola in Austral Africa.
While Brazil became an independent nation in 1822, Portugal was able to keep most of their other possessions until the second half of the 20th Century. The last episode was the retrocession of Macau to China in 1999. Today, the only overseas possessions of Portugal are the Azores and Madeira.
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The Portuguese Colonial Empire in 1800
