History of Portugal facts

Sea route to India. Bartolomeu Dias originally named the Cape of Good Hope the "Cape of Storms" (Cabo das Tormentas). It was later renamed (by King John II of Portugal) the Cape of Good Hope because it represented the opening of a route to the east.

It was destroyed by earthquake. The convent was ruined in the 1755 Great Lisbon Earthquake, which destroyed the city, killed possibly 100.000 of its inhabitants and disrupted the colonial ambitions of Portugal. The church was left unrestored to remind the tragedy.

Portugal. On November 29,1807, Braganza royal family and its court of nearly 15,000 people escaped from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, shortly before Napoleonic forces invaded Lisbon. For thirteen years, Rio de Janeiro functioned as the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal.

Portugal. Prince Henry the Navigator was fascinated with Africa, which his fleet explored; most intrigued by the Christian legend of Prester John, whose lost kingdom he hoped to find. Under his direction, a new ship was developed, the caravel, which could sail further and faster than the contemporary ships of the Mediterranean.

In 12th century. Even though king's nickname may suggest the era when Portuguese colonies were established, Sancho I actually ruled Portugal long before that - from 1185 to 1211. He populated remote areas of northern Portugal, notably with Flemish and Burgundian settlers - hence the nickname.

Lusitania or Hispania Lusitana was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal and part of western Spain lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people.