Page 81 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2023 LISBON EDITION

eography played a leading country as a dominant global empire and eco-
role in shaping Portugal nomic powerhouse stretching from Asia to the
and Lisbon. The Atlantic Americas. The Portuguese made 70 percent of
G Ocean guards the coun- European discoveries during those years. Portu-
try’s south and west perimeters, gal’s small population made it impossible to col-
while its north and east borders onize and maintain all territories it discovered,
push against the rugged Pyrenees including Greenland, Newfoundland, and Aus-
and Spain. These buffers set this tralia, which were eventually colonized by other
small country apart politically, cul- nations.
turally, and economically from the Some of the most famous Portuguese explor-
rest of Europe. Also, its long At- ers include Ferdinand Magellan, who led five
lantic coast - a geographic wild card Spanish ships and 251 men on the first voyage
- facilitated its historic global explo- around the world, and Vasco da Gama, who dis-
ration, colonization, and national covered the sea route to India in 1497 and
identity. Brazil in 1500. Other notable explorers include
The influence of foreign invaders is Bartolomeu Dias, the first European to lead a
clear everywhere in the country. voyage around the Cape of Good Hope on tip of
Portugal has been occupied on and South Africa and Pedro Alvares Cabral, the first
off since 3000 BC when the Lusita- European to explore Brazil in 1500.
nians first settled the Douro Valley The nationality of a few explorers is still a
near present-day Porto. They matter of conflict. Opinions differ on whether
spread through much of the Iberian Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who discovered my
Peninsula mixing with Celtic tribes hometown of San Diego in 1542, was Spanish or
that arrived around 1000 BC. Portuguese. He named this area San Miguel af-
The Romans invaded the penin- ter one of his ships, but 60 years later, Se-
sula 800 years later, establishing bastián Vizcaíno, a Spaniard, rediscovered the
towns at the present-day sites of port and renamed it after a saint, San Diego, in
Porto, Evora, and Lisbon. Lusitania, 1602. Cabrillo, however, got the last laugh: The
as they called the country, was vital city reenacts his landing every year during the
to the empire because its rich farm- Cabrillo Festival at the Cabrillo Monument at
land helped feed its armies. Ger- the tip of Point Loma. Vizcaino does not have a
manic tribes invaded in the fifth and monument or a festival.
sixth centuries,followed by the Another nationality dispute surrounds per-
Moors from North Africa, who ruled haps the most famous explorer, Christopher
Portugal until it emerged as an in- Columbus. Some claim he was Portuguese, not
dependent state in 1140. Italian, but most scholars believe he was born in
Spain was a thorn in the country’s Genoa. But he did have deep roots in Portugal.
side for hundreds of years as it tried In his 20s, he went to Lisbon to attend
to subjugate its smaller neighbor, mariners’ school and began his career as a
but Portugal finally broken Spain’s sailor in the Portuguese merchant marine. On a
hold in 1640. Each occupier left an buying expedition to the Portuguese Island of
indelible mark, physically and cul- Madeira, he met and married Filipa Perestrelo,
turally, in art, architecture, language, religion, who bore him a son. When she passed away,
traditions, and cuisine. Columbus and his son returned to Spain, where
The 14th and 15th centuries were Portugal’s he discovered the New World and prove that it
golden Age of Discovery, establishing the tiny was indeed round.

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