The Portuguese Atlantic project began as a plan to conquer Moorish North Africa
Evidence
In 1411, when Portugal had arrived at an unaccustomed state of complete peace, Joao of Avis adopted a suggestion of his English-born queen, Philippa: to maintain the momentum of the national economy, he would send an armed expedition to North Africa. Joao and Philippa envisioned a conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Fez, thus opening the way for a Portuguese penetration, by land, of Prester John’s kingdom, somewhere in the heart of Africa. With Prester John’s cooperation, perhaps, a new spice route could be established, with caravans crossing Africa from Morocco to the Red Sea and bringing pepper and cloves to Lisbon. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 484
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
Related
- Portugal’s African expansion aimed to reach the fabled Christian king Prester John (similarity 0.90)
- Portuguese Atlantic expansion was constrained by dependence on Genoese-Flemish commercial capital (similarity 0.83)
- Portuguese Atlantic exploration depended on Muslim and Italian navigational expertise (similarity 0.82)
- Pious and commercial motives fused in the Portuguese imperial venture (similarity 0.79)
- Anti-Muslim antagonism, not commerce alone, drove Portuguese Atlantic expansion (similarity 0.78)
- Portugal monopolized the Atlantic slave trade until 1570 (similarity 0.78)