Portuguese Atlantic expansion

Refers to Portugal’s maritime exploration and colonial expansion into the Atlantic world, particularly during the 15th–16th centuries, encompassing its voyages down the African coast and across the ocean and the commercial, political, and religious forces that drove and constrained them.

Claims that use this term

• Portuguese Atlantic exploration depended on Muslim and Italian navigational expertise
• Anti-Muslim antagonism, not commerce alone, drove Portuguese Atlantic expansion
• Portuguese Atlantic expansion was constrained by dependence on Genoese-Flemish commercial capital