From the Tower of Belém: a Portuguese AAR

[Hastu Neon]

Is still anyone out there reading my AAR?
Views are quite encouraging, but I would say that comments, advises and feedbacks are always welcome by writAARs...

 

[unmerged(29041)]

I am returning your courtesy.

I like it very much, with a lot of history inside. Edutainment at its best.
I find the type a little hard to read, but that's probably me.
How did you end up with the Canary islands?. Is this an AGCEEP funny event? I don't see it being funny.

I personally like some dialogs from time to time, even if short, so people can empathise with the characters. But you have your own style.

Isabel's mother was portuguese and that was her first language. She was always kind to the portuguese and gave them a fair treatment after winning the civil war. Her grandson could have united the crowns of Castile, Aragon and Portugal, and created an alternate history with a united peninsula expanding over half of the world and keeping out of those silly european war religions of the stupid Habsburgs. A pity he died of fevers.

 

[Hastu Neon]

Thanks, Fodoron. My "historic" AAR style is going to change from the next, I want to experiment a more narrative style in the future, perhaps with CK or Victoria. I wanted to write a Portuguese AAR as if it was an history book with society and economy changes well explained.

Canary Islands are a good picking up. Rich sugar plantations, 7-8th level colony which need just one/two colonists to become Portuguese-cultured, but give Castile/Spain a permanent CB against you!

 

[Hastu Neon]

Chapter 8: "The years that change Europe" (1474-1481)​

In 1474, the same year that Isabel I inherits the throne of Castile after his brother Henry IV's death, the brotherhood among Iberian countries seems to be temporarily restored by Juan II, who has a quiet mood completely different from his aggressive predecessor Alfons V. For a while, Aragon, Castile, Portugal come together again, despite the bad relationship between Portugal and Castile for the dynastic litigation around Princess Juana, who, gone married to King Afonso V in 1475, has just lost to Isabel I her birthrights to the crown. Anyway the alliance hopefully survives in the turmoil caused by the convoluted chain of events that rewrite European map in the following years. The spark is represented in 1474 by the sneak attack of Charles I le Temerarie, Duke of Burgundy, supported by his Provencal and Genoese allies, against the Northern Aragonese territories. This episode provokes the angry reaction of King Louis XI of France, who takes the chance to grab Rene' de Anjou lands in Provence. In the meantime, Italian rebels in Apulia break up and set an independent State claiming to be the legitimate Kingdom of Naples.

Afonso V, now 42 years old and thus far young and strong to wage war, leaves Lisbon with his expeditionary force of 12.000 men, reach Sicily, still loyal to Aragon and pass the Strait of Messina to lay siege to Taranto, the town where the rebellious government has been established. On 7 June 1475 King Afonso V - from that time forth known as the "Besieger", considering also his previous captures of Tangiers and Barcelona - enters the city and with a separate peace sets Apulia as a Portuguese satellite state gaining a tribute of 50 ducats (the puppet state wouldn't last for long, being annexed later by the Spaniards).

The subjugation of Italian rebels is a secondary event in the surrounding turmoil. When Charles I le Temerarie dies in battle leaving only his daughter Mary as heiress, the collapse of Burgundy consents Louis XI to seize almost all its French-speaking provinces, whereas Aragon takes Roussillon and Bearn and Castile Zeeland. Then Mary gets married to Maximilian Hapsburg and thus ends the autonomy of the glorious Ducky of Burgundy. Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, holding a great part of Northern Italy, claims himself as King of Italy in 1477 ("wow! AI manages to form Italy"). In 1478 the Iberian Wedding is consumed and Isabel y Fernando sit together on the throne of Spain, even if Aragon survives nominally as an independent Kingdom. In less than a couple of years, the Kingdoms of France, Spain and Italy have formed or just completed their unification and now are ready to step in European history.

The Kingdom of Italy​

Domestic situation in Portugal has been quite for a while, but in his last age Afonso V has become quite melancholic and suspicious. This wave of obscurantism provokes some riots in Algarve in 1479 against the inflexible King, who dies in Sintra in 1481. During his long reign, Portugal has become one of the leading nations of Europe, defeated Morocco taking Tangiers, discovered and settled Austral Africa and Brazil, took control with his merchants of the biggest European trade hubs in Europe. Will his son Joao II match up to the father?

---

Hi all, having played some years more, I can say you we're just at the beginning of a turbulent period! Wars, sieges and heroic resistance will come back after next week end! (I'm taking a breath with this AAR) Keep on reading!

 

[stnylan]

Just read through, having recently completed a 1.05 game myself with very similar house-rules. It'll be interesting to see how the different game versions compare.

 

[Hastu Neon]

King Joao II

Chapter 9: "A disgraceful defeat" (1481-1489)​

Few months before dying Afonso V engaged Portugal, Spain and Aragon in a war against the decadent Moorish Kingdom of Granada for a questionable dispute over maritime boundaries. Thus his son Joao II, who becomes the fourteenth King of Portugal after his father death on 29 August 1481, finds himself to lead a country already busy in a conflict. An obvious start for the man who will be incessantly at war for the remainder of his life. The conflict with Granada proves to be an easy walk for three joint Iberian powers. The latest Moorish leaders are not worthy the shadows of their predecessors and the only action they can do is begging for mercy. Joint forces soon take Gibraltar and besiege Granada, but the hunger of Spanish Catholic Kings, who have taken Gibraltar after a siege conducted by the Portuguese, harms the spirit of the alliance, supposed to be a pact among peers. When in 1483 the Catholic Kings are going to replicate their sneak capture of Granada, Joao II is convinced to settle a quick peace with the Moorish for 75 ducats, just to avoid that the only beneficiary of the victory is Spain. Thus, apart the small tribute, the only effect of this war is the emergence of a defensive pact among Tlemcen, Morocco, Tunisia and Tripoli, alarmed by the renewed Christian aggressiveness, exploded on this side of the Mediterranean after thirty years since the last Moroccan War. Their belief is right, because when the Sultanates of Tlemcen and Tunisia join together few months later, King Joao II uses such casus belli and in April 1483 launches his own Crusade against Tlemcen, Morocco and Tripoli.

This conflict will be recorded in the annals as one of the worst pages of Portuguese military history for both the poor guide of the generals and the lack of support by the Aragonese (Spain won't even join the war): the first successes of the troops invading Fez from Tangiers charge of unjustified optimism the nation, that is suddenly awaken by the failed assault on Moroccan capital in summer 1483. Things go from good to bad in few months: after the retreat from Fez, more soldiers need to be recruited to defend Tangiers against a number of Infidels which begins to appear gigantic to King Joao II. The conquest of a Moroccan trading post in Mdenna is futile when compared with the defeat of Tangiers, which forces the navy to intervene to rescue on board the miserable remnants of the defenders. Joao II starts feeling the poor condition of his forces and raises war taxes to build a new army, but he can't avoid the fall of Tangiers in the hands of the infidels on 14 June 1484, partially compensated by the conquests in Southern Morocco, where Portuguese forces manage to capture Antiatlas and Sahara.

In 1486 one of the most admirable episodes of this unfortunate war takes place in Tangiers, where 7.000 young Portuguese defeat 21.000 Infidels and temporarily retake the city, whereas the enemies strike back burning the ancient trading post in Tassaret, which is then colonised by the English. Two more wars come in 1488: Spanish Catholic Kings assault Granada, taking Gibraltar and reducing the Moorish Kingdom to a mere protectorate, whereas Aragon attacks Genoa and its English supporters. The loyalty of Joao II to his allies has a high cost, because the King of Portugal is forced to break the dynastic links with the Tudor House of Henry VII. The involvement in the war against Genoa and England would not represent the last complication for Joao II. Despite the successful occupation of Tassaret, other theatres of war present a critical situation: Morocco has recaptured Tangiers but what is worse is the severe naval defeat of the Gulf of Almeria, where on 25 February 1489 a joint Muslim and English armada annihilate 1/4 of all the Royal Navy. When also the conquests in Southern Morocco vanish for the heavy predominance of the Infidels, time has gone for an humiliating peace treaty, concluded with the Sultan of Tlemcen on 17 December 1489: Tangiers has to be given back to Morocco!

 

[unmerged(29041)]

Revenge is a dish better served cold. Just wait until the right time. Morocco is strong in the beginning. It usually eats Fez for breakfast.

 

[Hastu Neon]

Chapter 10: "Mars' triumph" (1490-1495)​

The end of the clash against the Muslim potentates on the Northern coast of Africa does not mean the end of troubles for the gloomy Portugal of Joao II's reign. A war against Genoa and England is still to be fought and the inhabitants of the Kingdom understand this detail when English forces, undisturbed by a Portuguese navy in miserable conditions, go ashore in the mainland and, as they are not enough to siege the good defences of the towns, start to plunder the countryside. In a climax of troubles, the Spaniards understand they can play a role in the difficult condition of Portugal and claim Joao II's throne attacking in January 1491 a vulnerable country, supported only by the loyal Aragonese fellow, who breaks their status of vassalage against Spain.

Thanks God, the best (and last) energy of a nation comes out in these circumstances, and the war the arrogant Catholic Kings have proclaimed in such a treacherous way will prove to be a shameful defeat for them. The strategy put into practice by Joao II is successful: while Portuguese navy benefits from its superiority defeating in a number of battles the heavy and slow Spanish vessels and blockading their ports, the Aragonese land troops engage the enemy in a series of skirmishes which do not change the course of war. Frankly speaking, after a while the Catholic Kings turn their attention towards the conclusion of the Reconquista when also Granada breaks the vassalage with them and in few months draws to a close an 800 years-long history of Moorish presence in Iberia, finally gobbled in 1491 by the Spanish crusaders.

After the capture of Granada, Spain seems to be reverted to a better mood towards its Christian neighbours. Portuguese navy has wiped out theirs, Aragonese army has seized Taranto, thus they willingly accept Joao II's peace proposal in 1492, agreeing to pay a small 50 ducats tribute. In the same months, also the war against England and Genoa ends with no remarkable outcomes. Just in time for the first colonial conflict of Portuguese history, when in March 1492 Indian potentates of Vijayanagar, Mysore, Orissa and Rajputana assault Portuguese trading post in Mangalore (Zero Badboy for Portugal, very strange attack!) and destroy it few months later. When Joao II calls for support the Kingdom of Aragon, they refuse to assist him and ally with Spain, as the dynastic link between Isabel y Fernando would suggest.

A rush for the navy among Cape Verde colonists allows the construction of a small flotilla to be sent in India in 1494, but when in February 1495 Joao II sends envoys in all the main courts of Europe to break the diplomatic isolation he has been trapped in by the infidelity of the Kingdom of Aragon, he does not find nothing better than an alliance with the Kingdom of Italy, the Pope and the Ducky of Bavaria. A wrong move, considering that they are already at war against England and Genoa and the participation to the alliance forces him to break a previous truce with them. Thus, after two years of a fragile peace, Portugal finds itself again at war, when suddenly Joao II dies as he lived, in a melancholic day of October, without the chance to give peace to his beloved people after a life spent on the battlefields…

How would the country appear during the years of Mars' triumph? Production has been trimmed down by the long-lasting wars and the pillage of the countryside perpetrated by occupying armies, in few years the demands of the magnates for higher pensions and benefits, requests that obviously cannot be suited by a King in troubles with all those wars, bring stability down to the minimum, merchants on the way to Genoa and Thrace - preferred centres of trade for Portuguese domestic and colonial products - have been stopped and harassed by enemy flotillas. Royal treasurers must go beyond their ability to balance a budget depressed by huge military spending. Except for spontaneous gifts to State, as the one in 1492 rich of 100 ducats, the only way to finance the raising and maintenance of armies is through an inflationary money production, which will bring the cost of life to nearly 20%. But Portugal is still alive, with the second strongest navy in Europe and one of the best naval and commercial knowledge, with vast colonial possessions untouched by the wars and out of reach for all the other European navies and eventually with the consciousness distinctive of a people that has just fought for his homeland against stronger enemies.

 

[Hastu Neon]

The explorer Bartolomeu Diaz

Chapter 11: "A flashback about the voyages of Cristovao Colombo, Bartolomeu Diaz and others" (1483-1495)​

Despite being completely occupied in warfare, Joao II restores Prince Enrique's inheritance, funding during his reign some of the greatest explorers of European history and reinvigorating the colonisation of the new lands under the Crown. Diogo Cao in his short but dynamic career completes the voyage in Austral Africa uncovering the coastal lands surrounding the province of Karroo and settling trading posts in Gambia, Casamance (where he stationed in 1483 on the way to Austral Africa), Inhambane and Table, for the most part dedicated to the filthy but lucrative trade of slaves.

Joao's best bet is Cristovao Colombo, an Italian navigator who believes to be capable to reach China and Japan sailing at the North of the uncovered lands of Brazil passing by Caribbean Sea. His calculations would prove to be wrong, but his explorations will make him immortal. Joao II finances his first voyage in 1485 with a big investment of 100 ducats, and thus Colombo gets in the Caribbean Sea, until now considered by Portuguese seamen only a peripheral sea spotted by small insignificant islands, where only a trading post in Puerto Rico has been built in the previous decade. Once reached other small islands near Puerto Rico - the Westernmost land discovered by Rui de Sequeira - Colombo throws himself beyond and reach a bigger island, in the future known as Cuba. But in his calculations Colombo couldn't imagine that the way to Asia is completely barred by a continent which his voyages would prove to be immense. Looking for a channel he will never find, Colombo uncovers all the Caribbean Sea, establishing some trading posts in Curacao, Cartagena, Moron and Tortuga for the exploitation of sugar and tobacco. Then he circumnavigates the peninsula of Florida and goes North, always in search of a passage to get to the Indies, reaching Isle Royale in 1493.

The last great Joao's Admiral is Bartolomeu Diaz who since 1487 onward would sail off the Austral African possessions to explore the Indian Ocean. After reaching Antsirana, on the South coast of Madagascar, finding valuable sugar plantations he leaves few Portuguese there to start a trading post, whereas he continued on to the mainland to explore the provinces of Nampuia and Niassa and surrounding seas. But finally he will be committed to memory for his voyage to India, where his fleet gets on 12 February 1491 in the port of Mangalore, which will become the first European trading post in Asia.

Pedro da Covilha's expeditions in Brazil deserve a particular mention, not only for their importance in strengthening and enlarging the Dominion but also for the discovery of the periphery of Inca Empire. With few hundreds of Portuguese, he travels in the interior of the continent, sometimes getting on the coast to found a colony, as he does in Itaimas, where the first coffee plantation is established, or in Curitiba and Uruguay, where he founds Montevideo. Then he leaves the warm tropical climate to move in the unknown lands of Patagonia. However the hostility of natives in Chubut region forces him to return North. Probably, without this accident he wouldn't have discovered Inca Empire, just on the way back to Montevideo. But the lack of men and resources does not give the opportunity at the moment of an in-depth contact with this organised civilisation, the only one Europeans will find in the continent for a long.

 

[Hastu Neon]

Saint George Castle, Lisbon

Chapter 12: "The darkest hour" (1495-1499)​

In 1495, the 26 years old Manuel I, as first cousin of the heirless Joao II, inherits the Crown of Portugal in the middle of chaos. Stability is at its minimum and wars still go on again European and Indian nations. In his youth Manuel has witnessed the plans of the great aristocrats against the monarchic authority and during the early months of his reign the House of Avis seems to be near to its final collapse for the simultaneous strikes of domestic and foreign enemies. England and Genoa manage to capture respectively the archipelagos of Azores and Canary Islands, neither garrisoned nor defended by the navy, busy to patrol the coasts of mainland against any potential landing of enemy troops. A little bit of relief comes to Manuel only when France and Scotland suddenly attack their traditional English adversaries, taking away their attention to their homeland.

However, the hardest test for the new King has yet to come, when on 1st April 1497 the Catholic Kings ruling Spain and Aragon declare war upon Portugal, which is supported by Pope Alexander VI, the King of Italy Ludovico the Moor and the Duke of Bavaria. None knows the reasons of the attack: perhaps the dynastic will of Isabel y Fernando of uniting Iberia under their control, perhaps the richness of the Portuguese colonial possessions in the New Continent just discovered by the early Spanish explorers … Anyway, in a unusual speech on the biggest place of the capital, Manuel I calls his people for a patriotic war against the invaders, causing a large number of men to join the navy, adding five warships to the drained navy.

But the Spanish army has two decisive features on their own: the numbers and an experienced commander, the Old Duke of Alba. The siege of Porto starts soon after the declaration of war and on his third assault the Duke of Alba takes the town on 21 December 1497. It's the first time a Portuguese town fall in the hands of the enemy! Duke of Alba then moves to Lisbon, intended to conquer the capital and throw away the House of Avis from its legitimate throne in order to give it to the Catholic Kings. The legendary siege of Lisbon begins in February 1498; despite the chance to receive supplies by the sea, the city is on short rations and has to suffer every now and then the robust assaults of the Spanish army willing to capture the citadel of Sao Jorge on the top of the hill facing the centre of the capital, where King Manuel keeps on fighting with his last soldiers.

A declining garrison holds the fortress against recurring assaults of the Spaniards, when in the most hopeless 1st July 1498, with only 370 men defending the life and the honour of King Manuel after four months of siege, the Italian allies manage to capture the enemy city of Naples. Unhopefully, the important victory of the armies of Ludovico the Moor and Pope Alexander VI gives Manuel I the possibility of ending the war paying together with his valuable supporters only a tribute of 50 ducats to Spain and Aragon.

Three months later, with the overtired citizens of Porto revolting for the poor life conditions after the departure of the Spaniards, the last war of the century, specifically the one against Genoa and England, ends receiving the same amount of money paid out to the Catholic Kings.

Strangely enough, the darkest hour of Portugal marks the peak of its overseas exploration. The expeditions of Bartolomeu Diaz and Vasco da Gama in the Indian Ocean substantiate in a colossal success. In 1498, after the submission of the Sultan of Kilwa to the authority of the Admirals of Manuel I, the town of Mombasa, a precious seaport North of the rich centre of trade of Zanzibar, is annexed as part of the Kingdom of Portugal. A garrison of 10.000 men under the conquistador Altamira stays there to protect the interests of the Crown in those remote lands. The protectorate on the Sultan of Kilwa would not last too much because of the poor condition of the royal authority, besieged in his own capital, but the seeds for a Portuguese domain in the Indian Ocean have been laid down.

This seems to be incontrovertible taking in consideration the voyages of Diaz to Comorin Cape and his first contacts with the rich Sultanate of Oman and those of his worthy successor Vasco da Gama to the Ganges Delta, just in the middle of the Bay of Bengal. Also Altamira, commander of the Mombasa stronghold, would enrich with his expeditions in the interior of Africa the knowledge of that obscure continent.

If the Indian Ocean has deserved the most important efforts during the first years of Manuel's reign, the tenacious Cristovao Colombo and the young explorer Braga would complete in the same period the uncovering of the Atlantic Ocean. On his way for the "passage at North-West" to reach Asia, Colombo would be halted only by the permanent ices to the West of Greenland. On the way back to the ports in the Caribbean Sea, he would discover an English trading post in Manhattan, the first non-Portuguese presence in the northern part of this huge and promising land.

On the other side of the New Continent, now called "America" after the name of an Italian navigator under the Crown of Spain, Braga sails Southward, reaches Magellan Straits and in 1498 discovers Tierra del Fuego, the extreme Southern point of America. Behind the number of these famous and lucky men – in the early months of the new century Manuel I will have at his own service seven explorers (including Colombo, Diaz, Vasco da Gama and Cabral) and three conquistadors, probably an all-time record – a silent army of colons leave their country to establish new outposts, as those in Niteroi and Havana, making bigger and bigger an realm which encompasses now a great part of West and South Africa, Mombasa, the coastal provinces of Brazil and a cluster of stations in the Caribbean Sea. Three Dominions, administrated from Dakar, Sao Borge and Belem, rule on these lands.

 

[Hastu Neon]

As promised.

Chronology: 1400s, the Atlantic century​

1425-29 --- Fernando de Castro’s and Diego de Silves’ expeditions in West Africa funded by King Joao I and his son Prince Enrique

1433-38 --- During King Duarte's five years reign, Gil Eannes reaches Fernando Po

1438 --- King Duarte dies, starts the troubled regency of Pedro Duke of Coimbra upon Afonso V

1446 --- Alvaro Fernandez reaches the coasts of an unknown continent South-West of Cape Verde archipelago

1446-51 --- In King Afonso V's early adulthood, 2nd Moroccan War begins. Portugal conquers Tangiers

1452-53 --- War with Castile against Aragon

1453 --- Dakar is capital of the newly-established Portuguese West Africa

1455 --- Alvise Ca' da Mosto reaches and circumnavigate Cape of Good Hope

1458-59 --- Another conflict with Castile against Aragon, Afonso V captures Barcelona and receives a tribute

1462 --- Portuguese Austral Africa is established (Sao Borge in Karroo is first settlement), in the same year the first trading post is settled in Brazil

1473 --- Brazil, the third Portuguese overseas dominion, is established

1481-95 --- The warring reign of Joao II: in 14 years Portugal fights against Granada, North African Sultanates, England, Spain and Indian nations

1489 --- Tangiers is lost to Morocco in a disgraceful peace treaty

1490-92 --- Wars does not halt Portuguese explorations: Cristovao Colombo uncovers Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic, Bartolomeu Diaz reaches India, Pedro da Covilha makes contact with Inca Empire

1495 --- Manuel I succeeds his cousin Joao II

1497 --- Braga reaches Cape Horn

1497-98 --- During the Iberian War, the Spaniards under the Old Duke of Alba temporary take Porto and besiege Lisbon

1498 --- The Portuguese capture Mombasa and temporary subjugate the Sultanate of Kilwa, Altamira's guides an expedition in the interior of Eastern Africa

1499 --- On the way of his imaginary "North-West passage" to Asia Cristovao Colombo reaches Greenland and Hudson Bay

[Author]: When the connection with my pic-host resumes, I'll post some screenies about the situation of the known world as of 1st January 1500

 

[Hastu Neon]

Connection restored, here are your screenies!

Personal marks: Poland and Austria are particularly suffering Hungary's expansionism, Palatinate and Kingdom of Italy are good AI surprises, the big boys are quite in line with their fame

Good ol' Europe

Dominion #1: Portuguese West Africa (capital Dakar)

Dominion #2: Portuguese Austral Africa (cap. Sao Borge)

Dominion #3: Brazil (main city: Montevideo)​

 

[Lord Ederon]

very nice AAR

 

[Hastu Neon]

very nice AAR

Hi Ederon, it's a long time we didn't get in contact. I'm always here lurking among EU2 and Victoria fora. I hope you'll go on reading my story. An update should arrive today...

 

[Lord Ederon]

Hi Ederon, it's a long time we didn't get in contact. I'm always here lurking among EU2 and Victoria fora. I hope you'll go on reading my story. An update should arrive today...

I've just now spotted this one (in your sig somewhere ) and haven't time to real it all (i'm at work ). But I definitely shall read it all.

 

[Hastu Neon]

King Manuel I

Chapter 13: "The treasures of Indian Ocean" (1500-1510)​

Despite the troubles of the last decade of the previous century, Lisbon is growing as the greatest centre of trade for Europe, not so hampered by the Spanish commerce taken in Sevilla since the establishment of the first Spanish trading posts in the Caribbean. Everyday, the banks on the Tago receive numbers of boats with the products coming from the lands of the Empire, Rua Nova and Praca do Rossio flourish of stands and shops selling any imaginable produces of the planet. In a more stable domestic environment, part of these riches can finally go to expand and embellish the city, but King Manuel I begins also to reform the army (which only in April 1501 will definitively cope with the rebellion of Porto started in 1498) and heavily invest in technological development for both peace and warfare.

With an Empire stretching from Central America to Indian Ocean, Portugal has the power and authority to claim for a forceful control of the spice trade in the Indian Ocean. The construction of a shipyard in Tago to strengthen the navy is one of the first King Manuel's moves, which will lead to a steady contrast with the Muslim Sultanate of Oman, controlling the centre of trade of Mascate. To get support of other European powers in the rush to spices, the King signs colonial pacts with England, France and Spain in order to relax trading restrictions for their merchants.

The number of explorers and conquistadors under the command of King Manuel reaches its maximum in the first years of '500s: with the previous generation of those renowned Colombo, Diaz and Vasco da Gama, a new group led by Pedro Alvarez Cabral and the brothers Gaspard and Miguel de Corte Real begins its activity. In their short lifetime, Cabral and Gaspard the Corte Real would discover the first parts of the sea laying behind Cape Horn and name it Pacific Ocean.

The colonisation efforts are not always lucky, as shown by the native attacks that destroy the Portuguese trading post in Matagorda, but in the first decade of '500 other possessions are settled in Parana, the Southernmost province of Brazil, Ciskei – a province of the Portuguese Austral Africa dominion – and Mahe – an island in the centre of the Indian Ocean, producing valuable spices and rapidly growing as a fundamental port for the exploration of the Ocean and the exploitation of the spice trade with the East Indies and the centre of trade in Malacca, touched by Vasco da Gama for the first time in August 1505. Before his death in 1510, the great explorer will also guide one of his last expeditions to Guanqzhou, making contact with the Chinese Empire, centuries after the fabulous voyages of Marco Polo.

The wealth of those countries attracts King Manuel's interest: a boundary dispute with the Sultanate of Malindi dating back to 1501 is the casus belli for the attack against Malindi and Mogadishu launched by the conquistadors Afonso de Abuquerque and Almeida in May 1503.

Their armies, transported from Lisbon to the coasts of Eastern Africa by a squadron of Miguel de Corte Real (who will die in a naval fight against Muslim vessels soon after), land in the Sultanates and in less than six months annihilate any Muslim opposition. When Afonso de Abuquerque arrives to Mogadishu, he finds the city already sieged by the Ethiopians and with their help takes it in on 6 March 1504. The superiority of Portuguese forces makes easy any conquest and Kenia (1504), Somalia (1505), Mudugh and Malindi (1506) fall in a row. Both Sultanates surrender in 1506, accepting to pay an individual tribute of 100 ducats and declaring themselves vassal of the Crown of Portugal.

Manuel I, completely absorbed by the conquests in the Indian Ocean, is quite disinterested in the war declared by the Pope Julius II and the King of Italy Ludovico the Moor against Albania in 1504, which will end in 1510 with the annexation of the small Balkan country to the Crown of Milan. He will not care even in the attacks coming from almost all the European powers, and in particular Spain, France, Scotland and Burgundy against the fragile English monarchy of Henry VII, the first sovereign of the Tudor House, guilty of the violent annexations of Ireland and Wales. The only moment of interest in European affairs would be the royal marriage of George, Manuel I's cousin, with a daughter of King of Italy Ludovico the Moor, union that will closely link Portuguese and Italian destinies for a long time in the XVI century, as the union of Spanish and Aragonese dynasties has done in the same years after the death of Isabel.

Just a brief delight, because Portuguese expansionistic aspirations in the Indian Ocean causes another conflict with the Sultan Said II of Kilwa in July 1508. Again Almeida and Afonso de Abuquerque, with fresh forces coming from the thriving Sao Borge town in Austral Africa, destroy the Muslims on and off-shore. Tanga, Zanzibar, Lindi and the enemy trading posts of Arusha and Morogoro in the interior of the continent fall in less more than one year. When the great Portuguese commanders assault and take Kilwa, the Sultan is rapidly forced to accept a tribute of 50 ducats, the territorial losses of the trading posts and moreover the cession of the rich centre of trade in the island of Zanzibar, which for a while will be the Portuguese stronghold in the spice trade, governed by that Afonso de Abuquerque, so decisive in its capture, until his death in 1515.

 

[unmerged(35070)]

Great AAR

I've been reading your reports - good to see someone else out there finds the Portuguese attempt to dominate the world to be an interesting one. I'm up to early 1500s in my game, and have basically developed along similar lines. One difference is deciding to go to war with Mali, but annexing them proved impossible. I took two of their provinces nearest the coast, but the loans I needed for the armies caused me to bankrupt. My biggest frustration is the manpower shortage, and the fact that if you create an army large enough to be an effective force, trying to pay to maintain it is almost impossible. I tried creating an alliance with France, and that seemed to work pretty well, as a way of keeping spain in check (they absorbed aragon much earlier in my game.) I also had a nice suprise when Andalusia revolted, then decided to to become part of Portugal. But we were also allied with Austria and I got pulled into one war after another (it's conquered a good part of central europe and the balkans by now.)

It's really interesting to read how your's is going though. Another thing I was wondering about - I seem to remember from the first EU that when you agree to the Treaty of Tordesillas, you automatically lost certain possessions. Is that still the case? I mean having colonies in cuba and panama - I'd think that would violate the treaty. I just didn't want to build up colonies and then have some random AI event take them away and give them to spain.

Anyway - keep up the good work, I'll look forward to seeing how it's working out.

 

[Hastu Neon]

I appreciate very much your interest in my AAR. I didn't play EU1 but actually the Treaty of Tordesillas works differently from what you wrote. You don't secede any province when the treaty happens but from that day onward until the "Edict of Tolerance" (ca. 1650) if Spanish take your provinces which are in their "area of influence" these lands automatically become theirs without any war (and viceversa). This happens also with other Catholic countries' colonies, always in favour of Spain and Portugal. A good thing...

 

[Hastu Neon]

Spain and Portugal divide the World at Tordesillas​

Chapter 14: "The golden decade" (1511-1521)​

None of the previous periods can compare in terms of richness, glory and conquests with the last ten years of King Manuel's reign. With the products of the colonies, Portugal controls the world markets for sugar, tobacco, ivory and is one of the main suppliers of coffee, slaves and spices. Cultural development flourishes everywhere, in the arts as in the architecture, in the military technology (in 1512 the first pieces of artillery are built in the royal manufactories) as in the infrastructures (in 1520 the technology permits to build the first modern sugar refineries).

Colonies grow rapidly in all continents: in America, where the disputes among Spain and Portugal over the partition of their respective spheres of influence are finally settled in March 1511 with the signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Brazilian Dominion is enriched by the foundation of a colony in Salvador and trading posts in Marajo, Pernambuc and Tiracambu, settled by the conquistador Correos, who will be also responsible for the expeditions in the centre of Brazil to uncover the unfriendly provinces around Matogrosso and in the South of the continent to uncover the Pacific coastal provinces of Patagonia. In July 1517 the Admiral of Western Ocean De Queros reaches in an heroic expedition the Coast of Ecuador and the Northernmost town of the Inca Empire, Cali. In Africa, Almeida on the way back to Lisbon stops in Equatorial Africa and discovers the provinces of Douala and Teke, the latter belonging to the native reign of Kongo, whereas Monteclaros discovers Bushman in the Austral Africa and settles a copper trading post there. In the Indian Ocean, under the Admiral of the Eastern Ocean Torres, Portuguese expeditions discover Mauritius, Bourbon and Ambovombe on the way to Borneo, Java and the other East Indies.

With all these riches and developments, it is easy for Manuel I raising additional armies for his personal dream: the re-conquest of Tangiers, lost to Morocco in 1489. When in August 1514 King Manuel I decides to open hostilities against Sultan Muhammad II, Pope Leo X and the loyal King of Italy join the Crusade against Morocco. The army, commanded by Almeida, and the navy, commanded by Admiral De Queros, quickly show their supremacy against Moroccan forces. In February 1515 General Almeida takes Tangiers and moves to South Morocco, where in a rapid sequence he occupies Sahara, Antiatlas and the salt trading post in Mdenna, with virtually no losses. When in Spring 1516 the troops of the King of Italy assault Fez, the capital where Muhammad II is forced, the Sultan gives up Tangiers and Mdenna for the restoration of peace. Joao II's defeat has got revenge!

But it is not possible stopping Almeida's sparkling energies. In March 1520 he is back in Kilwa. His attack to the throne of Muhammad IV is swift and lethal as a cobra: in September, after the capture of the capital Almeida dies, but the legacy of that great general is huge: his troops complete the occupation of the Muslim country in few months, assaulting town after town. In January 1521 the Sultan of Kilwa pays a tribute of 25 ducats and accept the dominance of the King of Portugal, just few months before his death.

The last period of Manuel's reign records huge changes in the European framework. Francois I, the young King of France, completes the unification of his big country taking Bretagne, Artois and Franche Comte from the fading Ducky of Burgundy and throwing England away from the continent. Even more enormous are the dynastic vicissitudes of the Hapsburg: after the death of his grandfather King Ferdinand in 1516, Carlos I of Spain inherits Spain and its overseas possessions, and the title of Holy Roman Emperor. He would control Aragon and its Italian provinces, but Spain and Aragon, despite their strict linkages will not be unified into a single country. After one year, Carlos I inherits also what remains of Burgundy, a strip of lands going from Luxembourg to Holland, and finally in 1521, after the death of his other grandfather Maximilian I of Hapsburg, also the Austrian lands fall under his direct control. It could seem that this man is going to dominate the continent, but it is not true, because in those years another man, a simple German priest named Luther, begins with his predications to divide Europe. The Edict of Worms, issued in 1521 by Emperor Carlos I (or Karl V), will not stop him and his followers…

 

[Hastu Neon]

Huge post with VERY HUGE pics

King Joao III

Chapter 15: "Neptune's triumph" (1521-1530)​

Portuguese society begins to change as a result of conquests and colonisation. Someone refers to it using the term "thalassocracy", intending both the prominence of maritime trade over land production and the raising of a new mercantile aristocracy. The young son of Manuel I, Joao III, who becomes King of Portugal on 17 December 1521, has to face the new social context, accepting in part the claims of this new class for more power in the national arena. On the long term, mercantile aristocrats would become more and more similar to the old land aristocracy, leaving their businesses and retreating in their mansions, but still in this period they are actively engaged in trading and industry, while their enthusiastic sons provide the bulk of royal navy crews.

Two problems partially connected with "thalassocracy" are corruption and inflation: huge affairs bring huge backhands for monopolies, trading licences and so on, which have a cost obviously charged to the final consumer of the luxury goods controlled by Portuguese merchants. Somewhere, the corruption of colonial governors reaches its maximum, provoking revolts among the overtaxed colonists, like the ones exploded at Praia (Cape Verde) in 1528 and at Sao Borge (Portuguese Austral Africa) in 1530. Inflation, which would become of the biggest economic troubles for XVI century Portugal, reaches its historical peak at nearly 40% in these years. Technological developments in the field of warfare go on thanks a renewed interest of the royal family in innovation: improvements are studied for the construction of fortifications and the enlargement of royal wharfs, even if not practically applied for their huge costs.

The best example for understanding the attitudes of these people is represented by two Admirals De Queros and Torres, respectively of the Western and Eastern Ocean, capable of great deeds in the second decade of the century. After his famed voyage to the Coast of Ecuador, in his second trip De Queros reaches Gilbert Sea spotting Fiji Islands, then redirect West his fleet. Torres, whom King Joao III has appointed Admiral of the Eastern Ocean, has just started from Sea of Banda his huge expedition to map Indochina, East Indies and the surrounding seas, when he knows of the De Queros' arrival from East. On 11 June 1523 two Portuguese enter the book of naval history: De Queros and Torres meet in New Guinea Coast: the first trip around the World comes to an end!

The big successes of the royal navy are not shared by land exploration: in 1522 Monteclaros' expedition in Ovambo is attacked and completely annihilated together with the inhabitants of the small trading post. Correos, the King's representative in Brazil for a while, leads some missions to Patagonia, but his name will be recalled mainly for the terrible genocide of Parnaiba in 1523, when he commands to kill 1.500 natives who have not accepted the rule of Portugal. This one will not be the only problem in Brazil, taking in consideration also the indigenous revolts in Montevideo and Tiracambu and the spreading presence of privateers and pirates in the northern coasts.

In a period of relative peace in the history of Portugal, Christendom is threatened by internal and external forces. With the predications of Zwingli and Calvin another potentially dangerous heresy adds to the one which is quickly spreading in Northern Germany and Scandinavia, as shown by the conversion to Protestantism of the authoritative Duke of Palatinate, the secularisation of the Teutonic Order into the Ducky of Prussia and the grave decision of the Parliament in Vasteras to accept the Lutheranism as official religion for the Kingdom of Sweden. In the meantime, the infidel Turks, who have found a great leader with the Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, manage to extend their control over the city of Algiers and – after the bloody victory at Mohacs in 1526 – over the Kingdom of Hungary. Only the Holy Roman Emperor Karl V, with his huge territories in Spain, Austria, Holland and Italy – where his influence improves thanks to the support received by Andrea Doria, lord of Genoa who transforms the glorious republic in a Spanish protectorate – stands up to resist the Ottoman threat.

In his youth Joao III engages his thriving Kingdom in a conflict just once, when declares war upon Muhammad II, Sultan of Oman, in May 1525, because of the disputes arisen about the leadership in the spice trade. A young general, Francisco-Xavier, whose life will reserve peculiar surprises in the years following his victories in Oman, is the commander in chief of the armies sent to Oman by King Joao III.

The man immediately shows uncommon ability at war, taking in a rapid succession of sieges lasting less than two years the cities of Dofhar and Barhein and the Sultan's colonial possessions in the Persian Gulf (Quatar, Damman and Al Kharam). In the meantime, Oman hopeless expeditions sent to siege Zanzibar and Mombasa break against the resistance and superiority of Portuguese strongholds, as shown by the great victory attained at Zanzibar in July 1526, when a garrison of 1.000 soldiers routs an army of 15.000 Muslims. Whereas Admiral Torres comes back from East Indies to blockade and repeatedly defeat the inept Muslim fleet and new indigenous troops are trained in Zanzibar to join the expeditionary corps, Francisco-Xavier captures Mascate. In September 1530 the Sultan of Oman surrenders and pledges submission to Joao III.