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Finally got time to keep up with your AAR. I have been bussy doing events for Granada in AGCEEP, and translating my AAR to Spanish.

I am impressed with the war against Spain. That was close! Perhaps you should ally them instead of the Pope. I also see you are taking the vassalage route. Smart, you are going to be rich and with very good tech.
Sorry, I already stole that beautiful pic of the Tordesillas treaty.
 
I would have liked to ally with them rather than fighting them, but the bad solution about Canaries Islands in the early game has completely damaged the relations and since that there hasn't been no recovery.

I shouldn't anticipate this :eek:o , but Aragon and Spain will never join together and Aragon will become a valid supporter in the next decades... :D

About vassals: always force-vassalisation (house-rules), but I'll take retain all valuable provinces (like CoTs or those that events will give me later, like Goa or Macao)
 
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An ancient view of Goa

Chapter 16: "The backyard in flames" (1530-1542)

Italy and the Mediterranean situation in general catch again the attention of the Kings of Portugal at the beginning of the fourth decade of the century. Increasing rivalry among the Kingdom of Italy, now ruled by the Milanese Francesco Maria II, and the Republic of Venice, erupts in a major conflict when Doge Andrea Gritti attacks Milan in September 1530. Complex defensive pacts bring in the arena Joao III and Pope Clemens VII in support of the King of Italy and the Rhodian Knights, the Dukes of Tyrol and Holstein and the Granduke of Lithuania in support of Venice. As sign of renewed friendship with the King of Italy, in the middle of the war Joao III marries the ally's sister on 15 April 1531. The marriage will prove to be very fertile, but many of their children will die in tender age, leaving as heir only a young grandchild of Joao's fifth son, the future King Sebastiao. The Italian front does not evolve in a favourable way for Portuguese allies. A single main naval battle in the Straits of Otranto records the involvement of Portuguese forces, fought in July 1532 and culminated with a clear defeat for the Portuguese fleet, which looses 5 warships out of 15 against Venetian galleys, which for sure benefit from being at home in those waters.

The situation rapidly deteriorates when also Battista Lomellino, successor of Andrea Doria as ruler of Genoa, attacks Italy. Wanting to take advantage of the relative isolation of Genoa, Joao III dispatches a Portuguese expeditionary force of 11.000, which is defeated landing in the port town in August 1533. Unable to defend himself on two fronts, in 1534 with the peace treaty of Lodi the King of Italy agrees to give up Wurttemberg to Tyrol and Mantua to Venice, a deed which marks both the end of the Visconti dynasty's rule over the Kingdom (replaced in a short while by the House of Savoy) and the beginning of Italian decadence. The same year of the Treaty of Lodi, another schism is consumed within Christendom with the English Act of Supremacy, that creates a separate Anglican Church under direct control of King Henry VIII.

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The really bad piece of news is that the even the mighty Turks take advantage from the quarrelling Christians' divisions, seizing Apulia from Spain and stepping in the peninsula for the first time. Sultan Suleyman's janissaries seem unstoppable: with one of the quickest expansionistic spree in the history of Islam, the Ottoman Empire has already broadened its boundaries to the East to the detriment of Karaman and Georgia and in 1540, after the death of the last Hungarian "puppet-King", will gobble together with their vassal Janos II of Transylvania the remnants of the Christian Kingdom. The last effort, in order of time, to stop them has been made by a feeble Kingdom of Italy, which calls Joao III to the arms for the Crusade against Suleyman and his vassals. Not even Pope Paulus III joins the war, as a consequence of the negligible weight of Joao III's ally and now relative Francesco Maria II. King Joao honours the pact and accept to support Italy against Ottoman Empire, Hungary and Tripoli. The small Crusade does not last too much: a transparent naval superiority grants to the Portuguese navies a full control of Central Mediterranean, allowing the landing of a Christian army in Tripoli. When Tripoli falls to Joao III's soldiers in March 1539, the weak King of Italy agree to sign a general truce with the Muslims for 69 ducats of indemnities.

"Missions & dreams: the lives of Francisco Xavier and Martin de Sousa"​

These characters perfectly symbolize the two souls of Portuguese overseas activity during Joao III's reign. The reader left Francisco Xavier engaged into the siege of Mascate. None exactly knows what has happened there, but his life absolutely changes after the end of the war against Oman. He takes the vows as Jesuit and since then on dedicates himself to spread the Evangel in the known world. According Joao III's will, he is ordered to reach India. In 1531 he is "nuncio apostolico" in Goa, the town which has recently surrendered to the Portuguese artillery and has become – with its 2.000 Hindu inhabitants of Marathi ethnicity – the first European direct possession in India. From there his first missionary expeditions reach the coastal and internal regions of the Indian subcontinent, before leaving in 1532 for the Moluccas, where he visits the islands of Timor and Buru. Ten years later Timor is the first Portuguese settlement in East Indies. His missionary efforts inspires other Portuguese on their way to a different life: another mission would develop a new colonial settlement in Mauritius starting in October 1534, establishing an additional sugar plantation in those fertile lands.

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Martin de Sousa is definitely a different man: methodical and astute, he spends the first part of his life as General Governor of Brazil, a Dominion needing some stimulus in consideration of the increased threats coming from privateers (in his first appointment Martin de Sousa strengthens with 10 new warships Brazilian home fleet to patrol coasts) and Spaniards (as shown by the loss of the trading post in Cartagena, captured in 1530 and claimed by them under the rule of the Treaty of Tordesillas). He was responsible for the construction of a trading post in Parnaiba in 1531, finally connecting all the Brazilian provinces now spanning between the mouths of Amazon and La Plata Rivers. However Martin de Sousa's deeds go out the borders of Brazil. For roughly 8 years he commands one of the major land expeditions in the history of Portuguese discoveries: since the landing (1532) in the Southern regions of North America, close to the mouth of the Mississippi River, he travels across a continent among the cotton plantations of the South-Eastern Atlantic coast, the thriving markets of the English post in Manhattan and the immense plains of the Mississippi basin. His voyages pay a high blood toll: only 32 men are still with Martin de Sousa when he reaches a safe harbour in Matagorda, more than 8 years after his departure.

Following a new settlement in the archipelago of Bermuda, Martin de Sousa signs with the English an agreement for a peaceful partition of North America, with the provinces South of Manhattan colonisable by Portugal and the ones on the Northern side colonisable by England. Bermuda will prove to be in the future an comfortable bridge to the systematic colonisation of North America. Its position, in an almost straight-line connection with Azores and Bahamas (discovered in 1541 and colonised one year later), permits a rapid moving of those colonists that, after the destruction by the natives of the old trading post in Barahona and the devastating effects in the Caribbean of the Spanish-Inca wars, will elect North America as their second homeland. And in North America Martin de Sousa has still to play a decisive role…

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The importance of Francisco Xavier's and Martin de Sousa's deeds is clearly confirmed by the blooming economic situation of the Empire. Gold continues to pour in the Treasury coffers from distant colonies producing the most wanted luxury goods (in sugar and tobacco Portuguese leadership is uncontested, and soon other produces will add to the list). Occasionally, exceptional years in agriculture and trade (like 1534) manage to cool down inflationary pressures brought by the increasing amount of riches entering the country from the biggest Empire a European country has never settled since the Roman age, put together by the second navy after the Spanish one. Even trading circuits begin to show a multifaceted nature. Lisbon, despite its centrality in Portuguese society, begins to loose market shares to the Portuguese overseas centres of trade in Montevideo and Zanzibar (which has substituted Sao Borge, the very first Portuguese centre of trade in Africa in the first stages of discoveries), where soon the traffics in Atlantic and Indian Oceans start to concentrate, showing the increasing self-sufficiency of the colonies from the mainland. In the biggest town of Brazil, Montevideo, trading books of the first half of '500 report an activity 20% higher than in Lisbon (and slightly smaller than the Spanish pole in Sevilla), whereas Zanzibar is a centre of commerce almost three times bigger than that conducted in the capital.

A special examination is necessary about the religious situation in the mid-'500s. Despite its claim as standard-bearer of Christendom against Infidels, the House of Avis has always kept a pragmatic approach to religion. Allah's worshippers in Portuguese enclaves such as Tangiers and Zanzibar have been always tolerated, more than the polytheistic peoples living in other possessions as Goa and Macao. One of the pre-eminent characters of Portuguese Church – and its institutional essence, opposite to the missionary spirit of Francisco Xavier – is Cardinal Henrique, Joao III's younger son, who has rapidly ascended into the ecclesiastic hierarchy and encouraged the spread of the Jesuit Order. The monks gain an increasing (and repressive) power over the cultural and customary Portuguese context, as they do in other Latin nations still loyal to the Roman Pope. But despite their influence, Portugal would keep its traditional religious pragmatism, as shown in 1536 by Joao III's refusal to institute the Holy Inquisition after the issuance of the Papal Bull requesting the opening of the "Witches hunting" in the country. This refusal deteriorates for a while the relationship with both the Holy See and Spain and Cardinal Henrique originally cedes some ecclesiastic functions to loyal noblemen in order to build a common front against external pressures, with a another positive collateral effect: 100 ducats flowing in the Treasury.
 
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Chapter 17: "Trade and imperialism" (1542-1556)

Since mid-'500s a radical change occurs in the Portuguese view of its overseas relationships. So far trading predominance has been obtained with a mix of business, warships and commercial enclaves like Zanzibar and Goa. But the increased numbers of merchants harassments in Africa has convinced Joao III's advisors to use the force of arms against the hostile countries to preserve commercial positions and increase supply capacity of foods, slaves and other exotic goods. The first example of this new imperialistic policy is the war against the pagan potentate of Zimbabwe in Austral Africa, initiated in December 1542 by Joao III after an episode of merchants' harassment by hands of local gangs. Despite the Portuguese having a big military advantage against the indigenous forces, the difficult climate and the quantity of enemy warriors (against about 13.000 soldiers commanded by the conquistador Mem da Sa) stop for a time the raid. Even the coastal trading post in Inhambane falls under In July 1543 under the control of the savages and consequently burnt.

Portuguese fight against Zimbabwe receives encouragement (and funds) from some positive domestic happenings, like a chauvinistic rush to the navy and the army (mainly in the nearest colonial cities in Africa and India), started after the news of the destruction of Inhambane has spread, partially financed with the proceeds gained by an extra sale of ecclesiastic functions to the nobility. War against Zimbabwe does not record any particular activity until Mem da Sa's offensive in Autumn 1546, four years after the first skirmishes. In the meantime, Portuguese reinforcements on the way to the front have been able to activate for the first time – against Friesian colonists – the clauses of the Treaty of Tordesillas, occupying the trading post which they had settled in Muni, Equatorial Africa. When fresh forces reach Austral Africa, Mem da Sa can retake the offensive, which soon proves to be the critical one: Rowzi and Membire, in the interior of Africa, fall in less than 9 months and on 22 July 1548 the pagan nation accepts to secede these two provinces plus a tribute of 200 ducats to Mem da Sa.

Exactly the same sequence of events – merchants harassed, ultimatum and war – returns just 18 months later when Portugal attacks Kongo, the other pagan nation of Equatorial Africa, just on the other side of the continent. The King would not repeat the mistake of sending few and of lower quality troops as he did in Zimbabwe, thus the regular home army embarks for Africa in 1550, where it finds Mem da Sa ready to command his further military expedition, with the addition of additional fresh forces coming from Sao Borge volunteers who join the army in 1552. There is another good reason for warring Kongo: King Diogo I actually sits on a mountain of gold! Despite the first skirmishes cost to Portugal its coastal trading post in Muni, after Mem da Sa's capture of Kongo capital and of all the other provinces by 1553, Diogo's envoys offer incredible sums of gold for a rapid reconciliation, up to the equivalent of 2.000 ducats! But Mem da Sa has a different aim, the control over the country, and sitting at the peace table limits his requests to the vassalisation of Kongo with a tribute of 500 ducats. Thus big chunks of Sub-Saharan Africa end under direct and indirect control of King Joao III.

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And what about other continents on the turning point of 1550? Francisco Xavier has moved the focus of his Evangelisation missions to Austral Africa, where a port in Nampuia is settled in January 1550, establishing again a connection with coast to the newly acquired provinces in Zimbabwe. The tireless missionary finds his final rest only with his death in 1555 in a small colonial community he has founded in Transkei. In the meantime, the systematic colonisation of North America goes on under Martin de Sousa. Nova Sagres, the capital of Bahamas archipelago, is now one of the biggest colonial cities in the Empire, after the assimilation to Portuguese culture of nearly 5.000 natives. In 1551 the embryo of what will be the future Dominion of Portuguese North America is established when the aging renowned governor, nostalgic of the vast continental plains, puts down roots with his descendants among obedient natives in Roanoke, fostering both there and in Chesapeake the development of tobacco plantations. In Asia, with the new settlements in Timor and Flores (East Indies), funded by royal Treasury with the proceeds of a precious gift to the state received in 1555, Portugal becomes in the late '50s the first producer of spices, ending once for all with a success the commercial war against the Muslims for the monopoly of these rich goods.

[For further info on Francisco Xavier and Martin de Sousa see Chapter 16]


The loss of authority over a reviving Sultanate of Oman, which breaks its vassalage to Portugal in 1556, is counterweighted by the acquisition of the Chinese port of Macao in 1557. Actually, the Chinese Emperor are pursuing an isolationistic foreign policy but decides to secede to the Crown of Portugal the port (inhabited by 90.000 Confucian Chinese, bigger than Lisbon, which produces a special chinaware Portuguese merchants soon use to invade the centre of trade in Canton) for residual trade with foreigners. Even if projected in his worldwide dimension, Portuguese diplomats cannot avoid to closely look to contemporary Europe, crossed by the winds of Counterreformation. The long dated deathly contest between Francois I (supported only by Friesen, Denmark and Bohemia) and Karl V's countries (Spain, Aragon and Austria, supported by the the Pope and Hapsburg's loyalists in Norway and Palatinate) continues to burn whole Europe, but eventually ends with the death of its main characters in late '50s. Even if France boundaries does not change, Francois I's successor has to pay huge indemnities to the Hapsburgs' (over 600 ducats), leaving his shattered country without money and in the midst of religious turmoil provoked by the disputes among Catholics and Huguenots. These events do not minimally touch Portugal and his network of loyal allies in Italy, Tyrol and Bavaria.

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ubik said:
... Portugal early lead is finished. :)

Right, but I would say I've taken a good advantage during it...

Kings of the House of Aviz have done a very good job: Joao III was in real history the first who sucked, in few decades I suppose the Aviz will come to an end and we'll see what Hapsburgs manage to achieve...
 
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King Sebastiao I

Chapter 18: "The long regency" (1557-1568)

Joao III dies of apoplexy on 13 June 1557, leaving room to the last melancholic fruit of the fading House of Avis, King Sebastiao I. The child is only three years old, but he has managed to survive his father Prince Joao. The unlucky Prince was the eighth son of King Joao III and heir to the throne after the death of his elder brothers, who all died in childhood. But Prince Joao has suddenly died in 1554 at age of 17 years, leaving alone his young pregnant spouse Joan of Castile, who 18 days after his husband's death would have born Sebastiao. This high mortality, which will eventually ends in the extinction of the House of Avis in few decades, can find an explanation in the continuous inter-marriages among family members, that have impoverished their blood. In consideration of Sebastiao's young age, his grandmother Catarina, Joao III's widow, takes the regency.

The aging regent, a Catholic mystic woman with an obsession of a grand Crusade against the Infidels to rescue the Holy Lands, would have an important influence over Sebastiao. In 1558 she concludes an alliance pact and a dynastic marriage with the Council governing the island of Cyprus and the King of Italy and shortly declares war upon the Islamic country controlling Jerusalem, Egypt, only supported by Yemen. With the proceeds of a 200 ducats general contribution to the State, the regent is able to raise additional troops in the mainland, whereas Mem da Sa leaves from his headquarters in Africa to siege Hadramut, a minor target on the Yemenite coast: it is only a dissuasive move, because the bulk of the expedition, transported across Mediterranean Sea on the home fleet, lands in Judea after a decisive naval battle fought in cooperation with Cypriots and Italians in front of the Palestinian coast. The apogee of the Crusade happens on 23 May 1559, when Jerusalem falls under direct control of Portuguese army!

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After a break, during the hot months of August and September 1559 the soldiers march on and capture Aqaba, the most important town in Sinai, and soon after Amman, the capital of Jordan. In the meanwhile, Mem da Sa has come to add his forces to the main army, leaving the ineffective battlefields in Yemen. His troops cross Red Sea and take in rapid succession Nile and Cataract (Spring 1560), marching on Al Qahirah and sieging the Egyptian capital, that falls under a bloody assault on 8 August 1560. It is transparent at this point that the nature of the Crusade has changed dramatically from the premises. Mem da Sa and his colonels who take control of the city after his death in September 1560, are more interested in power and gold than in liberating the Holy Land, and the situation evolves correspondently. The army, despite the departure of his great leader and the returning resilience of the Egyptians in Jordan, is able to go on fighting for the conquest of Alexandria, the rich port which is one of the biggest commercial poles in the Muslim world. With high costs the ancient city falls in late Summer 1561, convincing the Egyptians to accept their vassalisation to the authority of the King of Portugal and to pay a tribute of 25 ducats.

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The "blasphemous" end of the Crusade (launched with the purpose of freeing Jerusalem and concluded with the vassalage of Egypt, with Holy Lands still under Muslim control) convinces Mother Queen Catarina to leave Sebastiao's regency to a council under the rule of his great-uncle the Cardinal Henrique, which will last until 1568. The last six years of Sebastiao minority, governed by the skilled Cardinal Henrique, pass without major wars (apart a quick and futile skirmish against Morocco for an insult from Sultan Abdullah toward the royal person, ended with an indemnity to Portuguese Crown of 50 ducats), but will record some concerning trends. In 1563 the Treasury, now controlled by mercantilist supporters, would impose a new tariff on foreign merchants trading in main Portuguese centres of Tago and Zanzibar. On the domestic side, Cardinal Henrique would restore a strong central authority against the never-disappeared arrogance of magnates (in that feature, he is almost a precursor of the Sun King's motto "L'etat c'est moi"), even in a period characterised by two disgraceful events: the tax revolt of the colonists in the Canaries and the terrible plague of 1567 which hit the whole Iberian peninsula.

Even in absence of great explorers or colonial planners, overseas dominions are big enough to walk on their feet. A small expedition is arranged in Austral Africa to retake possession of Muni, colonised by Friesen in violation of the Treaty of Tordesillas, whereas the town of Fort Pinzon (Transkei) is urbanized up to 2.500 inhabitants and a new trading post is built in Zambesia. In North America, after Martin de Sousa's death (1564), his descendants carry on his legacy establishing new trading posts in Delaware and Catawba. Nova Lagos, the town founded in 1551 by Martin de Sousa in Roanoke province, is emerging as the capital of the Dominion of Portuguese North America.

Europe records the ordinary risings and falls of nations: Russia is pursuing its rush to Asia taking big chunks of territories from Crimea, Queen Elizabeth turns England protestant after the episodic reign of Bloody Mary and funds with gold and men the death fighting of French Huguenots against the central French authority. The ugly domestic situation hurts French interests outside, and Paris loses all its possessions in Ireland and Germany, as well as Felipe II (who moves his capital to Madrid from Toledo, loosening the long-standing bond between the Kingdoms of Spain and Aragon) loses Netherlands, which revolt against the Spanish rule in 1568 under the leadership of Willem of Orange.

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Van Engel said:
How many vassels do you have now? :eek: Great AAR. :)

At the moment, Kilwa, Mogadishu, Malindi, Kongo, Egypt. Regretfully, Oman broke the vassalage...

[Hint] .... but the century of the great (European) vassalisations will be the next... ;)
 
Hastu Neon said:
At the moment, Kilwa, Mogadishu, Malindi, Kongo, Egypt. Regretfully, Oman broke the vassalage...

[Hint] .... but the century of the great (European) vassalisations will be the next... ;)

You should expend a small part of your wealth in keeping relationships high with your vassals.
 
Chapter 19: "A fading dynasty" (1568-1580)​
In 1568 King Sebastiao I is declared of age and the regency council led by Cardinal Henrique ends its functions. The young, whose youth has been heavily influenced by the Crusading spirit of his grandmother Catarina, shows her same foolish interests, with even more ambitious aims: India. The situation there is quite unstable: apart coastal possessions, Portugal has never pushed its authority to the interior part of the country, where Muslim (in the North) and Hindu (in the South) potentates are warring for the predominance over the peninsula. A fierce and cruel Bengal is emerging as leader of the Sunni field annexing one after the other its neighbours and Sebastiao I chooses it as a target for his personal Crusade. Despite the King's alarming irrationality, the mercantile class would support the war because of the potential gains coming from the conquest of Calcutta, one of the biggest Asian centres of trade, now in the hands of the Sultan of Bengal: thus, in July 1568 Sebastiao I, with the support of the loyal Cypriots, can launch his Crusade against Bengal and its allies in Gujarat and Afghanistan. Again, the irrationality of the attempt is shown when none among the Pope, the Kings of Italy and Aragon, the Republics of Netherlands and Venice accept to join the alliance, despite the good relationships with Lisbon.

Still war is prepared with carefulness: in consideration of the "terrestrial" nature of the Sultanate of Bengal, the King decides to focus on land forces rather than on the navy, which will be employed almost exclusively as mean of transport for the 14.000 men strong expeditionary unit, including a group of 5.000 Cape Verdian volunteers who join in September 1570. The Crusaders land in Howrah, in the Northern part of the Gulf of Bengali, in March 1569 and in less than a month manage to take the city. After this first easy conquest, the expedition moves to the interior, and in July 1570 the Bengali capital of Bihar surrenders to the Portuguese Crusaders. As a consequence of the assault to Bihar, some valiant colonels manage to steal from the ancient library of the city old maps of Asia, fruit of a long-term geographic knowledge of Indian civilisations. The loss of their capital definitively smacks the Bengalese. Crusaders move again to the coast and the metropolis of Calcutta, in the Ganges region, falls under Christian control in January 1571: it is the triumph of the Crusade! In March the Portuguese envoys sent from Goa and the Sultan of Bengal meet to agree the end of the conflict. The Kingdom of Portugal incorporates Calcutta and Howrah (respectively, 100.000 and 72.000 Bengalese inhabitants), the former becoming the most populous city of the Empire and the biggest centre of trade of the known world. Calcutta is established as new administrative centre of this part of the Empire, but here the Portuguese rule would be much less "structured" than in other colonial Dominions in consideration of the highly civilised counterparts and the limited amount of Christian residents. And Bengal? the slaughter or capture of its best forces by hands of the Crusaders has thrown the Sultanate into an unrecoverable crisis, which would bring the drop to their dreams of predominance over India.

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But King Sebastiao's mind starts to show the first signs of confusion: in September 1573 he attacks Oman for punishing the local Sultan for the breakage of the vassalisation dating back to 1556. Cypriots and Dutch (who have joined the alliance in 1571) are of no help, whereas Oman can count on a number of allies, from Qara Koyunlu (who are Oman protectors, considering that the Mascate has pledged allegiance to this emerging power some years before), to Hedyaz and Mughal Empire. An ill prepared expedition nevertheless manages to capture some Oman provinces and forces them to a separate peace, adding to the Portuguese Crown the trading posts of Mangalore, in India, and Damman, in the Arabic peninsula. The tired remnants of the Portuguese forces bravely defend the newly conquered provinces against huge armies that Qara Koyunlu sends to retake them: after the victorious battle of Damman and their unsuccessful landing in Mangalore, the royal envoys convince the enemy to conclude an undamaging peace, paying to Lisbon a tribute 50 ducats for peace.

This is the last victory for King Sebastiao I (if the definitive abandon of the aims of control over Oman can be considered a victory). When he decides to throw its country in a further inconclusive Crusade against Morocco, the court declares him insane and lock up him for the good of Portugal. In August 1578 the crown falls to his grand-uncle Henrique O Cardeal-Rei (the Cardinal King), as he has been named. King Henrique, who is aging and without children, asks the Pope a licence to marry, but he does not grant it. Someone suggests that the Pope is actually manoeuvred by Felipe II of Spain, who being nephew of Joao III is quite interested in uniting the Crowns of Spain and Portugal. Henrique would find a temporary diplomatic solution to the succession crisis bringing in the alliance among Portugal, Netherlands and Cyprus also Enric II, the King of Aragon who has re-established the independence of his country from Madrid after the unification under Karl V. In the meantime, the lack of royal authority is clearly confirmed in 1579 by the revolt of heathens in Macao and the decision of the Kongo to break his vassalage status after almost 30 years of Portuguese domination. When the Cardinal King dies on 2nd January 1580, only Felipe II of available for taking the Crown: the House of Avis is over!

The last years of the Avis dynasty record some interesting domestic trends: Jesuits' influence over the Portuguese society (and directly over the silly mind of the King) becomes quite gloomy and religion conformism slows down the pace of scientific and technological progress. Sometimes Jesuits' abuses would result in revolts against their severe rule, especially in the colonies, as shown by the revolts in Brazil (1572). Portuguese intellectuals are quite rare compared with contemporary Spanish, French or English ones: the only character worthy of note is the Portuguese poet Camoes. The major issue was the conversion of the great numbers of heretics residing in a worldwide Empire. A authoritative solution is adopted in Goa: a forceful "conversion by the sword" causes the death of over 1.000 indigenous Hindu and a series of rebellions, but finally Goa becomes a Christian landscape in 1577. Economy, in the end, is heavily damaged by hyperinflation caused by corruption, wars and luxury goods, which reaches a scaring 62% in the last years of the dynasty.


The fading of the House of Avis and the conflicts in the Indian Ocean do not stop the growth of the overseas Empire. New trading posts are established everywhere a Portuguese vessel can get: Barahona (which has already been in the past one of the Portuguese posts in the Caribbean Sea, but has been destroyed by the natives) is established again in 1571, as a brand new outpost is settled in Ambovombe. But now the improved sanitary measures against tropical diseases consent to establish a European presence in remote places: in the period 1575-81 one of the most numerous colonial expeditions in the history of Portugal settles trading posts for the slave and ivory trade in Equatorial Africa: Douala, Kiribi, Mayumba, Ovambo and Luanda on the West, Niassa, Mtawa and Inhambane on the East. Another one reaches Kerala, in the Southern part of India, in 1576. Colonists from the long established Portuguese Austral Africa move east and colonise Natal in 1577.
 
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He, he. You manage very well to disguise your victories as almost defeats. Calcutta must be a pearl, and a very good advanced base. Watch out for the rebels though.
 
Fodoron said:
He, he. You manage very well to disguise your victories as almost defeats. Calcutta must be a pearl, and a very good advanced base. Watch out for the rebels though.

I'm playing the game with a Portuguese history by my side.

My mood was very melancholic due to the legends about King Sebastian's madness and his Crusading efforts against Morocco, so the chapter came out quite "negative"... but Felipe I (that is, Felipe II of Spain) is just around the corner!
 
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King Felipe I (aka Felipe II of Spain)

Chapter 20: "Felipe I, one King with two Kingdoms" (1580-1598)

Few days after Henrique's death, Felipe II of Spain, as the only legitimate pretender to the title of King of Portugal, comes to Lisbon to get his own crown. He takes the first ordinal number and becomes King Felipe I of Portugal. Loyal to his promise "One King, two Kingdoms", Felipe I would respect the independence of Portugal from Spain, avoiding to put Spanish men in the key roles as the six members' "Government Council" in Lisbon and assimilate Portuguese law and culture to the Spanish ones. During his reign, none would feel a great difference versus the marvellous period of the House of Avis. Anyway, some opposition to the House of Hapsburg remains vital and will grow bigger during the reigns of his son Felipe II and, even more, his grandson Felipe III. From 1580 to 1583 Felipe I establishes in Lisbon his capital before retreating to the Escorial in Madrid. He spends these years to restore central authority over colonies and protectorates and appointing royal tax collectors to increase fiscal revenues. He will finance in the subsequent year the foundation of a prestigious Jesuits' university in Evora, with an important effect on the development of culture.

In order to restore Portuguese control over Kongo, in February 1580 Felipe I sends there an army commanded by Antonio Dom Crato, the general who tried to seize the Crown as illegitimate grandson of King Joao III – we don't know if this appointment is a sign of mercifulness or retaliation against him. A short conflict against the Kongolese secures a tribute of 375 ducats, but costs a lot of human lives and a trading post in Mayumba. In December 1581 the commercial crisis in Asian Seas blazes again when Malacca chooses to attack Portuguese posts in the region. Again, General Dom Crato moves to the hot spot with an army and lays a siege on the enemy capital. In May 1582 Malacca falls under Dom Crato's control and after a while the remnants of enemy forces surrender in Johor. With the peace treaty establishing the transfer of Malacca – another important Asian centre of trade – under Portuguese authority and a tribute of 100 ducats, Portuguese authority is fully restored. Antonio Dom Crato, appointed by King Felipe I as Governor of Malacca, orders to improve fortifications and builds "A Famosa", a complex stronghold for the defence of the city. Until his death, he will leave Malacca only once in 1585, just to re-establish royal control over Macao, which revolts against the central authority as other parts of the surrounding Chinese Empire.

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Portuguese prestige in the European scenario is restored by means of royal marriages with the most trustworthy allies: in 1583 Heir Prince Felipe II marries Princess Margarita, daughter of Enric II of Aragon, and one of his sisters goes married to a member of a Cypriot outstanding dynasty. In the meantime, civil war in France reach its climax: both the French Catholics and the Huguenots are fighting each other and together against the legitimate institutions, bringing the country in further 30 years of war and devastation. French possessions in Germany and Italy are completely lost, and also some French-speaking provinces either defect (Provence to Genoa) or give up (Normandie and Caux to England) to foreign countries.

Despite his increasing interest in Spanish affairs, in May 1588 Felipe I pushes another colonial conflict for the control of ivory trade against the Kingdoms of Benin and Ashanti. Technological superiority make these wars quite easy: in five months Palana, Ivoria and Accra (Benin's capital) fall under the Portuguese army's domination but Felipe I limits his claims to the only Ivoria (inhabited by 41.000 Yorumba pagans).

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With the acquisition of Ivoria, Portugal is the first world producer of ivory, as well as sugar, spices, tobacco and … slaves. Because of the strict royal surveillance over the profitable recently-founded trade monopoly companies, everything from the Empire converges to Lisbon, the largest city in Iberian peninsula. Exotic and luxury produces bring up an enormous inflation, whereas the capital attracts masses of peasants looking for profits. From time to time fiscal bonanzas come from exceptionally rich years (as 1585 and 1590) or from the gold mines in Jenné (a West African province inhabited by Islamic Malians that unexpectedly decides to join the Empire defecting from Benin in 1596). The proceeds permit to fund everything, from festivals to military developments (like weaponry building engineering, an advancement that heavily effects the efficiency of the land troops), from arts to better tax collection systems in the colonies. This is probably the highest point in Lisbon history, from which one can only expect a decadence, still out of sight… until the first warning sign appears: in 1596 a terrible outbreak of plague, coming from Spain and stronger than the recurrent and occasional epidemics typical of the century, takes his terrible bloody toll.

With possessions spreading from the Atlantic coasts of North America to East Indies and needing resources for further improvements, the colonisation effort in additional virgin lands becomes quite slow: during Felipe I's reign only marginal trading posts are settled, like the northern part of the Philippine archipelago (obviously named after the King's name), Amapa in Brazil (exactly on the line of demarcation arranged in 1511 with the Treaty of Tordesillas) and Guinea, the only coastal province in West Africa still not settled by Portugal, and Carolina and Santee in North America.

King Felipe I dies in 1598 and is succeeded by his son Felipe II (III of Spain). The moment has come for a pictorial overview of the known world at the beginning of the '600. Just for your information, Portugal is the biggest and most prestigious Empire, ranking third in income production after China and Russia. The King can rely on a relatively small but well-trained army and one of the largest and most advanced navies, and a solid alliance with Netherlands, Aragon, Tuscany and Cyprus. A row of African countries, from Egypt down to Kilwa recognise an effective Portuguese control over themselves. Biggest problem? A 53% inflation. As usual, a chronology and a set of maps will come within days …
 
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Hastu Neon said:
I'm playing the game with a Portuguese history by my side.

One can learn a lot of story starting with EU2 and ending with a little bit of research and some good books. When I first got EU2 I was amazed at the amount of historic countries I had never heard of. The farther away from my corner, the less known by me.
 
Excellent aar! Great pictures and good story writing!
 
Thank you all for your encouragement! I appreciate each one of you, readers! ATM I'm in vacation but I promise you an update for the mid of next week...
 
Screenies will follow

Chronology: 1500s, the Indian century

1503-06 --- Conquistadors Afonso de Abuquerque and Almeida reduce to vassalage the Sunni potentates of Mogadishu and Malindi

1508-10 --- Portugal conquers the important centre of trade in Zanzibar, Vasco da Gama discovers East Indies and reaches Guangzhou, making contact with the Chinese Empire

1514-16 --- War against Morocco, Almeida recaptures Tangiers and the rich salt trading post of Mdenna in the Sahara region

1516-21 --- Carlos I, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, reunites the Crowns of Spain, Burgundy and Austria

1518 --- Luther begins his predications and Reformation spreads in Northern Europe

1520-21 --- Portuguese armies conquer and reduce to vassal the Sultanate of Kilwa

1521 --- Joao III, Manuel I's son, is King of Portugal

1523 --- Admiral De Queros completes the first voyage around the World reaching East Indies from South America

1526 --- After the Battle of Mohacs, Ottoman Turks defeat and subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary

1530 --- Commander Francisco Xavier takes Mascate and reduces to vassalage the Sultan of Oman

1531-42 --- In his second life as "nuncio apostolico", Francisco Xavier secures the town of Goa to the Crown and founds a settlement in Timor (Moluccas). Concurrently, with Martin de Sousa begins the systematic exploration and colonisation of North America

1536-40 --- Jesuits' influence over Portuguese custom expands, but Joao III keeps away the worst intemperances of Counter-reformation refusing to institute Holy Inquisition

1542-53 --- Mem da Sa takes control of Eastern Zimbabwe and vassalises Kongo to enhance merchants' security in those routes

1550-54 --- Martin de Sousa founds Nova Lagos in Roanoke, first Portuguese colony in North America

1556-57 --- Oman breaks its dependence from the Portuguese Crown, in Far East China gives up the port of Macao for trading purposes

1558-62 --- France collapses into 50 years of Religion Wars after Francois I's rout against the Spanish-Hapsburg forces

1457-61 --- During Queen Mother Catarina's regency on King Sebastiao I, the Crusade against Egypt to liberate Holy Land ends with the vassalisation of the Caliphate

1568 --- Netherlands revolts under Willem of Orange against the Spanish rule: a new nation is born!

1571 --- King Sebastiao I's Crusade to India conquers Calcutta, the richest centre of trade in the world

1578-80 --- After King Sebastiao's dethroning for madness, Cardinal Henrique becomes the last King of the House of Avis. After his death, Felipe II of Spain (Felipe I of Portugal) rises to power

1582 --- Antonio Dom Crato seizes Malacca, Portugal controls – with Zanzibar and Calcutta – a great part of Asian trade

1588-89 --- As a result of Ivory War against Benin and Ashanti, Ivoria becomes a Portuguese province

1594-99 --- First Italic War (against the Kingdom of Italy and its allies), started by Felipe I and successfully concluded by his son Felipe II (King since 1498), who establishes a protectorate over Medicis' Tuscany
 
Screenies, screenies, screenies

As usual, some pics from my GC as of 1st January 1600:

First of all, domestic policy: fully mercantilistic, quite naval and aristocratic, other sliders in the middle.

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Ol' Europe: please note the collapse of France between Catholic League and Huguenots (see also the religious chart). England has taken advantage of the situation gaining back Normandy. Austria and Poland are struggling against Ottoman Empire (and its huuuuge light brown Transylvanian vassal). Russia, Denmark, Sweden are "normal", some minors (particularly Venice, Tyrol and Palatinate) are doing well. Please note my Egyptian and Florentine vassals. On the economic field, Western Iberia, Northern Italy and Netherlands are the richest European areas.

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America: Portuguese possessions are surrounded by Spanish and Dutch colonies in West Indies and South America. In the North, some colonial activity for France, England and Aragon .

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Africa: West and Austral Africa are a continuous row of Portuguese possessions. Eastern coast is controlled both directly and through protectorates upon Muslim Sultanates (pale green).

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And finally, Asia (see the comment directly in the pic)

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And now, let's go on in the '700s, the Pacific Century!