ABSTRACT. The author seeks to explain the origins of the Portuguese expansion resulting from the opening of the Gibraltar Strait toward the north Atlantic and the Mediterranean expansion toward the west (Azores, Madera, and the Canary Islands). Portugal has a double border – with the sea and Castile. Three combined elements explain this expansion: commercial navigation, the political will of the monarchy, and the crusade ideology. The author examines the problems encountered by the Portuguese expansion along the African coasts and concludes by showing the links between discoveries, commercial expansion, and colonization.
RÉSUMÉ. L'auteur s'interroge d'abord sur les origines de l'expansion portugaise, qui résulte de l'ouverture de la voie du détroit de Gibraltar vers le nord de l'Atlantique, et de l'expansion méditerranéenne vers l'Occident (Açores, Madère, Canaries). Le Portugal a une double frontière, la mer et la Castille. Trois éléments se combinent pour expliquer l'expansion : la navigation commerciale, la volonté politique de la monarchie, l'idéologie de la croisade. L'auteur examine ensuite les problèmes rencontrés par l'expansion portugaise au long des côtes africaines et conclut en montrant les liens entre découvertes, expansion commerciale et colonisation.
It is difficult to comprehend the real meaning of the Portuguese maritime expansion in the African coasts through the 15 th century, without firstly considering the importance of the sea for the kingdom of Portugal in the previous centuries. Traditionally, in the Portuguese historiography, the understanding of the context in which the first steps of this expansion were given was almost always limited to the attempt to demonstrate the existence of medieval roots in that activity. This subject is not easy to solve.
Indeed, during the 20 th century an interpretive system was developed that has dominated much of the historiographical literature on this topic. Briefly, such a scheme sees in the maritime cities and in their bourgeoisie the elements that inspired and impelled the first Portuguese expansion. However, it is a model that, when carefully examined, shows some weaknesses and thus causes difficulties. It does not explain – in that passage from commercial development to the maritime expansion – the role of the sea and navy in the context of Portuguese history of the 12 th to the 14 th centuries.