The role of Portugal in the age of discovery
Keywords:
Portugal, 15th century, Age of Discovery, Prince Henry the Navigator, history textbooks, trade, Africa, nautical technology, carrack, caravel, China, junk (ship), Tscheng Hwo, artillery, Ming dynastyAbstract
This paper gives the brief review of the Portuguese history in the 15th century and tries to
answer to the question of the Portuguese primacy in the Age of Discovery. The author tries to explain
the reason why the Europeans were the pioneers in the discovering of the New World unlike, for
example, Chinese. To define those issues, he compares Portugal with other European countries as
well as the China with Europe. The comparison is based on the following criteria: technological
progress, the role of the religion, geographic position and the myths about the open sea. The author
discusses the description of the Age of Discovery in the history textbooks for the 6th grade in the
Republic of Croatia.
