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The kingdom of Portugal in the 15th century was one of the first European powers to begin building a colonial empire. The Portuguese Renaissance was a period of exploration, during which Portuguese sailors discovered several Atlantic archipelagos like the Azores, Madeira, or Cape Verde, explored and colonized the African coast, discovered an eastern route to India that rounded the Cape of Good Hope, discovered Brazil, explored the Indian Ocean and established trading routes throughout most of southern Asia, and sent the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to Ming China and to Japan. The Portuguese Renaissance produced a plethora of poets, historians, critics, theologians, and moralists, of whom the Portuguese Renaissance was their golden age. The ''Cancioneiro Geral'' by Garcia de Resende (printed 1516) is taken to mark the transition from Old Portuguese to the modern Portuguese language. ==John I== John I of Portugal acceded in 1390 and ruled in peace, pursuing the economic development of his realm. The only significant military action was the siege and conquest of the city of Ceuta in 1415. By this step he aimed to control navigation of the African coast. But in the broader perspective, this was the first step opening the Arabian world to medieval Europe, which in fact led to the Age of Discovery with Portuguese explorers sailing across the whole world. Contemporaneous writers describe John as a man of wit, very keen on concentrating power on himself, but at the same time with a benevolent and kind personality. His love for knowledge and culture was passed to his sons, often collectively referred to by Portuguese historians as the "illustrious generation" (''Ínclita Geração''): Edward, the future king, was a poet and a writer; Peter, the Duke of Coimbra, was one of the most learned princes of his time; and Prince Henry the Navigator, the duke of Viseu, invested heavily in science and the development of nautical pursuits. In 1430, John's only surviving daughter, Isabella, married Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and enjoyed an extremely refined court culture in his lands; she was the mother of Charles the Bold. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Portugal (1415–1578)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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