Claim: The Portuguese Empire existed at the same time as the Renaissance.

The Portuguese Empire -LRB- Império Português -RRB- , also known as the Portuguese Overseas -LRB- Ultramar Português -RRB- , was one of the largest and longest-lived empires in world history and the first colonial empire of the Renaissance . It existed for almost six centuries from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the grant of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002 .   The first era of the Portuguese empire originated at the beginning of the Age of Discovery . Initiated by the Kingdom of Portugal , it would eventually expand across the globe . Portuguese sailors began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in 1418 -- 19 , using recent developments in navigation , cartography and maritime technology such as the caravel , in order that they might find a sea route to the source of the lucrative spice trade . In 1488 , Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope , and in 1498 , Vasco da Gama reached India . In 1500 , either by an accidental landfall or by the crown 's secret design , Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil on the South American coast .   Over the following decades , Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia , establishing forts and factories as they went . By 1571 , a string of naval outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa , the Middle East , India and South Asia . This commercial network and the colonial trade had a substantial positive impact on Portuguese economic growth -LRB- 1500-1800 -RRB- , when it accounted for about a fifth of Portugal 's per capita income .   When Philip II of Spain , I of Portugal , inherited the Portuguese crown in 1580 , this began a 60-year union between Spain and Portugal that has since been given the historiographic term of the Iberian Union . Though the realms continued to be administered separately , the Council of Portugal ruled the country and its empire from Madrid . As the King of Spain was also King of Portugal , Portuguese colonies became the subject of attacks by three rival European powers hostile to Spain : the Dutch Republic , England , and France . With its smaller population , Portugal was unable to effectively defend its overstretched network of trading posts , and the empire began a long and gradual decline . Eventually , Brazil became the most valuable colony of the second era until , as part of the wave of independence movements that swept the Americas during the early 19th century , it broke away in 1822 .   The third era represents the final stage of Portuguese colonialism after the decolonization of the Americas of the 1820s . The colonial possessions had been reduced to the African coastline -LRB- expanded inland during the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century -RRB- , Portuguese Timor , and enclaves in India -LRB- Goa -RRB- and China -LRB- Macau -RRB- . The disastrous 1890 British Ultimatum led to the contraction of Portuguese ambitions in Africa .   Under António Salazar , the Second Portuguese Republic made some ill-fated attempts to hold on to its last remaining colonies and overseas provinces after the 1961 Indian annexation of Goa , embarking on the Portuguese Colonial War in Africa which lasted until the final overthrow of the regime in the Carnation Revolution of 1974 . Macau was returned to China in 1999 .