page_title: Portuguese Navy
section_title: 15th and 16th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Portuguese Navy / History / 15th and 16th centuries
caption_attribution_description: Portuguese carracks off a rocky coast.
context_page_description: The Portuguese Navy is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the military defense of Portugal.
  On 12 December 2017, the Portuguese Navy commemorated the 700th anniversary of its official creation by King Denis of Portugal. Tracing its origins back to the 12th century, it is the oldest continuously serving navy in the world.
  The Navy played a key role at the beginning and during the great voyages of the Age of Discoveries in the 15th and 16th centuries. The resulting of this technical and scientific discoveries led Portugal to develop advanced ships, including the caravel, new and more sophisticated types of carracks for interoceanic travel and the oceanic galleon, and to find the sea route to the East and routes to South America and Northern North America.
  Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa and Vasco da Gama reached India, linking Europe and Asia for the first time by ocean route, as well as the Atlantic and the Indian oceans.
context_section_description: After his return from Ceuta, Henry the navigator founded a school of navigation in Sagres, which was a place to discuss the art of navigation. The vessel employed in the beginning of the Discoveries was the caravel, varying from 50 to 160 tons. The first results came soon and Gonçalves Zarco discovers the Porto Santo Island in 1419 and the Madeira Island in 1420, Diogo de Silves discovers the azorean island of Santa Maria in 1427.
  In 1424, Gil Eanes crosses the Cape Bojador. Diogo Cão and Bartolomeu Dias arrived to the mouth of the Zaire River in 1482. In the same year, the São Jorge da Mina castle is built in the coast of Western Africa, by Diogo de Azambuja, becoming one of the most important Portuguese naval bases.
  In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias becomes the first European to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope.
  João Vaz Corte-Real arrives to Newfoundland in 1473. Part of the coast of Newfoundland would be charted by the Corte-Real brothers, sons of João Vaz Corte-Real, in a failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage in 1501. In 1499, João Fernandes Lavrador and Pêro de Barcelos arrive to Labrador (named after the previous one) and map its coast.
  The greatest achievement of these exploration voyages was attained by Vasco da Gama, who in 1498 becomes the European discoverer of the sea route to India.
  In 1500, when leading a second Portuguese Armada of 13 ships to India, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovers and explores Brazil, claiming it for Portugal. In the same year, Diogo Dias, as one of the Captains of the fleet to India of Pedro Álvares Cabral, is separated from the main fleet by a storm while crossing the Cape of Good Hope, and becomes the first European to reach Madagascar.
  Besides the already existing role of Admiral of Portugal, the Crown creates the role of Admiral of India, whose first holder becomes Vasco da Gama in 1500.
  With the first established sea route to the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese started to use the carrack ship (nau in Portuguese). Nevertheless, the Portuguese penetration in the Indian Ocean was not peaceful due to the opposition of the Muslims. However, in 1509 Francisco de Almeida had a tremendous victory over the Muslims in the naval Battle of Diu, and the Portuguese presence in the area is definitely attained. In Morocco the Portuguese conquests continue and they take over the cities of Safim, Azamor, Mazagão and Mogador.
  In the Far East, Portuguese navigators continue their progress visiting the southeast of Asia, China in 1517 and Australia in 1522. In the same period they reach Taiwan (baptizing it Formosa) and Japan where they become the first Europeans to arrive.
  They enter the Red Sea in 1542 to destroy the Ottoman armada in Suez.
  In the West the Portuguese visited the coast of New England in 1520, California in 1542 and Hudson Bay in 1588.
  All these actions were only possible with the naval capability, the navigation knowledge of these navigators, an enormous courage and determination.
  In 1520, King Manuel I organized the Portuguese Navy in three permanent armadas (fleets): the Armada of the Coast (for coastal patrol), the Armada of the Islands (based in the Azores, for the protection of the ocean navigation in the North Atlantic) and the Armada of the Strait (operating in the area of the Strait of Gibraltar, to protect the navigation with North Africa and the Mediterranean). The first two fleets were mostly made of ships of the line (carracks and galleons), while the Strait fleet was mostly made of ships powered by oars (fustas and galleys). These fleets will subsist until the beginning of the 19th century. Besides the permanent three fleets, the Navy continues to organize the ad hoc India armadas, dispatched to India on an annual basis.
  To aid the Christian forces to conquest Tunis in 1535, King John III sends the Portuguese galleon Botafogo, the world most powerful warship of the time, armed with 366 cannons and under the command of the brother of the King, Louis, Duke of Beja.
  In 1567, a Portuguese naval squadron, under the command of Mem de Sá, took Fort Col
caption: The carrack Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai and other Portuguese Navy' ships in the 16th century
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "400", "Image YResolution": "400", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "90", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1660"}