Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
It couldn't last, of course. By the 1570s the huge cost of expeditions and maintaining an
empire was taking its toll. Young, idealistic Sebastião took the throne, and the final straw
came in 1578 when, determined to take Christianity to Morocco, he rallied a force of
18,000 and set sail from Lagos, to be disastrously defeated at the Battle of Alcácer-Quibir
(also known as the Battle of Three Kings). Sebastião and 8000 others were killed, includ-
ing much of the Portuguese nobility. His aged successor, Cardinal Henrique, drained the
royal coffers ransoming those captured.
On Henrique's death in 1580, Sebastião's uncle, Felipe II of Spain (Felipe I of Por-
tugal), fought for and won the throne. This marked the end of centuries of independence,
Portugal's golden age and its glorious moment on the world stage.
