Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Spain's Rule & Portugal's Revival
Spanish rule began promisingly, with Felipe vowing to preserve Portugal's autonomy and
attend the long-ignored parliament. But commoners resented Spanish rule and held on to
the dream that Sebastião was still alive (as he was killed abroad in battle, some citizens
were in denial); pretenders continued to pop up until 1600. Though Felipe was honourable,
his successors proved to be considerably less so, using Portugal to raise money and soldiers
for Spain's wars overseas, and appointing Spaniards to govern Portugal.
An uprising in Catalonia gave fuel to Portugal's drive for independence (particularly
when the Spanish King Felipe III ordered Portuguese troops to quell the uprising), and fi-
nally in 1640 a group of conspirators launched a coup. Nationalists drove the female gov-
ernor of Portugal and her Spanish garrison from Lisbon. It was then that the duke of
Bragança reluctantly stepped forward and was crowned João IV.
With a hostile Spain breathing down its neck, Portugal searched for allies. Two swift
treaties with England led to Charles II's marriage to João's daughter, Catherine of
Bragança, and the ceding of Tangier and Bombay to England.
In return the English promised arms and soldiers: however, a preoccupied Spain made
only half-hearted attempts to recapture Portugal, and recognised Portuguese independence
in 1668.
João IV's successors pursued largely absolutist policies (particularly under João V, an
admirer of French King Louis XIV). The crown hardly bothered with parliament, and an-
other era of profligate expenditure followed, giving birth to projects such as the wildly ex-
travagant monastery-palace in Mafra.
Cementing power for the crown was one of Portugal's most revered (and feared) states-
men - the Marquês de Pombal, chief minister to the epicurean Dom José I (the latter more
interested in opera than political affairs). Described as an enlightened despot, Pombal
dragged Portugal into the modern era, crushing opposition with brutal efficiency.
It was the Portuguese who started England's obsession with tea: their explorers introduced it to Europe in
the mid-17th century and tea enthusiast Catherine of Bragança did the rest.
Pombal set up state monopolies, curbed the power of British merchants and boosted agri-
culture and industry. He abolished slavery and distinctions between traditional and New
