Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Aviz, House of (Avis)
The order of warrior knights based at the
town of Aviz (Avis) in Portugal played an
important role in the country's liberation
from Moorish rule and its consolidation as
an independent state during the 12th to
14th centuries. In 1383 the death of King
Ferdinand I of Portugal precipitated the sei-
zure of the throne by his illegitimate
brother, João, the master of the order, to
block claims by the ruler of C
ASTILE
. As
John I he founded a dynasty whose succes-
sive monarchs built a powerful presence on
the Iberian Peninsula and by the early
1400s were engaged in overseas explora-
tion and discovery. The most notable mem-
ber of the line was M
ANUEL
I (reigned
1495-1521, known as Manuel the Fortu-
nate) who reaped the rewards of his prede-
cessors' energy and initiative. During his
reign Portuguese navigators, traders, and
warriors created for him a seaborne empire
that included colonies in Africa, Asia, and
America. The Golden Age of Portuguese
wealth and cultural achievement came to
an end when King S
EBASTIAN
I recklessly
led a “crusade” into M
OROCCO
, where his
expedition was destroyed in 1578. An
elderly great-uncle (Henrique I) reigned
briefly as the last of the dynasty. On his
death in 1580 P
HILIP
II of Spain took the
throne of Portugal for himself and ruled
the country as a Spanish dependency.
After an uprising in 1640 to reassert Por-
tuguese independence the nation turned
to a new dynasty, the House of B
RAGANÇA
.
In a strange epilogue to the once-glorious
story of the House of Aviz, a mystical belief
persisted for many centuries that the cru-
sader king Sebastian would return from
his unknown resting place to bring back
lost glory. This cult of “Sebastianism” per-
sisted in Portugal and some of her colonial
dependencies (particularly B
RAZIL
) until
the 1890s.
Ayacucho, Battle of
(1824)
This climactic battle of the War of Indepen-
dence in South America was fought on
December 9, 1824. It took place near the
town of Ayacucho in south-central P
ERU
.
Under the overall command of the South
American Liberator, S
IMÓN
B
OLÍVAR
, A
NTO
-
NIO
J
OSÉ
DE
S
UCRE
, Bolívar's principal lieu-
tenant, had been maneuvering for some
weeks to avoid a full-scale battle with the
royalist forces. Finally, instructed by Bolívar
to confront the troops of the viceroy of
Peru, José de la Serna, Sucre attacked. His
army, numbering approximately 5,500
men, consisted of numerous volunteers
from N
EW
G
RANADA
, A
RGENTINA
, and C
HILE
as well as local militia. The Royalist forces,
aside from a few hundred Spaniards,
amounted to 7,000 men almost entirely
Peruvian. After initial success the royal
forces began to fall back in disarray when
the viceroy himself was wounded. They
were rallied by his deputy and delivered a
fierce counterattack, which led to a hard-
fought contest and heavy casualties on
both sides. At the end of the day, with their
strength and ammunition nearly exhausted,
the royalists yielded to the rebels. The
viceroy signed a capitulation that included
the surrender of the Viceroyalty of Peru
and by implication the remainder of Span-
ish America. Although several Spanish
generals refused to accept this order and
continued to resist, the events of Decem-
ber 9, 1824, amounted to the downfall of
what was left of Spain's imperial power on
the continent.
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