Historical person
Manuel I of Portugal
1469–1521
Manuel I ruled Portugal from 1495 to 1521 during the kingdom’s most dramatic phase of overseas expansion. His reign encompassed Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India, the voyages that reached Brazil and a sustained attempt to establish Portuguese power across the Indian Ocean.
Manuel authorised fleets, commanders and trading policies that turned exploration into a crown-directed imperial project. The wealth and prestige generated by Asian commerce transformed Lisbon, while conquest and forced commercial control imposed severe costs overseas. Manuel’s reign provided the political and financial framework for Portugal’s rapid expansion from the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean and maritime Asia.
In Roger Crowley’s Conquerors, in 1497 Vasco da Gama sailed from Portugal around the Cape of Good Hope and opened a direct European sea route to India. Historical accounts that place Manuel I of Portugal in context include Roger Crowley’s Spice.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction featuring Manuel I of Portugal (2 books)
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
