Age of Discovery · 1469–1521
Manuel I
Manuel I · Portugal
King of Portugal, known as 'the Fortunate'
He reigned from 1495 to 1521, as the Portuguese empire expanded rapidly. He funded da Gama's opening of the sea route to India in 1498 and navigators such as Cabral, who reached Brazil. The profits of trade monopolies made him the richest monarch in Europe at the time and gave rise to the 'Manueline' style of architecture named after him. In 1497 he ordered the Jews of his realm to convert or leave.
Where the story happened
Los lugares que dejó
Historia · Belém Tower
A rhinoceros on the tower
Belém Tower was designed by the military architect Francisco de Arruda and completed in 1519, two years before King Manuel I died. The base of one of its corner turrets bears a carved rhinoceros, considered the first rhinoceros sculpture in Western European art, probably depicting the rhino given to Manuel by an Indian ruler and passed on by him to Pope Leo X in 1515.
Historia · Jerónimos Monastery
A monastery built on the spice tax
Manuel I ordered this monastery built near the point from which Vasco da Gama set out on his first voyage to India, as a resting place for the House of Aviz, funded by a tax on the profits of the annual India fleets. The great earthquake of 1755 destroyed most of Lisbon, yet the monastery lost only a balustrade and part of the high choir. In 1880 remains believed to be da Gama's were moved to a new tomb in the nave, just a few metres from the kings he served, Manuel I and João III — though later research found that the coffin moved in 1880 contained the bones of more than one person.
