From fortified ports to faith-backed profits, Portugal’s global trading empire spanned Africa, Brazil, and Asia.
The Portuguese Empire was built through ports, trade routes, and slavery. Control of fortified ports allowed Portugal to control maritime commerce across Africa, Brazil, and Asia, creating an empire based on movement rather than territory.
Faith played a central role in justifying its expansion, as missionaries accompanied merchants and armies. Ports enforced systems of slavery and forced labor, and bound religious authorities to economic exploitation. Slavery became the center of imperial wealth, linking African workers to plantations and markets across the Atlantic.
By integrating slavery into global trade networks, the Portuguese Empire played a central role in shaping modern economic systems, racial hierarchies, and patterns of inequality that continue to this day.
As Portugal emerges as an important hub connecting Europe, Africa and the Americas, control that once took place through ports and sea routes is increasingly being done through digital infrastructure such as undersea cables and data centres. While former colonies such as Mozambique remain shaped by extractive economic structures rooted in colonial rule, Lisbon faces increasing pressure from mass tourism and foreign real estate investment, causing displacement of local residents and rising housing costs.
From maritime trade to data flows, Portugal’s model of power, built on control of circulation rather than territory, continues to influence patterns of inequality in the modern world.
Published January 12, 2026
