Introduction to Portugal in Lisbon

Marco Polo was not the first Westerner to visit China.  In fact, his father and uncle had apparently spent quite a bit of time there.  When they returned to Venice from an extended business trip, they met 15-year-old Marco for the first time.

They brought the teenager along with them as an apprentice in the mercantile trade on their next voyage.

Marco's subsequent 24-year journey throughout Asia became the basis for his journal, "Book of the Marvels of the World," which came to be called "The Travels of Marco Polo."

Dictated to his cellmate while imprisoned upon his return to Venice, that chronicle turned out to be one of the most influential books ever written.

Just as Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan and the Beatles encouraged my generation to pick up guitars and start garage bands, Marco Polo's adventures inspired exploration of the world.

Nowhere did his stories resonate more than in Portugal, perched on the edge of the vast Atlantic Ocean near the entrance to the Mediterranean.

Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator launched the Age of Discovery.

In the year 1415, at the age of 21, Prince Henry encouraged his father, King John I, to capture the Moroccan port of Ceuta on  the African side of the narrow Straight of Gibraltar.  Ceuta harbored Barbary Pirates who harassed trading vessels.

The Barbary Pirates also regularly raided the Portuguese coast, capturing villagers to be sold into the African slave trade, so this was much more than a generic policing action for the exclusive benefit of sea-going merchants.

The Moors, of course, had previously conquered Portugal, beginning with an invasion of Iberia in 711 A.D, including the fall of Christian Lisbon in 714, so I guess they felt that turn about was fair play.

The Christian "Reconquista" actually began in 718, but the Muslims held Portugal until the Second Crusade, when Crusaders turned at least some of their attention from the Holy Lands to help liberate predominantly Catholic Iberia.

While Spain would not completely return to Christian control until 1492, the Siege of Lisbon in 1147 liberated Portugal (except the Algarve, which later became part of Portugal).

Clearing out the enemy pirate's nest of Ceuta freed seafaring Portugal to explore the Canary Islands, the east coast of Africa and beyond.

Henry the Navigator, being the fourth son of King John I, was never destined to be king, but on May 25, 1420, he was appointed to what in-my-mind was a more significant position: Grand Master of the Military Order of Christ, the Portuguese version of the Knights Templar.

This authority provided him with substantial financial resources for exploration.

When his father died, Henry's eldest brother, Edward of Portugal, took the throne.  Edward granted Prince Henry exclusive rights to trading profits from all lands he "discovered."

Needless to say, Henry was highly motivated to explore the world for God, Portugal and personal reward.

Interestingly, Henry himself wasn't actually a navigator or even a sailor.  It may have been fortuitous that he wasn't, because it forced him to share the bounty with those who could perform these essential functions.

Henry funded not only the explorations but the underlying education required to accomplish his lofty goals.

Before long, the small country of Portugal rose to the forefront of cartography, navigation and seamanship, attracting other explorers for decades to come.  Among these adventurers was young Italian Christopher Columbus, who took a Portuguese bride but was unable to convince the crown to back his bold endeavor to find a west bound route to the East Indies.

Despite missing that golden opportunity, Portugal soon became the wealthiest nation in Europe.

In 1498, just six years after Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived by sea into Calicut, India, having sailed around the southern tip of Africa.

The distance covered in the first true ocean route to Asia was the longest sea voyage to that point in history, and in fact covered a distance greater than the circumference of the world.

Opening this trade route for Asian spices including cinnamon and pepper gave Portugal a virtual monopoly in Europe on those commodities for decades.

Famed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan later planned and led an expedition funded by Spain that circumnavigated the globe and actually reached Columbus's destination, the East Indies (Spice Islands), by sailing west, but Magellan was killed in battle in the Philippines before personally completing the circumnavigation that his ship completed after his death and for which he is generally credited by history.  He did sail east to the Spice Islands around Africa through the Indian Ocean on a previous trip, so over his lifetime he did essentially sail around the globe, but not all in one voyage.

The Catholic Church would eventually attempt to divide the New World between Portugal and Spain exclusively.

While other countries wouldn't abide by that edict, Portugal nonetheless accumulated an impressive empire, controlling vast territories including Brazil, a country almost ten times as large as Portugal, which it ruled until 1822.

However, all was not "sugar and spice" in the mercantile world.  A significant portion of Portugal's treasure came from exploiting the African slave trade.  That despicable enterprise had flourished for centuries before direct involvement by Portugal and other European countries, and it's impossible to judge history by modern standards of conduct, but I think most agree God would not be happy with His children in bondage.

When disaster struck on November 1, 1755, many in the devoutly Catholic country of Portugal, which undoubtedly attributed much of its success to the favor of God, probably believed that to be the wrath of God for their sins.

The fact that one of the most destructive calamities in history unfolded on one of their holiest of holidays, All Saints Day, would have factored into that conclusion.

An earthquake estimated to have been a magnitude of nine on the Richter Scale struck at 9:40 AM on that holiday and lasted for about five minutes.  Chasms 16 feet wide opened in downtown Lisbon.

As buildings crumbled, survivors hurried away from the city center to open areas along the coast, where they found another eerie sight.  The ocean receded dramatically, revealing past shipwrecks and lost treasures, undoubtedly including booty from the New World.

Surfers can probably guess what happened next.  A tsunami brought huge waves that not only reclaimed the harbor but washed over the hills of the city, wreaking more havoc.

With it being All Saints Day, candles had been lit all over town in remembrance of the dearly departed, and between the earthquake and tsunami shaking floors and walls, many candles fell over, resulting in fires that engulfed what remained of the city in flames.

By the time it was over, 85% of Lisbon had been destroyed, and an estimated 40,000 people died in that city alone.

An event this large did not limit damage to Lisbon.  Much of Portugal was ravaged, as were parts of Spain and Morocco.  Earthquake shocks were felt as far away as Finland, and tsunami waves hit the Caribbean and Brazil.

When we stepped out of the metro tunnel in Lisbon for the first time, however, we did not find rubble. 

Instead, we saw a beautiful historic city, with wide streets and tree-shaded walkways paved in exquisite stone pavers.

Back to 1755, after attending Mass on that fateful All Saints Day, King Joesph I, at the urging of his daughter, had taken his family away from the throngs of celebrants in Lisbon for the peaceful countryside, so despite that city and other areas of the wealthy country having been devastated, there was government leadership that survived to maintain a sense of order.

The Marquis de Pombal had also survived.  He emerged as the primary hero of the disaster, taking command in the chaos with common sense solutions.  Putting aside conventional Catholic concerns for proper burials, the Marquis directed citizens to gather the dead to be buried at sea before disease germinated in the rotting corpses.  He prioritized rescue operations by fire fighters and other government workers.  He pressed civilians to stay and help, under threat of punishment when necessary.  The army built gallows to make it clear that looting would not be tolerated.

In the aftermath of the crisis, four possible plans were presented to rebuild the city, including one to reassemble the ruins on the original footprint, which would have been cheapest and easiest.  The King instead chose a bold plan to build a modern city, free of the limitations of the past, with forty-foot wide streets to accommodate newer modes of transportation, and the popular Marquis de Pombal took charge of the massive reconstruction project.

The beautiful Pombaline Downtown built under his direction utilized "caging," a method by which wood is used to make the structures more earthquake-resilient.

In 1761, the Marquis de Pombal, who was the equivalent of Prime Minister of Portugal from 1750 through 1777, oversaw the abolition of slavery in his country.  As to whether that can be attributed directly to the Earthquake of 1755 is uncertain, but it certainly was part of his modern reforms and his underlying embrace of the Age of Enlightenment.

Many contemporary philosophers including Kant and Voltaire wrote about the Earthquake of 1755 as a seminal event of the era.

Pombal Square, featuring a massive statue of the Marquis, was only 164 feet from our accommodations in Lisbon, the comfortable Dom Carlos Park Hotel.  There's also a Metro station right at Pombal Square, which itself is at the center of a major round-about, making our hotel very convenient.

The hotel staff served us courteously throughout our stay, beginning from the moment we checked in before noon and they stored our bags, delivering them to our room when it became available, while we were out and about.  Our contemporary room and the hotel's chic community spaces were immaculately clean and attractive.  The breakfast buffet purchased in our Travel Bound reservation featured a variety of delicious foods.

The most memorable feature of the hotel was an honor bar.  We particularly enjoyed the sweet, smooth Port wine available for only four Euro per serving during the evening, providing an easy place to unwind at the end of long days exploring the greater Lisbon region.