History is grim. History is not a little girl to dress up. - Gu Hua
Domination of the world, the word, can be used on the few countries. The countries that once dominated the world, the Soviet Union and the United States, were the two superpowers who jointly dominated the world, and Britain and Spain were once called "empires where the sun never sets."
There is another country, which was originally a small country in Europe, and now it is still a small and inconspicuous country, but it once dominated the world, it was called Portugal, and when it dominated the world, it was called the Portuguese Empire.
The history of Portugal before the 14th century was entirely a history of conquest, and like neighboring Spain, it was constantly invaded, occupied and ruled by foreign nations. It was not until 1297 that Portugal became an independent state.
In the 15th century, the Portuguese began to look for trade routes and survival resources through the sea, and since then entered the age of great navigation, in 1415, the Portuguese colonial empire began to develop, through nearly 1 century of colonial expansion, Portugal expanded its territorial scope from Europe to Asia, Africa, South America and other parts of the world, in 1494, Portugal signed a treaty with another colonial empire, Spain, and jointly divided the world outside Europe, and the Portuguese Empire was in the sky.
The Portuguese Empire was the first world empire in world history, covering an area of 10.4 million square kilometers in its heyday, and was the earliest and longest-lasting colonial empire in Europe (1415-1999).
After the Second World War, the colonial era ended, the people of all countries rose up for national independence, although the Portuguese Empire refused to give up its colonies, but did not have the strength to compete with the world trend, had no choice but to watch them become independent. By 1999, China had reclaimed Macau, and since then, the Portuguese colonial empire, which had ruled for more than 500 years, finally collapsed and came to an end. The Portuguese Empire is back to its beginnings, and it is only the portugal it was.