The Sea and National Independence - Re-Reading Jaime Cortesão

Abstract

The author essentially disagrees with the interpretation of Jaime Cortesão which exaggerates the importance of long-distance trading, even though based on agriculture, to the point of converting it into a "national way of life" and a determining factor in Portuguese overseas expansion. Based on historical sources that were not, apparently, consulted by Cortesão, the interpretation summarised by Gaspar Barreiros, nephew of João de Barros, in his statement that "trade and warfare have revealed to us what we know of the world" is considered more accurate. In fact, these two ways of life, in addition to others, had already emerged strongly within the historical scenario from which Portuguese expansionism emerged.