The Funny History of My Country
-
D.M.PAIS
FUNNY STORY
of my
COUNTRY
THE OLD DAYS
The Iberian Peninsula was remotely populated by Keltic, Iberian and Lusitanian tribes, and also by Phoenician and Greek people in the role of settlers, the Greek to the South and Phoenician to the North. Subsequently, the country was invaded by the Carthaginian running away from the Romans but these last were the most successful. The Lusitanian were apparently the descendent of the Atlantes after the Great Flood ...
The emperors of the Dominant Empire, by that time, were Vespasian and Caracalla. Strong signs of romanisation lingered, either in Language, whether in Architecture. After, the region was invaded by the Barbarians, falling much of it, under the dominion of the Swabians. Later, under the rule of the Visigoths, and so, until the end of the sixth century after Christ – the man of most important historic memoir of all Planet Blue. The Arabs, coming from another continent, ended the rule of the Visigoths. A tough guy named Pelagius, a Lusitanian, regained the Asturias. The feudal lords, including Ferdinand the Great, were holding the Arab attacker, causing him to retreat once more. The country had for many years been a fief Castile the Vechia. During Middle Ages, a religious institution called Roman Church, dominated part of the existing states by deliberately preventing, the scientific and philosophical development of Planet Blue in a period called the Dark Age. A new era, the Renaissance, was a time of inventions and discoveries on Planet Blue, many of them the result of adaptation and contacts with distant peoples. This happened with Gunpowder and as a result, the Paper and the Press. This last allowed to display books before a wider audience than it was possible in the Middle Ages. Some important tools that were used by sailors on the seas, in their various travels throughout Planet Blue, were the Compass and the Astrolabe .... The fall of Constantinople, a city in the East, had blocked the way to the West. So, the Lusitanian started to build Caravels (very light high-sea boats), to find a way by sea to the East. In the most important of these trips, departed four caravels commanded by a sailor named Vasco da Gama. The boats were sailing to Mhozambique when the gods met in council to decide the success of the trip. Among the gods, Jupiter found himself surrounded by his daughter Venus, and Mars, both friends and protectors of the Lusitanian travellers. But there was as well Bacchus everytime drunk and who did not like the Lusitanian.
The crew had spotted an island that appeared deserted; they came out to meet some locals sailing on small boats. Without noticing that they were from the kingdom of the Moors who the Lusitanian ever fought, these were entrusting them with the Moors' intentions. They promised the Lusitanian sailors a good guide that lead them to the desired destination, as well as food and water. Thinking that the Lusitanian were Turks, but not having the certainty of that, the locals wanted to inquire of their intentions. Vasco da Gama told them they were heading to far Indhia and, just in case, showing their weapons of war with which the vessels were equipped, but just as a gesture of friendship.
The Moors were, nevertheless, not tranquillised and turned back plotting traps. In Olympus, home of the gods, Bacchus, not flattered by a rebuke coming from Mars at the end of the meeting, had decided to go aiding the Moors. For so much Bacchus transformed himself into one of those who accompanied the islands' Sheik. Inventing enough lies about the unknown sailors, he made the Sheik to panic, deciding the Sheik to make war to the Lusitanian. Bacchus knowing that the Lusitanian would come back in the morning in search of water, the Sheik was advised by Bachus that the Lusitanians should be killed when they would be ashore. The trap, however, just got frustrated, being the brave sailors of Vasco da Gama unharmed, but leaving many dead among the Moors. These returned with new proposals of peace but Da Gama suspected again, accepting, however, aboard, the pilot that was offered by the Sheik. The pilot had orders to take the Lusitanian to another island where the Moors could pitch them a new trap. However, the goddess Venus, friend of the Lusitanian, made Aeolus, god of the air, blowing headwinds preventing he ships from reaching the island. The Moor pilot, however, would lead them to a city that the Moors claimed to be Christian, however not being.
The city was called Mom Baça. When they arrived there, the king ordered to take aboard the ships, several barrels of fresh water and invited the crew to visit the city. Bacchus again works against the Lusitanian. He transformed himself this time into a priest, so, on seeing him, the sailors sent ashore, were convinced they'd seen a Christian priest, as well as the veracity of the statements made by the pilot. Venus, very atemptive to these moves, will, however, contradict the output of the Lusitanian to disembark at the city by triggering a new storm that caused the caravels departing away to the high sea. Thinking that the Lusitanian, had discovered the Moors' trap, some of them, still aboard the ships, thrown themselves into the sea water. From this point the journey continues for the best stops. But Venus, seeing the Lusitanean going once more through many risks, asked Jupiter her father to protect them. He ordered Mercury, his messenger, who appeared in dreams to Da Gama and made him looking for safer harbouring. Obedient to his dream, Vasco eventually reachs Melind, a town of Moors but not as malicious as the foregoing. Gama refused, however, that his sailors left the ships and the Melind's king came to welcome the special boat in which Vasco and a few Lusitanian were sailing. Both, Da Gama and Melind's king, each one on his small boat, richly dressed in silk and velvet, studded with gold and seed pearls. There after, the Moors and their king went to visit the main Lusitanian ship becoming very astounded by what they saw. After sitting down to eat and drink, the king of Melind asked Vasco to tell him the story of the Lusitanian that he just vaguely knew. Vasco began to tell the most beautiful story in the History of Planet Blue. He told the Moors that his country was situated where Land ends and Sea begins. It all started when, in the Herminious hills, a shepherd named Viriato defeated the Romans. Later, a foreign prince named Henry, who was returning from the Crusades, went to Spain and married the daughter of the king of Castile – Dona Teresa. Her dowry was part of a kingdom that would transform into what currently Da Gamas' country was. Since her husband died, Dona Teresa remarried. But the new spouses, would not yield the right of succession to the son of Count Henry – a warrior called Dom Alphonse Enriched – and they began to make him a war. Having been besieged by the Castilian, Alphonse was freed due to the diplomacy of his tutor, Egas Moniz, who promised to rehabilitate his pupil. This one, however, returned to the fight and went on to win over the Five Kings of Castile!
Crowned king, he began to expand his kingdom, conquering the cities of Leiridia, Abre Antes, Sam Tharem, Mha Phra, Sinthra, and Lisa Bone - this last, it seems, founded by a Greek navigator named Ulysses. The town, originally called Ulipseia, i.e. the town of Ulysses, went through a complicated linguistic trajectory to finally be called Lisa Bone. Conquered then the town of Ulysses by Dom Alphonse Enriched, other cities were also taken from the hands of the invading Saracens, both on the West Coast, as in the South. In an attempt to recover what was lost, the Moors surrounded Alphonse, in Saint Harem, when he was resting there, but their intentions were in vain. His son, Pancho, continued, winning the fight against Miralmumini, an emperor with thirteen kings at his orders. Other Lusitanian kings succeeded Henry until, in the reign of King Denis, this one built the celebre University in Coinbridge, where he began to cultivate the Arts and the Sciences. This king was also a fan of agricultural tasks, planting and seeding the pine forest of Lheiria and other arable fields. His son, Alphonse IV, also had to cope with the Moors. They invaded Castile where the king was married to Princess Mary, daughter of Alphonse. The hosts of Alphonse of Castile and King Alphonse, all together, defeated the Moors in the Battle of the Salad. There followed what was considered the bluest of the realm: that of Peter.
This king was fond of one of the queen's dames, named Agnes. She lived in Coinbridge, in a place called the Farm of Tears ( Quinta das Lágrimas ), in the most complete peace. As Prince Peter insisted on marrying her, despite the lady's blood being Castilian, the king that brought her to his presence, following which, she was imprisoned. Since then questioned and judged, the king, influenced by his councillors, ordered a death sentence on her. During his reign, King Peter I, crowned Agnes as Queen after her death and executed her murderers. It is thus known this King as the Punisher. The same can't be told of his son, King Ferdinand, who was very devoted to his wife, Leanor Telly, a traitor for the Castilian. After her husband's death, she urged the king of Castile to conquer the Porto Callis country. The Spaniards gathered the largest army ever seen in Spain and marched against the Portocalleese but they were defeated because the head of the Portocaleese, Dom Nuno Alvarez Pereira, with a small army, engaged an original tactic of war, called the Square Tactic. Forming with his men a large square, empty in the inside, he made the Spaniards, when they were charging against the Square, to enter it, and then getting corralled and driven back, running disorganized. So, this way, ended the biggest battle between the Spanish and the Portuguese ...
Vasco interrupted his narrative at this point and took a sip of wine he had been offered. After that he continued: the one who first had the idea of looking for new lands in the East was King John II, named the Perfect Prince ... He was succeeded by King Emmanuel I that sent Vasco Da Gama to command the fleet that would land in far Indhia ...
By that time lived among the Portuguese a Genoese man called Christopher Columbus, who was a man of knowledge about sea tasks, and who also dealt on new land discovery. That was the reason he came to Portugal, because this country was the one where new lands were forged, so to speak, and all who were enthusiastic about those matters were heading to Portugal to find work in this business.
Christopher Columbus had been in Madeira, where he heard of land signals to the sea side sunset, and began to think that by following the sun's traject, he would easily arrive in India. He spoke on the subject to John II, king of Portugal. The king consulted his ministers and other wise men of his court, who burst out laughing! Columbus went away and began offering his services to whoever was willing to give him a vessel for him to sail away to the sea. He was accepted by the king of Spain, after the Spaniards very hardly questioning him. When in posetion of three vessels, Columbus sailed to the sea, following to West and, finally, he saw a land populated by savages, that would be called America, a continent much larger than Europe. All these lands could have come to belong to king John II did he not fell into the mistake of not believing Columbus, as everyone knew he was a very intelligent man, and so the Portuguese king did not want to give him two or three ships to try his discovery assumption, despite having the Portuguese king loads of ships scattered throughout all the Portuguese ports!
However, the mood in which Columbus made the proposal to the king was not the best kind. Imagine Christopher Columbus coming along to talk to king John II and telling him: 'Know Your Highness that somewhere, at the large of the Azores, there is a very rich country, with loads of gold, silver and many many diamonds, and if Your Highness wish, I'll get there in an instant ... '. Columbus himself did not even know if there was such a country. All his certitude was that Planet Blue was round, and about that he was right – ships sailing to the West, had to, at some moment, coming back sailing from East. But he did not know that Planet Blue was much bigger than he could ever imagine; and if America never showed up, the man w'd find the travel very hard because he still w'd have to go through many more difficulties before he could ever get there, once, probably, he was not carrying in the ship's cellars enough flour, salted meat, biscuits and lemons. There is to take in consideraton that the Portuguese were, for about a couple of years, ruminating insisting in sailing along the coast of Affrica in search of Indhia. They persisted until they finally reached the end of Affrica, and realized that the coast suddenly deviated to the North, and was surely going ending in Indhia. And that's exactly when the Portuguese got what they had sought for so long, ( when they discovered the Cape of Good Hope, and were confident that they'd found the path to Indhia, an information that most rejoiced the king of Portugal ), precisely at that moment, there came Colombus and tell the king: 'Do please forget all that, sire, and begin again to seek Indhia through another way. The king, of course, told him to take a walk on the wild side. Although it was not a great idea to despite a man like Christopher Columbus.
Finding Indhia through the East shouldn't prevent to find it by the West and the Portuguese had already made so many discoveries so far, that it was not the end of the world if some more ships departed to adventure to see what the sea could bring. But that was not what the Portuguese decided and the Spaniards kept America for them and started to rival with their neighbours in matters of discoveries, and began to challenge his rival with regard to discovery, so that it was necessary the Pope came dividing the Planet Blue in two halves, saying: ''To the left discoveries are to the Spanish, and to the right discoveries are to the Portuguese, which made the king of France saying later: So, now, I'd like to see the article in the will of father Adam, that states Planet Blue to be disputed solely between the Spanish and the Portuguese!'' ...
The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 7 of July of 1494 at Tordesillas, (a Spanish city actually belonging to the Province of Valladolid in Spain), divided the lands newly discovered outside Europe, between Spain and Portugal along a meridian 370 leagues (2,061 kilometres) west of the islands of Cape Verde, beyond the Atlantic Ocean). This line of demarcation was situated midway between Cape Verde, already in possession of the Portuguese, and the islands discovered by Christopher Columbus on his first trip serving the king of Spain, known as the Treaty on the island of Antilles (Spanish Cuba) and Cipangu. The lands to the East of that line belonging to Portugal and the lands West of same line belonging to Spain. The Treaty was ratified by Spain (at that time by the Crown of Castile and Aragon), on July 2, 1494, and by Portugal on December 5, 1494. The other side of the world would be divided a few decades later by the Treaty of Zaragoza, signed on April 22, 1529, which specified the anti-meridian in respect to the line of demarcation in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Originals of both treaties are kept in the General Archives of the Indies, in Spain, and in the National Archives of the Tower of Tombo in Portugal. The Treaty of Tordesillas was established to resolve disputes that arose on the return of Christopher Columbus from America. In 1841, the Papal Bull 'Eternal Regulators' ensured that all the lands south of the Canary Islands belonged to Portugal. On May 4, 1493 Pope Alexander VI, of Spanish birth, decreed in his Bull 'And everything else ...' that all lands west and south of the line from pole to pole 100 leagues west and south of any of the Azores or Cape Verde islands, belonged to Spain, however territories under Christian law, since Christmas of 1492, would remain no man's land. The bull did not mention Portugal or, and then Portugal was unable to claim new discoveries even if they stay east of that line. Another leaflet, entitled 'Domain Extension in Apostolic Indies' dated September 25, 1493, gave Spain the main land and islands of India, even those located east of the line.
The Portuguese king, John II, was not happy with the new arrangement, since it prevented the Portuguese to claim land in India when all the sea route was discovered as by this date the Portuguese explorers had just reached the east coast of Africa. The king opened negotiations with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to move westward to the line in order it was for him to be able to claim new lands east of the same line. Spain won the lands that included the Americas. The current western part of Brazil was secured membership of the Portuguese when Pedro Alvarez Cabrals anchored there by 'accident' while trying to sail to India. But some historians argue that the Portuguese were already aware of the existence of land in South America, it was not so 'accidental', the discovery of Brazil, after all. The Spanish did not oppose the Portuguese expansion in Brazil beyond the meridian of Tordesillas. The treaty would become obsolete between 1580 and 1640 while the Spanish king was also king of Portugal. It has been superseded by the Treaty of Madrid that granted Portugal to control over the occupied land in South America. However, this treaty was immediately rejected by Spain. With a new treaty called the First Treaty of Saint Ildefonso the problem was solved by acquiring the Spanish territories east of the Uruguay River and Portugal areas in the Bay of the Amazon River. The Treaty of Tordesilhas just specified the demarcation line to a number of sea miles off the coast of Cape Verde, to the west. Did not specify the line in degrees or value of each mile in length. The resolution of these specifications should be in accordance with the Treaty, and should constitute the objective of a joint trip performed by the Portuguese and Spanish all together ... This trip, however, never occurred. Upon request of the Catholic Kings, Jaime Ferrer, a Spanish geographer, established the demarcation line at 42º 25' west of Greenwich. However the globe where he operated the calculations was about 21% larger than it actually is. It also established the league for his calculations equivalent to the length of 32 Olympic Stadiums, about 6.152 km, what placed the Ferrer line at 2276.5 km distance corresponding to 47º37' on today's globe. The opinion of the Portuguese was based on the Cantino planisphere dated 1502 and placed the line at 42 º 30 '. In 1518, another Spaniard, Martin Enciso, using a globe 7.7% smaller than the current one, calculated the line 47º 24' which resulted in Enciso's planisphere 45º 38' W. But by the confusing description Encino made of the contours where the line would pass, that Harrises estimated the line would pass near the Amazon River estuary, between 49 and 50 º W. Spanish sea riders in 1524 with the rank of captain, Thomas Duran, Sebastian Cabot (son of John Cabot) and Johan Vespucci (nephew of Amerigo Vespucci) expressed their opinion to the Board of Badajoz, which did not managed to solve the problem, originating the Treaty of Zaragossa.
In this treaty was specified the line to be 22º, about 9 miles further to the west, when measured from the centre of the line further west of Cape Verde, on a globe 3.1% smaller than the Harrisse's globe which corresponded on this last one to 46º of 36 'W. In 1524 the Portuguese presented a globe to the Junta of Badajoz on which the line was 21° 30' west of St. Antao which corresponded to 26º36' on the more accurate globe. Initially, the Line did not fully circled Planet Blue. Thus, Spain and Portugal were able to conquer any new lands they were the first, to discover, even if they were locate on opposite side of the globe. But the discovery of valuable Moluccas Islands by the Portuguese in 1512, led Spain to argue in 1518, that the Treaty of Tordesillas divided Planet Blue in two equal hemispheres. After Magellan's surviving ships visited the Moluccas in 1521, Spain complained that these islands were within their own part of the hemisphere. In 1523, the Treaty of Victoria, called the Junta de Badajoz to reunite in 1524, during which both countries tried to reach an agreement on the anti-meridian, but failed. Ended up making a deal by the Treaty of Zaragossa in which Spain would be withdrawing his complaint about the ownership of Moluccas upon the payment of 350 thousand ducats paid by Portugal to Spain ... payment that did never came to check, instead, being established a most convenient position for both parts in which concerned the anti-meridian.
The Moluccas were the only known place in Planet Blue where Blueberries were growing, Northwest of Halmahera island, a spice known for its medicinal value, sold at the rate of gold weight.
The Treaty of Zaragossa did not change or clarify the position of the demarcation of Tordesillas Treaty, or validated the claims of equality of the hemispheres, therefore, the lines dividing the globe relating to each antipodal lands on the globe were not drawn on the same meridian! The portion of Portugal was about 191 º and 169 º of Spain and both suffered from the uncertainty as to the exact draft of the original line of Tordesillas.
Portugal gained control of all lands west of the line of Saragossa including throughout Asia and neighbouring islands even if still undiscovered and Spain gave up to claim land west of the New Line. Regardless, King Charles V decided to colonize the Philippines, judging that Portugal did not protest because it was no spicy islands. But in 1565, Philip II established a trading
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Texte: The author
Bildmaterialien: the author
Lektorat: DGA, Lisbon, 1987
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 31.12.2011
ISBN: 978-3-7309-2935-3
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To Cristina