My last post on the 15th century Portuguese merchant-spy Pêro da Covilhã prompted quite a bit of debate among some readers around how the history of the Portuguese Discoveries should be interpreted: celebrated as a glorious chapter of the proud history of Portugal, or dismissed as a shameful period of imperial rapaciousness and religious bigotry? I understand both points of view, but for me personally it's... just history. History that's hundreds of years old, but with echo

Portugal was united with Spain in 1580 by virtue of sharing the same king in the person of Philip (Filipe I in Portuguese). The Spanish...