People
Historical Figures and Influential People in History
Explore rulers, generals, thinkers, scientists and reformers who shaped world history. Search for a specific person, or browse by era, region, country and A–Z.
Medieval Period Figures from Portugal in Europe
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5 results
Bartolomeu Dias
1450–1500
He sailed further south than any European had gone, rounded the tip of Africa in a storm, and returned to find that nobody wanted to talk about anything except Columbus.
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Ferdinand Magellan
1480–1521
Portuguese-born navigator who led the first expedition to cross the Pacific Ocean, enabling the first circumnavigation of Earth and reshaping global geographic understanding.
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Gil Eanes
1390–1460
For years, European sailors had turned back at the same cape, convinced that beyond it lay boiling seas and monsters — until he sailed past it and found nothing but ocean.
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Prince Henry the Navigator
1394–1460
He never navigated anywhere himself — but the expeditions he financed from his palace on the Portuguese coast opened the African coastline and began the age of exploration.
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Vasco da Gama
1460–1524
He sailed round Africa to India, arrived with a fleet and a list of demands, and opened a trade route that made Portugal briefly the richest country in the world.
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