AdmiralAdmiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, or fleet admiral. The word admiral in Middle English comes from Anglo-French amiral, "commander", from Medieval Latin admiralis, admirallus. These evolved from the Arabic amīral (أمير الـ) – amīr (أمير), "commander, prince, nobleman, lord or person who commands or rules over a number of people," and al (الـ), the Arabic article answering to "the.
ColonialismColonialism is a practice by which a country controls people or areas, often by establishing colonies, generally for strategic and economic advancement. There is no clear definition of colonialism; definitions may vary depending on the use and context. Colonialism is etymologically rooted in the Latin word "Colonus", which was used to describe tenant farmers in the Roman Empire. The coloni sharecroppers started as tenants of landlords, but the system evolved so they were permanently indebted to the landowner and were trapped in servitude.
CoimbraCoimbra (koʊˈɪmbrə, also USkuˈ-,_ˈkwɪmbrə, UKˈkɔɪmbrə, kuˈĩbɾɐ or ˈkwĩbɾɐ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest city of the district of Coimbra and the Centro Region. About 460,000 people live in the Região de Coimbra, comprising 19 municipalities and extending into an area of .
Transatlantic crossingTransatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas. The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America. Centuries after the dwindling of sporadic Viking trade with Markland, a regular and lasting transatlantic trade route was established in 1566 with the Spanish West Indies fleets, following the voyages of Christopher Columbus.
CádizCádiz (kəˈdɪz, USalsoˈkeɪdᵻz,_ˈkæd-,_ˈkɑːd-, ˈkaðiθ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Southern Europe, was founded by the Phoenicians. In the 18th century, the Port in the Bay of Cádiz consolidated as the main harbor of mainland Spain, enjoying the virtual monopoly of trade with the Americas until 1778. It is also the site of the University of Cádiz.
HaijinThe Haijin (海禁) or sea ban was a series of related isolationist policies in China restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty. Despite official proclamations the Ming policy was not enforced in practice, and trade continued without hindrance. The early Qing dynasty's anti-insurgent "Great Clearance" was more definitive with devastating effects on communities along the coast.
MoorsThe term Moor is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim populations of the Maghreb, al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula), Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defined people. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica observed that the term had "no real ethnological value." Europeans of the Middle Ages and the early modern period variously applied the name to Arabs, Berbers, and Muslim Europeans.
Afonso V of PortugalAfonso V (ɐˈfõsu) (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (o Africano), was king of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa. As of 1471, Afonso V was the first king of Portugal to claim dominion over a plural "Kingdom of the Algarves", instead of the singular "Kingdom of the Algarve".
Amerigo VespucciAmerigo Vespucci (vɛˈspuːtʃi; ameˈriːɡo veˈsputtʃi; 9 March 1451 – 22 February 1512) was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from whose name the term "America" is derived. Between 1497 and 1504, Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery, first on behalf of Spain (14991500) and then for Portugal (15011502). In 1503 and 1505, two booklets were published under his name, containing colourful descriptions of these explorations and other alleged voyages.
Giovanni da Pian del CarpineGiovanni da Pian del Carpine or Carpini (Iohannes de Plano Carpini, anglicised as John of Plano Carpini; 1185 – 1 August 1252) was a medieval Italian diplomat, archbishop and explorer and one of the first Europeans to enter the court of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. He is the author of the earliest important Western account of northern and Central Asia, Rus', and other regions of the Mongol dominion. He was the Primate of Serbia, based in Antivari, from 1247 to 1252.
