1415: The Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama arrives in Calicut in May 1498. He is the first European to reach India by sea. Alfredo Roque Gameiro, c. 1900 (Public Domain)

 

The Portuguese conquer Ceuta in Morocco in 1415, turning the first sod in a soon-to-be global empire. They colonise Guinea-Bissau in 1474, Brazil in 1500, Mozambique in 1501, Goa in 1510, Malacca in 1511, Macau in 1557, Nagasaki in 1570 and Angola in 1575. Everywhere they go, they spread the Catholic faith.