Sic transit gloria mundi

Golden Age for Portugal was the Age of Discovery (the end of the beginning of XV-XVI century). Timidly at first, and then confidently and persistently the caravel of Portuguese sailors invaded the oceans, revealing the astonished Europeans unknown worlds. Geographers have not had time to update their maps, putting them at Madeira, the Azores, the coast of West Africa ... Bartolomeu Dias in 1486 rounded the African continent, reaching the Cape of Good Hope, in 1498 - m Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India, and two years later, Pedro Alvares Cabral dropped anchor off the coast of Brazil. Following the sailors on the new land appeared the soldiers and officials of the colonial administration in the sky fluttering flag of the Portuguese and the local population became subjects of the Crown. Convoys were brought to Lisbon the New World gold, precious spices and oriental silks and spices, black slaves from Africa. But the golden age did not last long: the metropolis is not the strength to control the distant colonies, many times its own territory. Yes, and competitors, the Spanish, British, Dutch, French, too, would like to participate in the division of the world. By the XVIII century, Portugal lost much of their possessions, and from them today were only two autonomous "Overseas Territories", Madeira and the Azores. Sic transit gloria mundi-so passes the glory of the earth. Traveling to Portugal, recalling the glorious pages of its history, visiting the numerous monuments to kings and naval (without them does not do either one, even the smallest town), see the tarnished luster of the former empire and understand the nostalgia of the Portuguese great past. Modern Portugal did not lead an active foreign policy, focusing on domestic issues. Russian saying that "none of my business" is quite appropriate. Portuguese live on the edge of the continent and take it so detached, that before the country's accession to the European Union is one of the local politicians joked: "It's time to Europe, Portugal is probably the only place where she was not yet".