Almost a millenium later, the failure of portuguese people to defend national independence, accepting to be formally absorbed by the EU, one of the heads of the beast, another end times sign in society.
Looking at a map of 1419, the date of the discovery of the island of Madeira, the day marking the begin of the Golden Age of Discoveries, there is only one nation with the current borders. (1) The same nation that gave birth to the captains of the vessels that first reached the coasts of all the previously unknown Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands (all previoulsy uninhabited); the previoulsy unknown coasts of Africa and South America; and last but not the least, at the end of the Golden Age, almost half of the world's previoulsy unknown meridians, i.e. the Pacific Ocean between South America and the Philippines (2). Actually captains beyond what is taught today as History (3).
The symbol of the Golden Age, ever since day 1 until the end, was the red Cross of Christ, which only portuguese vessels carried on their sails, the symbol of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator.
During the Golden Age, the first thing the portugueseas did as they landed on unknown coasts, was to plant the Cross. The goal was not to turn the natives into slaves (4). The goal was securing the spices trade and spreading the message of Christ.
Notes
(1) In 1419, those borders had already prevailed for a long time. The borders between Portugal and what is today Spain, defined in 1143, the first day of Portugal as an independent nation, were until now the oldest national borders in the world.
(2) Major exceptions were Magellan in 1521, who was portuguese but sailing for the spanish empire, in the first human voyage around the world. That was also the case of portuguese Cabrillo in 1578, the first non-american to reach the Pacific Coast of the US.
(3) Columbus, who rewritten History describes as Genovese, who before beginning (apparently) to work for the spanish empire was living in the island of Porto Santo, Madeira.. He was in fact a portuguese of jewish descent, born in the town of Cuba, Alentejo.
(4) Slavery begun only after the end of the Golden Age of Discoveries, the day Magellan died, days after becoming the first man to have sailed all the world's meridians.
