About the book: 2014 / The prerequisite for the formation of the empire was the limitation of Portugal on all sides by the Spanish kingdoms and the impossibility of land territorial expansion towards Europe. The great geographical discoveries of the late 15th century and the activity of the Portuguese nobility and trading elites led to the creation of the largest maritime empire in the next few centuries. Portugal owned dozens of colonies in the North Atlantic, Latin America, Western, Equatorial, and East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and Southeast Asia. By the 18th century, the empire lost most of its possessions, and in 1974-1975, as a result of the “April Revolution” in the metropolis, it ceased to exist. The book by Doctor of Historical Sciences AM Khazanov tells in detail about the stages of creation, the heyday and the years of collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire.