Word: mart
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Portugal's famous explorers, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Alvares Cabral and Ferdinand Magellan, extended the horizons of the world, Portugal became the great European mart for silks, spices, precious metals and gems from the Indies. Reaching her zenith by 1580, she began rapidly to decline, fell under Spanish rule for 60 years until a revolution in 1640 restored her independence. Napoleon drove her ruler to Brazil in 1807 and in 1822 that country declared its independence. Her possessions plucked away by oncoming nations, she saw her great empire shrink and her prestige wane. Her last king...