Paper short abstract:

In the fifteenth century, Portugal emerged as a key player in European trade, abandoning its secondary position as a commercial kingdom. This paper will analyse how Portugal changed Europe’s late medieval economy by interconnecting European and African commercial systems.

Paper long abstract:

In the fifteenth century, Portugal emerged as a key player in European trade, abandoning its secondary position as a commercial kingdom. Lisbon progressively became one of the most important economic gateways of Western Europe, attracting merchants from the Baltic, North Sea, Atlantic and Mediterranean markets. By interconnecting European and African commercial systems, Portugal became a game-changer in Europe's late medieval economy.

This paper will address the following issues: What was the effect of the overseas expansion in Portugal's maritime trade? How did the Portuguese interlink European and African markets? What was the role of the Portuguese in this process of Euro-African commercial exchange? And how did foreign merchants adapt to the overseas expansion? How were the European economic systems affected by the emergence of Atlantic trade?