EU IV Portugal AAR Part 12 - 1500-1514

1500-1514 King Joao II de Avis, Part 3

Our King is awesome.... he’s been sitting on the throne for 40 years as an adult by 1514, and about 14 years prior to that with a Regency Council!

I’m going to do something different with this update. Rather than do things chronologically, I’m going to split it into sections, and talk about each section for the whole period covered. Let me know if you prefer it or not.

The individual sections covered will be:

War
Technology and Ideas

Other Government Functions

Colonisation

Waaaaaggghhhh! Sorry, wrong game!

War

In February 1500, Morocco declares war on Tunisia. This is good for us, as it means there’s no chance of them looking south towards our province of Rio de Oro.

Our ally, England, declares war on the Irish nation of Connacht in October 1500, but don’t call their allies in

If you remember from our last update, we took the title ‘Defender of the Faith’. In March 1503, we get called to honour our title and help Poland against the heretics in Crimea. Unfortunately, Crimea are allied with the Ottomans, Mamluks and Uzbek. We will accept the request to join the war, as we want to keep the title and its bonuses for a little while longer, but as we are not completely suicidal we won’t actually offer any military aid. We are far enough away from the enemy that they shouldn’t come looking for trouble.

We do get a nice ‘Crusade’ bonus for joining the war

The Moroccan War proves to be a bad decision for Morocco, as they get their asses handed to them by the Tunisians, with a peace eventually being agreed in 1505, resulting in a bigger and badder Tunisia

In September 1507, Poland accepts peace, ceding Bessarabia to the Crimea

Shortly thereafter we notice that England has finished annexing Connacht, and has also vassalised Scotland. On a bizarre note, the Duke of Scotland is 007's great-great-...-great-great grandfather, James Bonde!

Technology and Ideas

I'm not going to dwell too long on technology, as its not that exciting, and the rest of the update is long. Suffice to say that we start the update at levels 8/6/7, lagging way behind the rest of the developed world in diplomatic tech. We finish in 1514 with levels 9/9/7. we have caught up in admin and diplo techs, but now lag way behind in our military tech. There is a reason, however. We have focused all of our military monarch power in advancing the Offensive Idea group, and as a result finish the Offensive branch in 1511, getting lots of nice bonuses for our armies and generals, not to mention a 25% land force limit modifier.

Government

In June 1501, we get a boost to our missionaries when the Inquisition arrives in Portugal. Does anyone ever expect the Spanish Inquisition?

And by December of the same year, Cayor is Catholic. Hurrah! Gabu is still being converted, however our bonuses run out in 1511, and conversion stalls at 64%

Cash for questions? It existed in 1502 as well...

By 1505 we have some new advisors, and our government is doing well, gaining a lot of military and diplomatic power, enabling us to catch up our tech levels. Our Legitimacy and Prestige are nice and high, and our Stability is a very tasty +2

We have also managed to get some cardinals into the Holy See, and have a chance of taking control

With Cayor cored and converted, we can change its culture from Senegambian to Portuguese... which happens by December 1507

In 1512 we pass the Anti-Piracy Act (take that Johnny Depp!)

Unfortunately, in February 1513, our heir falls of a horse and croaks.... bugger!

In a wave of sympathy, Protestantism spreads around Europe! Eek!

Colonisation

In Iberia, territories remained pretty constant through 1499 to 1514. Note, however, that Algiers has somehow managed to declare war on Tunisia without us noticing, and is holding some of their provinces. Also, note the hatched blue in Aragon.... is that France occupying territory? More on that next time!

In North Africa, the situation remained fairly static between 1499 and 1514, with Castile adding a second province, and Portugal retaining the same number (5)

In Southern Africa, however, we added 3 provinces, Luanda, the Cape of Good Hope, and Fernando Po (just off map to the north following the red arrow). Castile has not expanded here at all.

Moving across the pond, in 1499 we were holding a single Caribbean island (red circle), a province in Argentina (red circle), and several in Brazil. By 1514, we have added a second Caribbean province (red circle in second picture), and stretched our Brazilian holdings across the north east coast. Significantly, however, Castile now has 3 provinces in Brazil.

Taking a closer look at Brazil. I think there is going to be conflict with Castile over their colonial expansion. The question is, when?

 That's it for now, join me for a more tense update shortly, in which we'll see what France is up to on the Iberian peninsula, and maybe take advantage of it! ;)