In 622 AD Muhammad left Mecca for Medina, officially beginning the Islamic calendar. After his death in 632, Arab armies initiated a rapid expansion process. In a few decades, they conquered the Middle East (Jerusalem had been taken in 638……… they killed, persecuted, imposed taxes (jizya), and restrictions on Christians. They destroyed sacred sites and prohibited visits. Muslim armies advanced along the entire North African coast, and in 711 AD, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, beginning the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. In less than ten years, almost the entire region was under Muslim rule.
Finally, Europe reacted. In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade to recover Jerusalem and defend Eastern Christians. During this period, the Templars emerged, and the process strengthened that would lead to the formation of modern Christian kingdoms, including Portugal.
The Black Death (1347 AD–1351 AD), which killed nearly half of the continent’s population, weakened Europe. In this weakened scenario, the fear grew of the advance of the Ottoman Empire, which was expanding through the Balkans and threatening European control of the Mediterranean, then the main trade route between West and East.
Gibraltar, which served as a base for corsairs and a strategic point for North African trade, fell to Muslim forces in 711 AD. The conquest did not have the economic importance of the great Mediterranean ports, but it represented a great military milestone.
Then came the event most feared by Europeans: the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Ottoman Empire, under Mehmet II, destroyed the walls of the last great Roman capital and put an end to the Byzantine world, establishing itself as the dominant power in the East Mediterranean. Europe entered a crisis: trade routes were interrupted, prices rose, and the Ottoman threat seemed irreversible.
And it is at that point in history that Portugal, a small country with few resources and little more than 1 million inhabitants, came to the rescue.
The infantes Prince Henry and Prince Pedro drove Atlantic exploration and the search for a new route to the Indies, rounding Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, a safe alternative to Muslim control in the Mediterranean. After decades of expeditions, in 1498, Vasco da Gama finally reached India by sea.
Arab, Egyptian, and allied fleets of the Gujarat Sultanate tried to prevent the Portuguese establishment in the region. It proved to be in vain. In 1509 AD, in the Battle of Diu, the Portuguese viceroy Francisco de Almeida, with only 18 ships, faced and completely destroyed the Muslim naval coalition of 217 ships, composed of Mamluk Egyptians, Gujaratis, Turks, and Ottomans.
The Portuguese victory initiated European hegemony in the Indian Ocean and marked the decline of Islamic naval influence in the East. From then on, the Ottoman Empire would never again be able to dominate global trade routes and continue its world domination.
Europe rose again, largely thanks to Portugal’s bold maritime ventures.
We are often told about the excesses of the Crusades, and we cannot deny it. The Crusaders were a complex mix, often seen as brutal religious zealots due to massacres and violence against Muslims, Jews, and even other Christians: but also viewed by some participants as pious acts of faith, leading to lasting religious hatred and intense conflict, though they also spurred trade and cultural exchange. While their primary goal was reclaiming the Holy Land, their campaigns involved immense brutality, including the sacks of Jerusalem and Antioch, extreme religious intolerance, and exploitation, leaving a dark legacy of violence and conflict that continues to resonate today.
Despite these flaws, there is no doubt that the Crusades helped save western civilization.
The tension between Christendom and Islam became a constant up to the present day, marked by battles, re-conquests, and cultural resistance.