1139-1340 CE
From 1139 to 1340 CE, the Portuguese carved Europe's first nation-state from the chaos of Iberian Reconquista, Afonso Henriques declaring himself king on a battlefield and his successors driving the Moors to the sea at Faro. Wedged between Castile and the Atlantic, they turned necessity into destiny — their fishermen already probing the waters that would one day lead to empire.