The familiar Typus Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius (c.1589). For the early 1600s, the world was suffering from a bit of a geographic identity crisis. As we’ve explored in my post about how China became known as "China" thanks to the Portuguese , the seafaring Portuguese had popularized the name China  (derived from the Sanskrit Cina , likely referring to the ancient Qin dynasty). But while the sailors were docking in the south, ancient legends—and the ghost of Marco Polo—i

For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese had a "No Trespassing" sign over the sea routes to Asia. They kept their navigation charts—the roteiros —under literal lock and key. But every secret has a price. Enter Jan Huygen van Linschoten , a Dutch spy working as a secretary to the Portuguese Archbishop in Goa. He spent years copying top-secret Portuguese sailing directions and trade secrets. In 1595, he published them in a blockbuster book, the Reys-gheschrift vande navigat

I had visited all the countries of Southeast Asia until October 2025, when Timor-Leste became the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). I therefore took advantage of my son’s Easter school holiday to visit the former Portuguese territory, so here’s a bit of a photo essay. We arrived in the capital Dili, a town of 300,000 inhabitants. The Portuguese influence was immediately apparent: the language of Camões is one of two official languages, the oth

Although the Portuguese have been present in Asia for 500 years, the number of Portuguese restaurants in the region is relatively limited (compared with, say, Italian restaurants). Goa and Malacca have the longest history, and there are indeed many Portuguese-inflected eateries in both cities. However, the vast majority are Luso-Asian, serving up delicious dishes that represent their respective hybrid cultural influences. Macau is clearly the top choice for high-end Portugue

Illustration from https://www.xn--luisdecames-nfb.pt/ Over 2024 and 2025, Portugal celebrated the half-millenium since the birth of the country's national poet, Luís de Camões. A Rede Camões na Ásia & África ( the Camões Network in Asia and Africa), of which this blog is a proud sponsor, just held the Third Congress in Goa on March 12. The Network also launched a call for submissions for the second edition of the Revista de Estudos Camonianos (Journal of Camonian Studies)