Portuguese Feitoria System

Timeline

1. c. 1471–1480Coast of the Gulf of Guinea · Gulf of GuineaIn the 1470s the Portuguese trading-post network pushed southward along the West African coast, establishing feitorias at key estuaries and ports to control the gold, ivory, and slave trades under royal monopoly, and serving as logistical nodes for further eastward voyages.
2. c. 1480–1600Coasts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas · AmericasThe feitoria model spread from West Africa to East Africa, Goa in India, Malacca, and Brazil, forming an intercontinental chain of trading posts that provided a replicable institutional template for the colonial footholds and chartered trade systems of later European powers.