The wide world of Portugal

At the beginning of the Early Modern Age, the expansion of the Portuguese was responsible for a substantial cultural change: from different parts of the empire, riches began to circulate and changed the living standards of Porto’s inhabitants, an average Portuguese locality, among the 16th and 17th centuries. InO regresso dos mortos, Isabel dos Guimarães Sá analyzes the impacts caused by the oceanic expansion of the Portuguese dispersed throughout the world. Much of the goods were donated to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia by way of wills, as pious legacies for the salvation of the soul. Through various trajectories, the author analyzes how the fortunes of the Portuguese returned to the city of Porto in order to perpetuate the memory of donors.

Keywords:
Santas Casas de Misericórdia; Portuguese expansion; Wills