The document discusses the major influence of the sea on Portuguese culture, as seen through literature, music, and architecture. It notes Portugal's extensive maritime exploration from the 15th to 16th centuries. It highlights Luís de Camões' epic poem "The Lusiads" as glorifying these voyages and being a national epic. The genre of Fado music originated in the 1820s and features themes of sadness, longing, and the sea. Manueline architecture from the early 16th century incorporated maritime elements to celebrate Portugal's naval power.

1. INFLUENCE OF THE SEA IN
THE PORTUGUESE CULTURE
LIVING BY THE SEA
2009/2011
Escola EBI/JI José Carlos da Maia
8º B – Área de Projecto

2. The Portuguese will remain in History for
the intensive maritime exploration undertaken
during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese
sailors were at the vanguard of European overseas
exploration, discovering and mapping the coasts
of Africa, Asia and Brazil. Expeditions started in
1419 along West Africa's coast under the
sponsorship of prince Henry the Navigator,
reaching the Cape of Good Hope and entering the Indian Ocean in 1488.
Ten years later, Vasco da Gama led the first fleet around Africa to India,
arriving in Calicut and starting a maritime route from Portugal to India.
Soon, after reaching Brazil, explorations proceed to southeast Asia, having
reached Japan in 1542.
Mainly because of this, the sea has always
been a major influence in the Portuguese culture,
especially in literature, music and architecture.
LITERATURE
Since the sixteenth century, the sea is largely sung by Portuguese
poets and historians. The theme of the Sea in Portuguese literature
becomes a historical constant, shaping many general characteristics of the
Portuguese identity. The Literature of Travel is one of the richest evidence
of Portugal's relations with the oceans.
Considered one of the greatest works of
Portuguese literature, The Lusiads date of 1572
and this epic by Luís de Camões is the glorification
of the Portuguese people.
Written in Homeric fashion, the poem focuses
mainly on a fantastical interpretation of the
Portuguese voyages of discovery during the 15th
and 16th centuries. The Lusiads is often regarded
as Portugal's national epic, much in the way as
Virgil's Aeneid was for the Ancient Romans, as well as Homer's Iliad and

3. Odyssey for the Ancient Greeks. It was first printed in 1572, three years
after the author returned from the Indies.
Camões is considered Portugal’s greatest poet. On
June 10th, date of his death, Portugal celebrates its
National Day – Portugal Day and Camões Day.
MUSIC
Fado (translated as destiny or fate) is a music genre which can be
traced from the 1820s, but possibly with much earlier origins. It is
characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea. The music
is usually linked to the Portuguese word saudade, a unique word with no
accurate translation in any other language. (Home-sickness has an
approximate meaning. It is a kind of longing, and conveys a complex
mixture of mainly nostalgia, but also sadness, pain, happiness and love).
Some enthusiasts claim that Fado's origins are a mixture of African slave
rhythms with the traditional music of Portuguese sailors and Arabic
influence.
The ingredients of Fado are a shawl, a guitar, a voice and heartfelt
emotion.
Themes include: destiny, the sense of sadness and longing for
someone who has gone away, the sea, the life of sailors and fishermen,
and last but not least "Saudade”.
Black ship, sung by Marisa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ElLSBx9Jo8&feature=fvw
Song of the Sea, sung by Amália Rodrigues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89JbzIhIwlE
The Sea and You, sung by Dulce Pontes and Andrea Bocelli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwfbTVzN-fc

4. PORTUGUESE AMTHEM
A Portuguesa (The Portuguese Hymn), is the national anthem of Portugal.
It was composed by Alfredo Keil and written by Henrique Lopes de
Mendonça during the resurgent nationalist movement ignited by the 1890
British ultimatum to Portugal concerning its African colonies. It was
adopted as the national anthem of the Portuguese Republic in 1911. In its
lyrics there are references to the Sea and the first words are Heroes of the
Sea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqwU1OT36jg&feature=related
ART
The Manueline, or Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous Portuguese
style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th
century, incorporating maritime elements and representations of the
discoveries brought from the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro
Álvares Cabral. It was named after King Manuel I, whose reign coincided
with its development. Even if the period of this style didn't last long (from
1490 to 1520), it played an important part in the Portuguese history of art.
The influence of the style, however, outlived the king. Celebrating the
newly maritime power, it manifested itself in architecture (churches,
monasteries, palaces, castles) and extended into other arts such as
sculpture, painting, works of art made of precious metals, faience and
furniture. Several elements appear regularly in these intricately carved
stoneworks :
 elements used on ships : the armillar sphere (a navigational
instrument and the personal emblem of Manuel I and also symbol
of the cosmos), spheres, anchors, anchor chains, ropes and cables.
 elements from the sea, such as shells, pearls and strings of
seaweed.
 botanical motifs such as laurel branches, oak leaves, acorns, poppy
capsules, corncobs, thistles.
 symbols of Christianity : such as the cross of the Order of Christ
(former Templar knights), the military order that played a
prominent role and helped finance the first voyages of discovery.
The cross of this order decorated the sails of the Portuguese ships.

5. The window of the Convent of Christ in Tomar is the best known example of
Manueline style
The Tower of Belém, in Lisbon, is one of the most representative examples of
Manueline

6. Manueline exterior of the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon.
St. John Baptist Church portal in Tomar
www.wikipedia.org