Before the age of discovery, Europe had been separated for hundreds of years from the Indian Ocean by an impenetrable crescent of territories largely hostile to Christians. The Venetians — always more interested in commerce than proselytizing — controlled whatever trade there was with Asia through their network of outposts in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In order to usurp this monopoly, and spread the Catholic faith, now-legendary Portuguese explorers such as Bartolomey Dias (d. 1500), Afonso de Albuquerque (1453-1515) and Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) were motivated to find a way around Southern Africa into the Indian Ocean and its surrounding countries with their legendary riches. In their wake came merchants and priests who established a network of trading posts linking Lisbon to Mozambique, India, Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), Siam (present-day Thailand), the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Japan. They left an indelible mark that is still evident in family names, everyday language, churches, architecture and cuisine across what was their vast empire.
It is only fitting then that a major new museum of Asian art should be founded in the capital of Portugal, the home of the great explorers who voyaged the world during the 15th and 16th centuries in search of spices, fortune and souls to save. The Museu do Oriente that opened last year in Lisbon operates under the umbrella of the Orient Foundation ( Fundaco Oriente), which was previously headquartered in Macau before the territory was returned to China in 1999.