Portuguese conversos and the Manueline imperial idea – A preliminary study

Abstract

This is a preliminary study on Portuguese New Christian identities connected with Portuguese ideologies of maritime expansion, in which is being argued that a subgroup of converso wealthy “businessmen” of Lisbon led much of the revival of King Manuel I’s imperial ideas by the end of the 16^th century and at the beginning of the 17^th century. Analyzing the Arch of Lisbon’s Businessmen erected during the festivities of King Philip III (II)’s visit to Lisbon in 1619 and making a new interpretation of Duarte Gomes Solis’s “arbítrios”, the author claims that the revival of “Manueline imperial ideas” was a means to both promote the reactivation of colonial commerce with Portuguese India and a way to plead converso integration and social promotion.