Portuguese East India Company Portuguese East India Company The Portuguese East India Company ( or ) was a short-lived ill-fated attempt by Philip III of Portugal to create a national chartered company to look after interests in Portuguese India in the face on encroachment by the Dutch and English following the personal union of the Portuguese and Spanish Crowns. Portuguese trade with India had been a crown monopoly since the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India in 1497-99. The monopoly had been managed by the Casa da Índia, the royal trading house founded around 1500. The Casa was responsible
Portugal at the Olympics Portugal at the Olympics Portugal first participated at the Olympic Games in 1912 and has since taken part in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games. Earlier that year, the Olympic Committee of Portugal (COP, "Comité Olímpico de Portugal") was recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the Portuguese National Olympic Committee. In 1952, athletes representing Portugal competed for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games, and have only missed two editions since 1988. As of the 2016 Summer Olympics, thirty-seven Portuguese athletes have won a total of twenty-four medals (four golds, eight silvers and twelve bronzes) in nine