The Portuguese Empire was founded in 1415 with the conquest of Ceuta on the North African coast. Portugal then led European exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries, establishing trade routes to India around the Cape of Good Hope. Key figures like Vasco de Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator expanded Portugal's colonial holdings and maritime trade. In the 16th century, Portugal's empire came under the control of Spain but continued exploiting new colonies, including establishing sugarcane farms and importing African slaves to colonial Brazil.