Nanban trade or the Nanban trade period was a period in the history of Japan from the arrival of Europeans in 1543 to the first Sakoku Seclusion Edicts of isolationism in 1614. Nanban is a Japanese word which had been used to designate people from Southern China, the Ryukyu Islands, the Indian Ocean, and Southeast Asia centuries prior to the arrival of the first Europeans. For instance, according to the Nihon Kiryaku (日本紀略), Dazaifu, the administrative center of Kyūshū, reported that the Nanban pirates, who were identified as Amami islanders by the Shōyūki, pillaged a wide area of Kyūshū in 997. In response, Dazaifu ordered Kikaijima (貴駕島) to arrest the Nanban.

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira. It features the westernmost point in continental Europe, its mainland west and south border with the North Atlantic Ocean and in the north and east, the Portugal-Spain border constitutes the longest uninterrupted border-line in the European Union. Its archipelagos form two autonomous regions with their own regional governments. In the mainland, Alentejo region occupies the biggest area but is one of the regions in Europe with a lower population density. Lisbon is the capital and largest city by population, being also the main spot for tourists alongside Porto and Algarve.