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This absence of a structured and autonomous history of the discoveries in Portuguese and in Portugal was partly filled by Geschichte des Zeiltalters der Entdeckungen (História da época dos descobrimentos [History of the time of the discoveries]) authored by Sophus Ruge (1831-1903), which played a central role in the historiography of the Portuguese discoveries. This work is not only noteworthy from a historiographical point of view, it also takes geographical science into consideration and its importance for history.
In fact, the "geographical discoveries" are placed right at the centre of the work's constant quest. This was a key starting point, since the "enlargement of the physical horizon necessarily leads to the enlargement of the intellectual horizon and imprints the seal of intellectual virility on the people who have come to conquer this horizon." (S. Ruge, Idem, undated, p. 15). A Eurocentric vision "of the countries inhabited by the cultured peoples" (Ibid., p. 16), which extended to the farthest reaches of China, as would be expected, to pursue the starting point of the World before the great European expansionist currents in the late Middle Ages. The Western peoples were centred around the Mediterranean, while those on the eastern side - around the Indian Ocean - lacked centrality. The cold regions of the North and desert regions of the South were not included in this space. This was an area where the establishment of trade dated back to ancient times. Hence, "The Orient of the ancient world" became "The Western part of the ancient world". The "First Explorations", an erudite vision of the classical past, were reviewed with special attention to the movement of the Phoenician peoples in the Mediterranean.
A Eurocentric view, but grounded on knowledge and the remarkable development of extra-European history. With engagement and the reference to matters that rarely appear in histories written in the 19th century – a case in point is the attention given to the organisation of the Mongolian countries in the mid 13th century. This made it possible to enhance the missionary efforts undertaken by the papacy, and subsequently narrate the voyages of the Polo brothers and other voyages - real or imaginary - that fed the imagination of Western Europeans. Only after this understanding of the world (which occupies the first eighty pages) does Prince Henry the Navigator enter the scene on the western side of the ancient world, where he reproduces the habitual inventions of a palace and seafaring school in Sagres.
