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This longstanding effort finally bore fruit in 1943 with the publication of the first História dos Descobrimentos [History of the Discoveries] by a Portuguese author, also resulting from the individual work of Damião de Peres. It also most likely stemmed from his teaching needs for the discipline of History of the Discoveries, first in Oporto and then in the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra [ Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra] (from 1933 to 1959, with a short break from 1936 to 1939 when Manuel Lopes de Almeida taught this subject). However, this work was far too limited, since it only mentioned Portugal's accomplishments: only in an early chapter, without much development, is there a brief general explanation for European expansion, and even then, against the backdrop of what had occurred in Portugal.
Regardless of how the History of Damião Peres is regarded, it is undoubtedly the first autonomous work to consolidate and justify the autonomy of this scientific discipline. In it, the author seeks to address the many issues that require the analysis of great scholarship. And this had been long overdue. More than a century had passed since the initial attempts of Friar Francisco de São Luís. Here, in this pivotal work, territory by territory, domain by domain, the dates and all the facts concerning the discovery and occupation are ascertained. From the arrival in Madeira in 1419 to the concession of a captaincy in North America to João Álvares Fagundes in 1521. It closes with a brief overview of Portugal's collaboration in the discovery initiatives of other states. It is still an essential work today. This work had been long-awaited and had withstood the passage of time: a scholarly basis that is useful for ascertaining the facts about the discoveries and expansion - significantly less as far as colonisation is concerned. With several editions, and still mandatory for students of this subject, Vitorino Magalhães Godinho rightly referred to it as "a synthesis of acquired results and the state of play."
In the same year that Damião Peres published his História dos Descobrimentos, and in the wake of the works of Duarte Leite, Jaime Cortesão and Veiga Simões, the publications of a young Vitorino Magalhães Godinho emerged on the subject. His work changed the course of the problems and research, especially after his reflection entitled Dúvidas e problemas àcerca de algumas teses de história da expansão [Doubts and problems regarding some theories on the history of expansion] (1943).
