Short answers, pulled from the story.
Manuel I of Portugal was king from 1495 to 1521, a member of the House of Aviz who oversaw the peak of Portuguese imperial expansion. He earned the epithet "the Fortunate" (O Venturoso) in Portuguese. His reign saw Portugal establish a monopoly on the spice trade and become the wealthiest kingdom in Europe.
Vasco da Gama discovered the maritime route to India in 1498, funded by Manuel I. The route allowed Portugal to bypass Muslim-controlled overland trade networks and access the spice markets of Asia directly, resulting in the creation of the Portuguese India Armadas.
Pedro Alvares Cabral voyaged to Brazil in 1500 under the sponsorship of Manuel I. Fernao de Loronha subsequently constructed the first Portuguese trading post in Brazil in 1503.
The Manueline style is considered Portugal's national architecture and is named for Manuel I. Manuel used the wealth from Portugal's trade monopolies to construct royal buildings in this style and to attract artists to his court.
In 1496, Manuel I decreed that Jews who refused baptism must leave Portugal, under pressure from the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. Before the expulsion deadline, he went further and converted all remaining Jews to Christianity by royal decree. Those converts and their descendants were called New Christians and given a grace period from religious inquiry that was later extended to end in 1534.
Manuel I died on the 13th of December 1521 at the age of 52, during an outbreak of the Black Plague in Lisbon. He had begun displaying symptoms of an intense fever on the 4th of December and was incapacitated by the 11th. He was succeeded by his son John III of Portugal.