One of the first European world powers after the dark ages, Portugal, was not more advanced than many of the areas it attacked except for in weaponry since Euro

One of the first European world powers after the dark ages, Portugal, was not more advanced than many of the areas it attacked except for in weaponry since Europe had been infighting while other math and science was being pursued in eastern parts of the world. Regardless of what percentage of motivation you ascribe to "we want their shit" vs "we want them to take our religion," I don't think you can say it was an advantage or motivation driven by intelligence. ("The rich outbred the poor" also seems very dubious, labor was still very manual, so you gotta have someone to do it.)