Question

While the spanish were occupied expelling muslims, portugal was?

Answer 1

The answer is - occupied with exploration.

While the Spanish still had problems with the Muslims and were giving their best to expel them, the Portuguese did not have problems of this type, so they were free to develop their economy and perform explorations. Because of the explorations Portugal made, they were able to find out new routes to the east, this meant free trade by their own terms, which led to increasing of the wealth of the country, and thus making it one of the most powerful countries in the world. Also because of their explorations, the Portuguese managed to get hold on to new territories and colonize them.