1. A padrão is a stone pillar left by Portuguese maritime explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries to record significant landfalls and thereby establish primacy and possession. Your classic male dominance kinda thing; a never ending need to errect even bigger phallic symbols across the world with the hope that God (with a capital "G") might be watching approvingly. Due to a lack of creativity, they were often placed on promontories and capes or at the mouths of major rivers. Early markers were simple wooden pillars or crosses — there's that Christianity thing again — but they deteriorated quickly in the tropical climate where they were so often erected, which from time to time would cause major economic problems. Later, padrões were carved from stone in the form of a pillar surmounted by a cross and the royal coat of arms, as seen in this picture.