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Title: The Portuguese Empire, 1415-1808: A World on the Move by A. J. R. Russell-Wood ISBN: 0-8018-5955-7 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: July, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating!
Comment: This is a lively account of the Portuguese sea discoveries in the 15th and 16th century, arriving at new lands and meeting new people, the trade and other exchanges that followed, all presented in a most interesting manner. Movement, colour, adventure make this book engaging reading. I also have Hermano Saraiva' s "Portugal a Companion History", another excellent book. I think they go very well together, one for the overseas history the other for Portugal itself. These are two books that bring history to life.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating and informative reading
Comment: This book on the Portuguese history overseas is not a boring record of past events but a lively account of the intense movement of the Portuguese in the so-called Age of Discoveries, from Madeira to Brazil, to Japan and to Korea. It is a fascinating and well-documented record of the constant flow of people and commodities between Portugal and Africa, Asia and America. The superb illustrations help bring to life this constant flux and reflux. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am very happy to recommend it to anyone interested in Portugal and its people,of today and yesterday.
Rating: 4
Summary: Another Great Introduction
Comment: In terms of scope of work, Russell-Wood's Portuguese Empire -World on the Move is a welcome addition to the "holistic" study of Portuguese overseas enterprise. To be sure, Portuguese scholarship has "caught up" with developments in Western historiography in the last two decades or so; there is also no shortage of area studies. Yet coverage remains uneven and this is especially so where English works on the subject is concerned
In terms of Western historiography, global history remains a nascent field. The diversely and globally located formal and informal enclaves does not mean that the overseas experiences belong to the Portuguese people alone, they were not to be claimed exclusively by Asians, Africans or Brazilians either; but as one scholar remarked -it was a shared memory
Like its more "matured" British counterpart, Portuguese history is increasingly interacting with indigenous and primary sources. Russell-Wood's Portuguese Empire is built on largely secondary sources, as expected; including afew Portuguese primary materials. Mastering the languages and the necessary paleography remains a daunting task for any historian. Eventhough the perspective might be Portuguese, the issues dealt with are global in nature; qualifying it in the category of world history. Russell-Wood also clarified from the beginning that he will not be probing too much into the political-administrative-military aspect but with explore the technologies, geography, demography, economics, ideas and dynamics of ecology (ie flora, fauna and disease)
In terms of perspective, the Portuguese Empire does indeed take on a "new history" approach, looking not only at the business of "the high class" in society (ie administrators and clergy) but also at the individuals and the voiceless
Whether in terms of human experience or traffic of goods, Russell-Wood has woven the international nature of the Portuguese empire well into the book. In an illustration of the former, there was a father and son team who were given appointments from Brazil to Africa to Goa and Macao and even returning briefly to Portugal to participate in the War of Spanish Succession (p 70-1). In the terms of trade, cloves from Ternate were carried to Malacca, to Cochim, then to Lisbon, reloaded there for Morocco and exchanged for wheat which became a further part of the exchange system of the South Atlantic (p 134). Excellent maps and tables were also interspersed in the book to explain the flow and traffic of commodities exchanged between the Portuguese and their hosts or that of the complicated wind system of the Atlantic or Indian Ocean
In some ways, the largely non new primary resource based and reinterpretative nature of the book meant it will still resonates afew outdated ideas. For example, the book continues to portray a planned approach by which the Portuguese were undertaking their overseas enterprise (p 21). Even the historians of the more "successful" British are conceiting that the formation of its First Empire might be more haphazard that what have been previously believed. Granted, the Portuguese venture had seen more of the state/crown intervention in the beginning than the private enterprise approach of the British; logistical and technological challenges of the time forbid a more coordinated effort
The book professed to look at development of the "Portuguese Empire" to the eve of the Napoleonic Wars just on the onset of nineteenth century (beginning of modern era?). Space does not permit it to treat the entire period with justice even on the secondary sources available. On trying to tie the Portuguese world together, the book did a splendid job and certainly complement, as the author humbly acknowledged, Boxer CR's magnificently written Portuguese Seaborne Empire as well as many other research done to date on political and military aspect of this human experience
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Title: Prince Henry the Navigator by Peter Russell ISBN: 0300091303 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture by Jose Saramago, Amanda Hopkinson, Nick Caistor ISBN: 0156007134 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 06 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Lusiads by Luis Vaz De Camoes, Landeg White, Luis Vaz de Camoies ISBN: 0192801511 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: A Concise History of Portugal by David Birmingham ISBN: 0521438802 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 17 June, 1993 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Maias (Penguin Classics) by Eca De Queiros, Ann Stevens, Patrica McGowan Pinheiro, Jose Maria Eca de Queiros ISBN: 014044694X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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