A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion 1400û1668

by Newitt; Malyn

• ISBN13: 9780415239806
• ISBN10: 041523980X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-12-20
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Over a period of 250 years Portuguese became the global language of maritime trade, and Iberian silver circulated as a world trading currency.A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion 1400-1668provides an accessible survey of how the Portuguese became so influential during this period and how Portuguese settlements were founded in areas as far flung as Asia, Africa and South America. Malyn Newitt examines how the ideas and institutions of a late medieval society were deployed to aid expansion into Africa and the Atlantic islands as well as how, through rivalry with Castile, this grew into a world wide commercial enterprise. Finally, he considers how resilient the Portuguese overseas communities were surviving wars and natural disasters and fending off attacks by the more heavily armed English and Dutch invaders until well into the 1600s. Including a detailed Bibliography and Glossary,A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion 1400-1668is an invaluable textbook for all thosestudying this fascinating period of expansion by all the European powers.

Author Biography

Malyn Newitt is Charles Boxer Professor of History at King's College London.

Table of Contents

List of maps	vii
Preface	ix
Glossary	xi
Maps	xv
1 The origins of Portuguese expansion to 1469	1	(35)
2 Portuguese expansion, 1469-1500	36	(26)
3 Portuguese expansion in the East and the Atlantic, 1500-1515	62	(36)
4 The great Portuguese diaspora, 1515-1550	98	(39)
5 The Portuguese empire at its height, 1550-1580	137	(37)
6 Challenge and response: the Portuguese empire, 1580-1620	174	(43)
7 Defeat and survival, 1620-1668	217	(35)
8 Understanding Portuguese expansion	252	(23)
Bibliography	275	(12)
Index	287