Early American History, researches the origin of Melungeons and other groups. History of Portuguese settlers in America since the 1500's and their participation in the making of America. This is a history of one of the many minorities that makes up the american population. It presents many facts and over 100 illustrations, photographs and charts with American and Portuguese history chronology. It also presents the names of many settlers as well as the anglicized version.
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Exhaustive book chronicles role of the Portuguese in America. We all know the Portuguese sailed the uncharted seas to discover more than two thirds of the world. They made alliances with previously unknown peoples and civilizations to secure a sea rout to spice-rich India. But what do we know about the Portuguese role in the birth of America? There's an easy way to find out... -- From the Publisher
About the Author
Manuel Mira has lived for extensive periods of time in three Continents. This has given him considerable knowledge of the different groups of people with whom the Portuguese have integrated. Manuel Mira is married to Lurdes, has a son and a daughter and six grandchildren. He is the President of an electronics communications firm with manufacturing facilities in North carolina and Florida.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Misconception Hurts Racial and Ethnic Understanding,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Forgotten Portuguese (Portuguese making of America : early North-American history) (Hardcover)
Until I discovered Mr. Mira's book I had little knowledge of Portuguese influence in North America. I found the piece quite informative, and I would rank it as a valuable reference point for students of American social history, sociology and anthropology. I did find, however, that Mira presented too much lightly investigated material as "fact." There has been, unfortunately, little scholarly work done on the Melungeons, and Mira assumes more than he should from both his primary and secondary references. Nevertheless, a worthwhile study in general terms.Additionally, I found the issues addressed in the two reviews currently on file rather interesting. I am not of Portuguese descent genetically. I consider myself Chinese but have had a scholarly interest in Iberian history and sociology (particularly Portuguese) for many years, in part because my maternal grandparents were from Macau (a former Portuguese colony). At first glance I was a bit puzzled by the New York writer's discussion of black slaves in Portugal during the 15th and 16th centuries. If one has a reasonable knowledge of Portuguese history it is clear that this was a rather minimal event and, as the writer points out correctly, of litle significance racially. Without doubt, there have been gross exagerations with respect to the amount of race mixing during this period in Portugal, but a number of excellent scholars such as Russell-Woods of Johns Hopkins have profferd a very clear perspective on this issue in recent years. The academic consensus is that black slaves were a very small "fixed" portion of Portugal's population (probably 1% at the most) and there is substantial evidence that miscegenation, in percentage terms, was actually much less than what occurred in the whole of colonial Black Africa. i.e, French, English and Portuguese. I read the review and then basically said, ok, you are well informed on the subject, but what does it have to do with the Portuguese in North America or the Melungeons? Then I read Mr. Rodrigues review and I found my answer. Mr. New York was attempting, I believe, to deal with racial/ethnic misconception. In fact, to a certain extent, Mr. Mira does try to address such misconception in his book. Mr. Rodrigues, given his name, is probably of Portuguese background in some form. However, his comments show that he is, poorly informed about the Portuguese (and Iberians as a whole). When he uses the term "black moors" he is terribly incorrect. The term "moor",at least from the time of the muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711, was used to refer to ALL people of dark complexion, mainly Arab. Black Africans, the Negroes, were seen in a different category altogether. The Black Africans that formed part of the Muslim tide were mainly slaves or servants and small in number. A good discussion of this can be found in one of Kenneth Baxter Wolf's articles in The Journal Of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Vol. 24 #1, 1994. Mr. Rodrigues should also read Hugh Kennedy's book titled: "Muslim Spain and Portugal." Most of the "moors" as he points out, and with much primary source support, actually came from Syria and parts of what is today Iraq. Along the way the Arabs incorporated the Berbers of North Africa ( who were already present in Iberia to a certain extent) into their ranks. I do not know if Mr. New York has any Portuguese background, but it seems that what concerns him is improper racial and/or ethnic labeling. I suspect what he may be trying saying is that, if you are wrong about the Portuguese you are somewhat wrong about the Melungeons as well, since they are part Portuguese. We have too much improper categorization of people worldwide, and the most misinformation and ignorance seems to come from the United States. I myself have had many experiences with people in the U.S. who held rediculous racial and ethnic notions about Orientals and other races and social groups. Heavens, I ran into a farmer in the Midwest once who thought Jews had horns! In fairness, if our writer from New York is suggesting that ALL people of Portuguese CITIZENRY are white, that is clearly untrue. In small percentages, the Portuguese nation has black, mullato, various asian peoples and others. That is essentially no different than what is found in any other European country with a colonial past. On the other hand, if what he is trying to communicate is that FUNDAMENTALLY the GENETICS of the Portuguese (and, of course, Iberia as a whole) are white or Caucasian he is absolutely correct. The genetic pool was clearly formed many centuries before any REAL non-white group contact took place. One can safely argue that this pool was made up of SETTLERS such as the original Iberians (most likely a mix of Mediterranean and central to northern European groups), Celts and Romans. The Celts were in Iberia for 1200 years and the Romans nearly as long. The Germanic tribes and Arabs certainly made a contribution, but temporaly, and in raw numbers, much less than the original Iberians, Celts and Romans. The bottom line is that genetically the "PREPONDERANCE" in the Portuguese is overwhelmingly Caucasian (European and Arab). All other racial influences are statistically of no significance. To suggest otherwise makes no sense. To conclude, as we can see from Mira's book and our two reviewers, racism in Western society is engendered more by distorted information (and ignorance) than anything else. It is quite important to be sensitive to misinformation and exageration about any race or social group; White, Black, Oriental, Mixed-Race, Portuguese, French, English, Chinese, etc. The first step in erradicating racism is through sociocultural and historical education. The type of education that deals with the REAL facts about a given people or race.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A History Lesson Missed by American Historians,
By Phyllis Jean Brockman (Fletcher, NC USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Forgotten Portuguese (Portuguese making of America : early North-American history) (Hardcover)
This was a complex history of Portuguese sailors, navigators, historians and the ethnic diversity of the Portuguese people. I purchased the book hoping for help in understanding my complex family tree and found a whole different slant on American History. This was a difficult read. Have a handful of bookmarks handy. The author is Portuguese and there were some snags in my comprehension of his interpretation of facts from Portuguese history to English language. I got the sense that the materials should have been organized in a more linear fashion, but that's an opinion that might not be valid due to the enormity and complexity of the material. I found the comparative name lists most interesting and valuable. If you really want an alternative point of view to the traditional Christopher Columbus in 1492, this is the book for you as well as our educational system in the US. It was well worth the money.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Difficult Reading,
This review is from: The Forgotten Portuguese (Portuguese making of America : early North-American history) (Hardcover)
This is one of the most poorly edited books I have ever read. The writing is disjointed; the author jumps from subject to subject within paragraphs and fails to fully address subjects that he has introduced. The book is filled with incorrect grammar, misspellings and sentence fragments. There are many typographical errors. All of the above leads to an uncomfortable reading experience, which sometimes had me frowning and shaking my head as I attempted to get at the author's meaning.That being said, I found many of the ideas that the author suggested fascinating. He focused on several historical anomalies and mysteries that I found interesting. He raised some valid questions; unfortunately, that's all they can be, since there seems to be little concrete fact to support his claims. The book may have served its purpose, however, in making more people aware that the Melungeons even exist. I have no doubt that they experienced injustice, and if they claim to be Portuguese, it is more than likely true in part, as such a claim would not have exempted them from prejudice. Therefore, there would be little advantage in such a claim if it were not true. The later, fully documented Portuguese immigrants underwent many hardships themselves based on ethnic intolerance. The author frequently digressed to shed light on some detail that he seemed to feel needed to be pointed out in order to give the Portuguese credit for historical accomplishments which other historians may have slighted. I'm certain that such slights have occurred. As the saying goes, "The winners write the history," and even though Portugal was once a major world power, that dominance yielded to that of other nations whose version of history is what we have been taught. However, the author's frequent digressions distracted from his main point (or maybe this WAS his main point, and his other thesis intruded?). The result was distracting and made for slow going. It's a shame that his work was not more carefully edited to achieve clarity. I believe the amount of research done by the author and the subject matter itself deserved better treatment.
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