The Portuguese Empire, 1415-1808: A World on the Move [Paperback]

A. J. R. Russell-Wood (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801859557 | ISBN-13: 978-0801859557 | Publication Date: July 8, 1998

This is the story of the first and one of the greatest colonial empires: its birth, apotheosis, and decline. By approaching the history of the Portuguese empire thematically, A. J. R. Russell-Wood is able to pursue ideas and make connections that previously have been constrained by strict chronological approaches. Using the study of movement as a focus, Russell-Wood gains unique insight into the diversity, breadth, and balance between the competing interests and priorities that characterized the Portuguese culture and its expansion spanning four centuries' events on four different continents.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Offers a variety of complimentary perspectives on the background, nature and extent of Portuguese expansion..a powerful reminder that empires are made, not born.

(Lincoln Paine Nautical Research Journal )

Enumerates Portuguese contributions to other peoples' pasts and presents, especially in the contexts of the 'ebb and flow of commodities,' the 'dissemination of flora and fauna' and the 'transmission of styles, theories and ideas.' The original feature is the author's concentration on people and transport as vectors of cultural exchange... He evokes a lively picture of the highly mobile merchants, missionaries and administrators who hurried back and forth across oceans and continents to keep the enterprise going.

(Times Literary Supplement )

A. J. R. Russell-Wood realized that human and geographical factors contributed much to Portuguese success. Some practices were responses to the colonial experience itself. He therefore culled this historical literature, largely modern works in English including his own, to explore a rich variety of aspects of the Portuguese colonial empire... If geography is defined as mankind's relationship with its planet, this book is the essence of historical geography. Informative and entertaining, it is important for its new approach and insights, and because it confirms the amazing global perspective of Portugal's colonial rulers.

(Journal of Historical Geography )

This is a book where every page bears witness to the author's fascination with the Portuguese colonial world and his deep love of his subject. It is the kind of book which results from a scholar's decision to open to the world the files he has accumulated in a lifetime's reading. As a result it is a sort of encyclopaedia of strange and recondite information, colourful detail, anecdotes and quotations. It is certainly a book that any student of Portuguese colonial activity would want to read and, indeed, to own.

(Mariner's Mirror )

About the Author

A. J. R. Russell-Wood is professor of history at the Johns Hopkins University. His books include Fidalgos and Philanthropists: The Santa Casa de Misericoridia of Bahia; Society and Government in Colonial Brazil, 1500-1822; and From Colony to Nation: Essays on the Independence of Brazil.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (July 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801859557
• ISBN-13: 978-0801859557
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and informative reading, February 12, 2004

By 

Rodney Wheeler (Warwick, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Portuguese Empire, 1415-1808: A World on the Move (Paperback)

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.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating!, March 22, 2004

By 

sonia morgan (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Portuguese Empire, 1415-1808: A World on the Move (Paperback)

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.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Introduction, October 12, 2003

By 

Teddy Sim YH (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Portuguese Empire, 1415-1808: A World on the Move (Paperback)

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