Product Description

A unique overview of Portuguese oceanic expansion between 1400 and 1800, the essays treat a wide range of subjects - economy and society, politics and institutions, cultural configurations and comparative dimensions - and radically update data and interpretations on the economic and financial trends of the Portuguese Empire. Interregional networks are analysed in a substantial way. Patterns of settlement, political configurations, ecclesiastical structures, and local powers are put in global context. Language and literature, the arts, and science and technology are revisited with refreshing and innovative approaches. The interaction between Portuguese and local people is studied in different contexts, while the entire imperial and colonial culture of the Portuguese world is looked at synthetically for the first time. In short, this book provides a broad understanding of the Portuguese Empire in its first four centuries as a factor in world history and as a major component of European expansion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167175 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 556 pages

Synopsis
A unique overview of Portuguese oceanic expansion between 1400 and 1800, the essays treat a wide range of subjects - economy and society, politics and institutions, cultural configurations and comparative dimensions - and radically update data and interpretations on the economic and financial trends of the Portuguese Empire. Interregional networks are analysed in a substantial way. Patterns of settlement, political configurations, ecclesiastical structures, and local powers are put in global context. Language and literature, the arts, and science and technology are revisited with refreshing and innovative approaches. The interaction between Portuguese and local people is studied in different contexts, while the entire imperial and colonial culture of the Portuguese world is looked at synthetically for the first time. In short, this book provides a broad understanding of the Portuguese Empire in its first four centuries as a factor in world history and as a major component of European expansion.

About the Author
Francisco Bethencourt is Charles Boxer Professor, King’s College, University of London. He is the author of O Imaginario da Magia and L'inquisition à l'époque moderne: Espagne, Portugal, Italie, XVe-XIXe siècles, and the editor of História da Expansão Portuguesa (with Kirti Chadhuri), and A Memória da Nação (with Diogo Ramda Curto). He has been Director of the National Library of Portugal and the Gulbenkian Foundation Cultural Center in Paris.

Diogo Ramada Curto is Vasco da Gama Professor, European University Institute, Florence. He is the author of O Discurso Politico em Portugal, and the editor of The Jesuits as Cultural Intermediaries, La Cartografia Europea tra Primo Rinascimento e fine dell'Illuminismo (with Angelo Cattaneo), O Tempo de Vasco da Gama, and A Memória da Nação (with Francisco Bethencourt). He has been a Lecturer, Reader, and Professor at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and a Visiting Professor at Yale and Brown Universities.