Studies on Portuguese Asia, 1495-1689 (Variorum Collected Studies) Book

Portuguese Asia or, more properly, the Estado da India Oriental was one of the strangest imperial entities in history. Although initiated by the voyages of Vasco da Gama and the subsequent martial campaigns of his successors, Francisco de Almeida and Afonso de Albuquerque, most of it was created piecemeal by the activities of many individuals, some anonymous. Scattered in tiny enclaves from Africa to Japan, about all it had in common was that it was nominally subject to the king in Lisbon and "unified" by the papal donation of 1493. Resembling a sting of spaced-out beads between Mocambique to Nagasaki, the Portuguese lands included Goa, Cochin in Kerala, and Macau. However, rather than any sort of imperial entity as known in more modern times, the Estado was more like a patchwork of arrangements held together by native weakness or inertia and the only real navy in Asia. This collection of essays tells of Vasco da Gama's first voyage to India, explains how the Estado at the beginning of the 16th century was abreast of the latest contemporary European trends, shows how it developed trading networks and how it coped in its rivalry with the Dutch East India Company, as well relating Portuguese activities in the seas off Labrador and Newfoundland. Among the other subjects tackled in these essays are the Portuguese presence in India and jewel trading, and there is also a bibliographical essay giving printed source materials pertaining to the 15th and 16th centuries.Read More