Revised and updated in this second edition, Brazil: Five Centuries of Change vividly traces the development of Brazil over the last 500 years. Author Thomas E. Skidmore, a preeminent authority on Brazil, provides a lively political and economic narrative while also including relevant details on society and culture. Skidmore’s major revision of the colonial chapters […]
In a time of terror for Europe’s monarchs—imprisoned, exiled, executed—Napoleon’s army marched toward Lisbon. Cornered, Prince Regent João had to make the most fraught decision of his life. Protected by the British Navy, he fled to Brazil with his entire family, including his deranged mother, most of the nobility, and the entire state apparatus. Until […]
In 1807, the Portuguese prince regent Dom Joao made an extraordinary decision. Although horrified by the idea of sea travel, Napoleon’s troops were closing in on Lisbon so he opted to transplant his entire court and government to Portugal’s largest colony, Brazil. 10,000 aristocrats, ministers, priests and servants clambered aboard the rickety fleet. After a […]
Portugal is Europe’s southwestern extremity, washed by the Atlantic, and warmed by the Mediterranean sun. Alone among Iberia’s ancient kingdoms, in it’s independence from Spain, it is a nation about half the size of Florida, with two -thirds the population. Yet over centuries, it has influenced the lives of the rest of us far more […]
1509 The Battle That Changed the Global Trade Domain by Jorge Nascimento Rodrigues and Tessaleno Devezas
The book focused on the short period between 1543 and 1549 the infansy years of the presence of Portuguese and Europeans in Japan. The year 1543 marked the beginning of a new global consciousness in Japan with the arrival of Portuguese merchants at Tanegashima Island. This history of Japan’s first encounter with the West, augmented […]
The subject of this slim volume is “a series of events that are essential in understanding Japanese history” — events “totally unknown, incredible, and unpleasant to read.” The nub of scholar Michio Kitahara’s revelation is that throughout the latter half of the 16th century and into the 17th, Portuguese traders sold Japanese as slaves overseas, […]
A unique overview of Portuguese oceanic expansion between 1400 and 1800, the essays in this 2007 volume 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 […]
Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India in the late 15th Century opened up new economic and cultural horizons for the Portuguese. At the height of Portugal’s maritime influence, it had created an oceanic state ranging from the Cape of Good Hope to China. While Portugal’s direct political influence in Asia was comparatively short-lived, its linguistic […]
A beautiful new book by architect Gerard da Cunha and Japanese artist Akeru Barros Pereira takes the reader on a whirlwind ride through Goa’s history and how it influenced the makeup of the houses of Goa. Akeru’s deeply moving paintings show Goan homes in a refreshingly new light, with foliage-framed mansions standing tall in verdant […]