A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion 1400-1668

In the general category of history there are very few books available to the dilettante historian about Portuguese history.It is fortunate that Amazon.com has given the general reader access to books not found in Public Libraries or bookstores, albeit the bookstores and libraries are under siege.This is a scholarly tome written succinctly and expertly by Prof. Newitt, the Charles Boxer Professor of History at King's college London.It boggle's the imagination how it is possible to understood the foundations of modern world trade, the history of discovery and imperialism without reading this book. We studied and read about Prince Henry the Navigator, Magellan, Da Gama, Columbus, Drake and have a general sense of events that occurred many centuries ago and are etched in our general knowledge of our world.In a short 300 pages book, Prof. Newitt rebuilds our understanding of how our world was shaped by the Portuguese overseas expansion. The Spanish empire is shown in its proper perspective, the Ottoman's loss of the Ocean Silk Road and one of the causes of its decline, how the Dutch and British got their foothold in Asia and it is the first time I read that Oman was an Empire.Highly readable, mind expanding and highly recommended.

If you like detailed history of less known explorations, this is for you.

This book is quite comprehensive about the early Portuguese expansion. It was a very good choice and I recommend it.

Very good book. Pity the author being wrong about Cristopher Columbus. He wasn't Italian, much less son of a Genovese wool weaver or tavern owner, thats's impossible, he could only be Portuguese. Were talking about Middle Age,he lived in the XIV century and not XXI century.That's one of the biggest scams of human history, and tipically it was done by Italians. Who else? There's no other explanation for so many question marks about his origins and his early life. Portuguese have the answer to that. Apart from that, a great book.

This is a highly readable history that does an excellent job of describing both the Atlantic and Asian expansion. I came on the book recently while researching the Cape Verdes. I've been fascinated by the Portuguese empire since long ago knowing some Brazilians in college, they were such interesting people I figured the place had to be interesting too, and I've been reading about it since. This is the best book I've found on the first centuries of the Portuguese enterprise.The most important point this book makes is how the empire was largely independent of Portugal. Mixed-race Portuguese were responsible for much of the expansion in Africa and elsewhere. The initial migration was mostly male, so a number of variations on creole culture emerged. These waxed and waned, but traces still remain all these centuries later, and Portuguese of a kind became a lingua franca in a number of areas, again sometimes outlasting the empire itself. This vigorous creole culture is partly the reason the Portuguese empire survived Portugal's incorporation into Spain.The focus of the book is largely on Goa and the Indian territories, but the whole expanse of the empire is considered. Maps cold be better, and the book could use more illustrations, but as is, it's still a good read for anyone interested in the general subject.

This volume by the former "Charles Boxer" Professor in the U. of London is the best introduction and overview of the Portuguese empire during the period covered. Much better in fact that Russell-Wood.Newitt is especially good on colonial Brazil and makes use of the best work done to date on the economy of that "state" in the 16th and 17th century. Highly recommended.