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

by A.J.R. Russell-Wood

Winner of the Dom João de Castro Prize for Portuguese History This is the story of the first and one of the greatest colonial 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.

Genres: History, Portugal, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Vysloczil]

The strength of the book is that it considers the Portuguese seafaring and exploratory enterprise as a whole, not focussing on specific time periods, areas, or people. In this sense it is the first (and only still?) of its kind. Military and political dimensions are neglected for the most part.

It is organised by topics rather than in a chronological order which is appealing at times. Overall it is a comparatively light read and full of illustrations and maps. It has to be noted, though, that for a full understanding of how the Portuguese aimed to organized their seaborne empire you should resort to Boxer, Pearson, or Subrahmanyam.

[AC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a disapointment. It is done by a very professional historian, and so it cannot get 2-stars - but it should have been much, much better.

First of all, it is not a chronological account, but is topical (with a heavy emphasis on minute descriptions of various aspects of what would be called 'social history'). Worse - apart from being dry and not very well organzied -- the author is apparently bored with the main lines of his subject and more interested in the unimportant byways. So, in his introductory chapter - the overview chapter - Magellan and de Gama both get a sentence, but pages are devoted to the Portugese exploration of Ethiopia.

Boxer's The Portugese Seaborne Empire is likely better, but prohibitively expensive.

For a basic account, it's best therefore to look for Boxer, Diffie/Winius (also not cheaply available: http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Por...), or to stick with Parry - which I'm now going to reread.

[Debra · Rating 1 out of 5]

This ought to have been a fascinating book, but it was tedious, boring, dull, mind-numbing ... I can only assume that Russell-Wood was hoping to make some money out of his thesis. Given the Portuguese exploits and scope, and all the source materials available it is a pity that we are provided with a list of names, statistics, and contorted relationships.

What I learned from the book - if you come across an unreviewed book on a subject with not much material, avoid it like the plague.

[Maria Coustols · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic book! how the world changed with the movement of the portuguese in the XV and XVI centuries. People, fauna and flora changed countries to give birth to new cultures

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part this book reads like a collection of descriptive lists - which flora and fauna went where, who explored or what or established relations where. There's a lot of surface detail, which is good for an introduction, but chapters trying to move beyond such descriptions were disappointing; the chapter on the spread of ideas and mores had not much to say about its topic. There was no in depth investigations of the ways cultures encountered and interacted with each other beyond cataloging that exchanges happened and what they were. A good primer if you're interested in the cataloging of Portoguese exchange with the rest of its global network, but if you're looking for more in depth examinations of these relationships you'll have to go elsewhere. I never felt the sense of motion the title implies.

[A M · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Thus went we opening those seas, which
(save our own) no nation open'd ere before,
Seeing those new Isles and climates near which brave
Prince Henry Shewd unto the world before..."
Luís Vaz de Camões, Os Lusíadas

[CodingRacoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

É um livro muito aborrecido de se ler, no entanto, acho que toca em assuntos bem importantes dos descobrimentos Portugueses, mas a cada 10 ou 20 páginas. Apenas li este livro por curiosidade, dai as 3 estrelas, mas se fosse para um estudo mais aprofundado da historia de Portugal daria 5 estrelas.

[Alexander Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prose itself is well written, but the author makes this difficult to read for either purposes of enjoyment or scholarship. For the latter, this is a book that could seriously do with some headings. Ideas sometimes seem jumbled together, given to the reader in paragraph long biographies of random individuals. For the former, certain seemingly central events or institutions are mentioned in a way that assumes prior knowledge.

Still, Russell-Wood writes in an engaging manner and his use of biographies makes the communication of his thesis more interesting than might be typical in maritime history. And he certainly seems to prove his thesis: the reader will likely leave rather convinced that the Portuguese empire was indeed globally interconnected with not just one hub but many.

[Charles Nicholas Saenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Portuguese Empire, 1415-1808: A World on the Move" builds around an interesting idea: movement, of ships, people, comodities, flora, fauna, style, mores, ideas, words, and images. This attempt traces the networks of exchange and travel that linked the Portuguese colonial enterprise into an almost uniform whole. This technique breaks apart the tendancy to compartmentalize the Portuguese overseas empire. Structured thematically, A.J.R. Russell-Wood's writing captures the lasting siginificance of Portuguese Empire - a fitting accomplishment for a text first published in the same year as the quincentennial of Spain's foray into overseas conquest.

[Tony Mercer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book of the topics of movement that affected the Portuguese empire. The author is extremely competent on the subject of Portuguese history. It is sometimes hard to follow the topical advancement of his ideas as opposed to chronological, especially for someone like me who is extremely educated in Portuguese history. This book was on the edge of being interesting for the layman but still very sholarly, almost too much so, making it a little bumpy to read. But overall I learned a lot and enjoyed the journey through the Portuguese empire on the move.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good work on the subject- primarily about movement and connections within the "empire" than about structures of empire. Not the most interesting in parts, though. (Hist 362- Univ Sophomore)