Certainly, it does not have the name-recognition of the Romans, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, or the British, even though it clung to some of its overseas possessions until late in the twentieth century.ĭespite falling short of ubiquitous, Portugal’s imperial endeavors do not lack for drama. When thinking of the great empires that have risen and fallen throughout history, Portugal does not spring first to mind.
Roger Crowley, Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
In the process, they launched a maritime empire with planetary reach and the great age of European discoveries… era of history set in motion five hundred years of Western expansion and the forces of globalization that now shape the world…” At its heart was an astonishing burst of some thirty years that forms the subject of this book, when these few Portuguese, led by a handful of extraordinary empire builders, attempted to destroy Islam and control the whole of the Indian Ocean and the world’s trade. It is a long-range epic of navigation, trade, and technology, money and crusade, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, reckless courage, and extreme violence. Their achievement has been largely overlooked. “t was Portuguese seamen from primitive Europe who first linked the oceans together and laid the foundations for a world economy. Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts, it brings to life the exploits of an extraordinary band of conquerors - men such as Afonso de Albuquerque, the first European since Alexander the Great to found an Asian empire - who set in motion five hundred years of European colonisation and unleashed the forces of globalisation. Told with Roger Crowley's customary skill and verve, this is narrative history at its most vivid - an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money and religious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality. In an astonishing blitz of thirty years, a handful of visionary and utterly ruthless empire builders, with few resources but breathtaking ambition, attempted to seize the Indian Ocean, destroy Islam and take control of world trade.
But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire. As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten.
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