The Portugese Empire in Asia 1500 - 1700 - Tapa dura

Portugal, a tiny nation with around a million inhabitants, created a world empire between the 15th and 17th centuries which left vestiges in Africa and Asia as late as the 1970s. To illuminate the Asian dimension of this empire - to show how it came into being and how it changed over time - Dr Subrahmanyam explores the interaction of international and local factors in Europe, Asia and Africa alike. This is a contribution to the early modern history of Asia; as well as to the study of European expansion. The author takes into account a vast literature of recent research by European and Asian historians, in English, Portuguese and French and sets the Portuguese in their wider Iberian, European and global contexts. It should be accessible to a wide readership, assumes little or no previous knowledge of the subject. It is aimed at undergraduate students, historians and the informed general reader and is suitable for courses covering the history of Asia, Hispanic studies, the political and economic roots of imperialism, and the rise of the modern west.