Table of Contents

Early modern Asia - geo-politics and economic change; 15th- and 16th-century states; the circulation of elites; towards a taxonomy; long-term trends; Portuguese state and society, 1200-1500; crdown and nobility; in search of a bourgeoisie; mercantilism and messianism; summing up; two patterns adn their logic - creating an empire, 1498-1540; the early expeditions; from Almeida to Albuquerque - defining the first pattern; the second pattern - East of Cape Comorin; the logic at work - Portuguese Asia, 1525-1540; towards the "Crisis"; the mid-16th century "Crisis"; the dilemmas of Joanine policy; Sas, Sousas and Castros - Portuguese Asian officialdom in the crisis; the mid-century debate; the Far Eastern solution; the Estado in 1570; between land-bound and sea-borne - reorientations, 1570-1610; trade and conquest - the Spanish view; Spain, Portugal and the Atlantic turning; girdling the globe; the "Land" question; the maritime challenge; concessions and captains-major; the beginnings of decline?; empire in retreat, 1610-1665; political reconsolidation in Asia, 1570-1610; Syriam and Hurmuz - the beginnings of retreat; reform and its consequences; the decade of disasters - Portuguese Asia in the 1630s; restoration, truce and failure, 1640-1652; the retreat completed, 1652-1665; Asians, Europeans and the retreat; niches and networks - staying on, 1665-1700; the cape route and the Bahia trade; the vicissitudes of the estado - the view from Goa; Mozambique, Munhumutapa and prazo creation; the Portuguese of the Bay of Bengal; survival in the Far East - MAcau and Timor; the Portuguese, Dutch and English - a comparison; Portuguese Asian society 1 - the official realm; the problem of numbers; teh world of the cassado; networks, fortunes and patronage; "Portuguese" and "Foreigner"; rise of the solteiro; the impact on Portugal; Portuguese Asian society 2 - the frontier and beyond; renegades and rebels; mercenaries, firearms and fifth columnists; converts and client communities; a luso-Asian diaspora?.

Reviews

'...to be welcomed as a much-needed synthesis and an indispensable teaching aid for undergraduate courses on the Portuguese presence in the Orient.' The Times Higher Education Supplement