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Portugal and the quest for the Indies
8vo. Bump to spine ends. Several spots to ffeps Dw has wear to edges
247 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 11, 2018
"Portuguese Tars Head South---How and Why ?"
To tell the truth I don't know anything about Christopher Bell. His name never cropped up in the many years I worked on former Portuguese India and was close to Indian Ocean studies. I can't say he was much mentioned by my esteemed colleagues. I bought his book one long ago day in Melbourne, Australia, and didn't get around to reading it for eighteen years. A pity. It's excellent. If you can get past the first chapter---a storm of princes, relationships, and intrigues in which nearly everyone seems to be named "Henry" "Ines", or "Juan"---the rest of the book is very smooth sailing. Bell writes clear, fascinating prose about a complex topic---how Portugal, a small country at the edge of Europe, managed to explore the coast of Africa during the course of the 15th century and eventually, in 1497, sent Vasco da Gama on his successful voyage to India. The book ends dramatically, as the Portuguese ships approach the Indian coast for the first time.
If you are looking for a shorter or simpler history of the whole Portuguese maritime enterprise, perhaps a precis of Boxer's work, forget it. This book sensibly concentrates only on the initial exploratory voyages, with a lot of interesting detail on the Africans the voyagers met. Bell apparently spent many years in Africa and seems to have an affinity for that continent's peoples. It shows very favorably in his history, which explores often ignored byways. We get interesting asides on Ethiopia and the early Portuguese connections to the Kingdom of Congo and the system of single voyagers who set off on often-incredible adventures, walking into the unknown reaches of Africa, just to provide the Portuguese King with information. Bell deflates some legends and some "biggies" like Columbus and tends, if anything, to overstate the Portuguese achievements, which were no doubt considerable but hardly led to "the greatest empire the world had so far seen". (Though it would have been truer if he had added the word "maritime".) The epic poet, Camões, is quoted extensively towards the end, detailing some of the glories of the explorers, but in today's world, when the views of Indians or East Africans can be heard along with Europeans', another view of the rapid Portuguese incursion into the Indian Ocean might resemble Hunter Thompson's view of the Hell's Angels---as a burst of dirty thunder.
Kings and captains, counsellors, queens, court intrigues, maps, reports, North African battles with the `Moors', voyages and wrecks---they are all present here, but a broader social or economic picture is absent. This is a history in the traditional sense, before the age of Braudel. There is no attempt to generalize or connect to larger historical trends. Nevertheless, PORTUGAL AND THE QUEST FOR THE INDIES was one of the most enjoyable history books I'd read for some time. It will hold your attention, you will understand the author's points without difficulty, and you will appreciate the vast enterprise of the Portuguese crown, sometimes conducted in enthusiastic haste, sometimes dragging, but ultimately changing much of the world.
To tell the truth I don't know anything about Christopher Bell. His name never cropped up in the many years I worked on former Portuguese India and was close to Indian Ocean studies. I can't say he was much mentioned by my esteemed colleagues. I bought his book one long ago day in Melbourne, Australia, and didn't get around to reading it for eighteen years. A pity. It's excellent. If you can get past the first chapter---a storm of princes, relationships, and intrigues in which nearly everyone seems to be named "Henry" "Ines", or "Juan"---the rest of the book is very smooth sailing. Bell writes clear, fascinating prose about a complex topic---how Portugal, a small country at the edge of Europe, managed to explore the coast of Africa during the course of the 15th century and eventually, in 1497, sent Vasco da Gama on his successful voyage to India. The book ends dramatically, as the Portuguese ships approach the Indian coast for the first time.
If you are looking for a shorter or simpler history of the whole Portuguese maritime enterprise, perhaps a precis of Boxer's work, forget it. This book sensibly concentrates only on the initial exploratory voyages, with a lot of interesting detail on the Africans the voyagers met. Bell apparently spent many years in Africa and seems to have an affinity for that continent's peoples. It shows very favorably in his history, which explores often ignored byways. We get interesting asides on Ethiopia and the early Portuguese connections to the Kingdom of Congo and the system of single voyagers who set off on often-incredible adventures, walking into the unknown reaches of Africa, just to provide the Portuguese King with information. Bell deflates some legends and some "biggies" like Columbus and tends, if anything, to overstate the Portuguese achievements, which were no doubt considerable but hardly led to "the greatest empire the world had so far seen". (Though it would have been truer if he had added the word "maritime".) The epic poet, Camões, is quoted extensively towards the end, detailing some of the glories of the explorers, but in today's world, when the views of Indians or East Africans can be heard along with Europeans', another view of the rapid Portuguese incursion into the Indian Ocean might resemble Hunter Thompson's view of the Hell's Angels---as a burst of dirty thunder.
Kings and captains, counsellors, queens, court intrigues, maps, reports, North African battles with the `Moors', voyages and wrecks---they are all present here, but a broader social or economic picture is absent. This is a history in the traditional sense, before the age of Braudel. There is no attempt to generalize or connect to larger historical trends. Nevertheless, PORTUGAL AND THE QUEST FOR THE INDIES was one of the most enjoyable history books I'd read for some time. It will hold your attention, you will understand the author's points without difficulty, and you will appreciate the vast enterprise of the Portuguese crown, sometimes conducted in enthusiastic haste, sometimes dragging, but ultimately changing much of the world.
June 11, 2015
Interesting content and competently written.
My only real issue with this book is its fairly narrow scope, and one the author doesn't often venture outside, I just wish there was more detail.
My only real issue with this book is its fairly narrow scope, and one the author doesn't often venture outside, I just wish there was more detail.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews