Portuguese Overseas Expansion

Portugal in the Sea of Oman - Religion and Politics is an editorial achievement, which is unique in the Arab World. In cooperation with the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Oman, the University of Aachen and the Centro de Estudos Históricos (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), more than one thousand documents, ranging from 1504 to 1697, from the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (Lisbon), are published in a trilingual edition (original portuguese, translation into English and Arabic). Thus, invaluable primary sources are now available for scientists all over the world and a new scholarly dialogue about this essential period for the Arabian History can ensue.

Karel Staněk, Sen o novém Portugalsku v tropech: Portugalský pokus o osídlení Šrí Lanky (1580-1630)/ / A Dream about a New Portugal in the Tropics: A Portuguese Attempt to Colonize Sri Lanka (1580-1630)/, Praha, Scriptorium 2017, ISBN 978-80-88013-46-4, 350 p., supplements, illustations., bibliography, index, Prague PHIR 2/2017, s. 125-126

de Lisboa (1195-1231), português de nascimento, é um alvo popular deste fervor religioso. O seu culto é um fenómeno popular na Igreja Católica. Para além de celebrações regulares no calendário da igreja, as suas imagens estão em muitos altares de oração e são alvo de cultos festivos. Os missionários portugueses introduziram o catolicismo no Sri Lanka em meados do século XVI. Pode, portanto, presumir-se que a devoção a Santo António de Lisboa neste país foi introduzido juntos dos nativos cristãos pelos missionários portugueses. Esta suposição é suportada pelas crónicas do período da expansão portuguesa, onde Santo António é identificado como o «Santo de Lisboa» e o «Santo português». Há muitas igrejas no Sri Lanka contemporâneo dedicadas a Santo António de Lisboa, o que revela claramente a popularidade deste santo no país. Este estudo pretende traçar os factores históricos adoptados para espalhar a devoção a Santo António de Lisboa, no Sri Lanka, durante os séculos XVI e XVII, o período durante o qual os portugueses evangelizaram as Províncias Marítimas do país, e também tentar compreender o progresso da devoção ao longo das diferentes conquistas temporais e espirituais.

The article analyzes the reign of the King Manuel I of Portugal (1495–1521), during which the long-standing Portuguese effort to find a sea route to India culminated, Subsequently, the Portuguese power in India was established. Then, the Portuguese influence in Asia spread as far as to China and the Maluku Islands. At the same time, the Portuguese sailors explored the east coast of Africa. The first Portuguese also set foot in Brazil. However, the text also deals with the development of the Portuguese expansion in Morocco and Congo, which are areas that sometimes remain in the shadow of the Orient. Finally, it describes Manuel's centralization of power in Portugal itself and the self-presentation of his court.

This book deals with the Portuguese attempt to settle Sri Lanka in the period between 1580–1630. It analyses, at first, the origin of the colonization project which was a product of the transformation of the character of the Portuguese influence on the island in the transition of 16th and 17th centuries. This character has been changed from commerce-oriented on conquest-oriented. At second, it tries to find the causes of decisive failure of Portuguese and their evaluation. In the same time, it attempts to contextualize the events within the scope of Portuguese policy in Sri Lanka and within the overall context of the Portuguese expansion in the East, as well as in the whole world. The events outside of the island were immensely important for the development in Sri Lanka because they contribute to the formation of military and political concepts as well as to take of specific decisions.
In Sri Lanka, the Portuguese traded since 1506 when they for the first time stood on its shore. During the 16th century, they have been still more involved in the local political situation on the part of the Kingdom of Kotte. Finally, during the 80‘s and 90‘s of the 16th century, they decided to control the whole island. In a very short time, they gained under their direct or indirect control all island territories, except the Sri Lankan central plateau on which the Sinhalese and Buddhist Kandyan Empire laid, which steadfastly resisted. Now, lacked only a little to the creation of some plan of organized and systematic settlement, which has been incited not only by positive results of the territorial expansion carried out hitherto, but also by the success in legal terms – the Portuguese Crown acquired through the donation of the last king of the Kingdom of Kotte claim of succession to the throne (1580–1583), applied in 1597.
The systematic Portuguese settlement should have been commenced, according to the ambitious royal project, in 1607–1608. In principle, Sri Lanka was to be colonized by Christian settlers and control over the production areas of local crops and minerals should be taken over. Revenues from land taxes were to replace the taxation of trade and the collection of the vassal tribute. The economic base of the island, which consisted of cultivation of cinnamon, was to be expanded by other types of spices, especially by increasing the production area of pepper and by the introduction of nutmeg. The king demanded that as much Portuguese, Luso-Asian or Indian colonists of the Christian faith as possible settle in Sri Lanka to contribute to the gradual evangelization and lusitanization of the local indigenous population and their integration into Portuguese colonial society.
Although it has been achieved several undoubted successes, especially in the formation of the thriving Luso-Sinhalese mestizo community, in the propagation of Christianity and in the establishment of the basic elements of Portuguese culture, the overall results evoke rather disillusion and disappointment in comparison with the original intention to transform Sri Lanka into a “new Portugal” in the tropics or into the “second Brazil”.
The causes of this setback can be divided into five levels: demographic, military, administrative, socio-cultural and religious. From a demographic point of view, it can be stated that the Portuguese did not have enough colonists or soldiers in Sri Lanka. The community of white and Luso-Sinhalese mestizo settlers was not numerous, and Christianized Indians did not show interest in settling in Sri Lanka.
The military cause of Portuguese failure must be found in the absence of a permanent army, the low numbers of soldiers of European origin, their poor discipline, their inadequate adaptation to combat in the Sri Lankan mountains and jungle, and their inability to introduce technological innovations. A key role was played by Portuguese inability to secure long-term lascarin loyalty.
In terms of administration, the Portuguese attempt to fully integrate Sri Lanka into the Iberian composite and polycentric empire was an unfortunate decision. In addition, the Portuguese activities were limited by the necessity of subsidize their administration, the result of the permanent nature of the war on the island.
At the cultural-social level, it is necessary to point out the Sinhalese fear of the destruction of local customs and traditions, threatened by the innovations brought by Lusitanization and Christianization.
From a religious point of view, the Portuguese failure was due to the exclusivist, intolerant and militant nature of post-tridentine Roman Catholic Christianity. The unpreparedness of Christian missionaries and the resulting superficial Christianization also played a significant role.
The Portuguese could have been successful only if they had accomplished to find compromise with the Kandyan king, changed their haughty attitude, did not scatter their meager resources and received a little more time. However, unable to any fundamental reform, they have been expulsed from Sri Lanka until 1658 as a result of the Dutch intervention in favour of the Kandyan Empire which caused the deflection of existing balance of power in the island.

Reading some descriptions about the portuguese in S. Thomé de Meliapor made by Niccolao Mannuci  in his Storia do Mogor, reprinted in 1981 from its first publication in 1907, we did a more detailed reading of his work that allowed us to collect his witness on the portuguese habitants of this town but also on the portuguese in India in general,  in the end of the Six Hundreds and beginning of the Seven Hundreds, in many places where Manucci has been, since Bassain, Goa, Daman, Hugli, or in the most diverse places in India where he found them as trade people, religious or military and adventurers at mughal service, as his comrades in arms or as travel companions sometimes. We looked also to the work of William Irvine the researcher who followed the trail of Manucci manuscripts, who discovered and translated them into English since they were produced in Portuguese, French and Italian languages. Irvine also checked many of the events described by Manucci conducting seven to ten years of historical research to assess them and the credibility of his writings. We tried to bring up a better knowledge of the history of the Portuguese in India at this time through different and sparse sources, and we looked for, mainly, the urbanization and architecture that they brought with them and materialized in the harbour towns that they founded or developed as it was the case of S. Thomé de Meliapor, a portuguese town that grew up on the verge of the supposed tomb of the apostle Thomas, in the Coromandel Coast, oriental India. In Manucci work, we looked for the evidences and omissions about how it would look like, the town of the Portuguese, today a small neighbourhood of the Chennai metropolis, for many years known as Madras.
We tried also to complete this knowledge of the town with an historical reconstitution of its past and, departing from a few assumptions drawn from late research on portuguese urbanism and architecture in Asia and in the World, we were driven to open a few clues for further research on this urban and cultural heritage of the portuguese in India, forgotten and almost ignored, except for some well kept churches that still exist, well visible, and which are today Indian architectural and cultural heritage.

For the first time, this book presents to Czech readers the "Portuguese era" (1415–1769) in the territory of today's Morocco, a real bridge between Europe and North Africa. It was in this region that the first Portuguese and therefore European overseas conquest was concentrated (conquest of Ceuta, 1415), which gives it an irreplaceable place in the history of European expansion in the early modern period. The Portuguese Moroccan adventure was predominantly religious-military in nature with an anti-Muslim thorn, as its legitimacy was derived from the concept of the crusades and its primary objective was to ensure control of the Strait of Gibraltar as a basic precondition for securing Portugal's external frontiers and key maritime trade routes. The ideological and geostrategic significance of the territory of present-day Morocco for the Portuguese power interests is aptly illustrated by its name "Overseas Algarve", so that it could be understood as a continuation of the southernmost Portuguese province of Algarve and thus an integral part of Portugal. From a commercial point of view, it was an integral part of the Atlantic economic area and as such had the potential to supply goods to both sub-Saharan Africa and Portugal. The Portuguese interest, originally limited to the coast, gradually grew into an attempt to subjugate the whole country, but its political unification by the Sa'adid Sharifs and the catastrophic defeat of the Portuguese army at Alcácer Quibir (1578) prevented this and caused the Portuguese dominion in Maghreb to never exceed the boundaries of an unfulfilled dream.

Although the so called first Portuguese overseas empire (1415–1668) was mainly maritime empire with the accent on trade exchange and from this point of view contributed to the creation of the world economy, it is not possible to omit the fact that the territorial conquests happened, sooner or later, in almost all its corners or they were considered at least. As the most important stages of the Portuguese territorial expansion, we can indicate Brazil and Angola in the Atlantic area and Mozambique and Ceylon in the Indian Ocean. They were many impulses to these projects which began to emerge especially after 1570’s – from the desire to find still unknown mines of precious metals, to the efforts to reform fragile system consisting solely on the gains from commerce, up to the inability to open new commerce relationships due to the lack of an adequate partner. The most plans of conquest were the results of the ambitions of individuals, but the Crown, finally, included them in its objectives.

Caminhos -de -Ferro em S. Tomé e Príncipe. O Caminho -de -Ferro em S. Tomé e Príncipe e os Caminhos -de -Ferro das Roças" é um livro da autoria de Salomão Vieira editado em 2005 pela União Nacional dos Escritores e Artistas daquele país africano. Debruça -se sobre a história das vias -férreas construídos no arquipélago, quer pelo Estado português, quer por particulares que possuíam a exploravam roças (plantações). O estudo inicia -se na década de 1890 (quando surgem os primeiros alvitres para a construção ferroviária em S. Tomé) e vem praticamente até aos nossos dias, uma vez que o autor faz uma súmula do estado de conservação de algum material fixo e circulante dessas ferrovias. Se nos cingirmos ao período analisado criticamente, este termina nos anos 1930 quando a linha do Estado é oficialmente encerrada. Convém, contudo, lembrar que alguns caminhos -de -ferro das roças perduraram para além desta data, mas a falta de fontes impede um estudo mais detalhado. O autor não tem formação em História. É licenciado em Filosofia e fez grande parte da sua carreira como gestor de recursos humanos. Assim sendo, a metodologia empregue dificilmente poderia inovar, no entanto é adequada para o estudo em questão: recorre às fontes oficiais, a jornais e relatórios e a relatos de viagens para elaborar uma história em grande medida factual dos caminhos -de -ferro na ex -colónia. Contam -se entre os documentos consultados o Boletim Oficial de S. Tomé e Príncipe, o Diário do Governo, a Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro, periódicos coevos locais ou da metrópole (de carácter geral e de vocação mais colonial), alguns relatórios técnicos (o autor não consultou nem a Revista de Obras Públicas e Minas nem o Arquivo do Ministério das Obras Públicas, onde poderia ter encontrado mais informação de índole técnica) e registos guardados no Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino. Neste rol nota -se a ausência dos diários parlamentares, que são sem dúvida uma excelente fonte de informação e, pelo jaez sistemático da sua publicação, uma excelente fonte de controlo para a evolução histórica de realidades que teriam de passar pelo poder central e pelo parlamento. Quanto à bibliografia examinada, predominam as obras de carácter geral sobre Portugal e sobre as colónias, uma vez que literatura específica sobre caminhos--de -ferro em S. Tomé ou nas ex -colónias africanas não abunda, como aliás reconhece e lamenta o próprio autor.

The conquest of Moroccan port Ceuta, today Spanish enclave, by a Portuguese army in 1415, is traditionally considered to be the beginning of the Portuguese and also European expansion in the Atlantic Ocean and overseas in general. In Portugal itself, however, it is not only a stepping stone to building an overseas empire, the first modern global maritime empire of world history, but also led to the launch of no less important invasions into Morocco. These invasions remained by its motivation, character and ideology, as well as by its connection to the idea of the crusades and to the Iberian reconquista deeply rooted in the Middle Ages. As an alternative to building the Atlantic and Asian empires, the expansion in Morocco was one of the priorities of the Portuguese Crown until 1578, when King Sebastian I was defeated in tragic battle of Alcácer Quibir. This contributed to preserving the medieval character of Portuguese expansion as a whole deep into the early modern period.

WORLD CHRISTIANITIES PRIZE ESSAY
This article assesses how Lutheran and other Reformation doctrines spread and were countered in the Portuguese seaborne empire. Portugal’s inquisitorial and episcopal repression of ‘Lutherans’ was extended to Brazil and Asia, where it was supported by the Society of Jesus. The Portuguese empire’s transcontinental connections favoured the emergence of interconnected histories, facilitating the circulation of books, engravings and beliefs and thus provided non- Portuguese people with links to the reformed world that spread amongst and disturbed the Portuguese living in India and Portuguese America. By opening up routes the Portuguese, paradoxically, functioned as vectors for other ways of interpreting Christianity

O objetivo deste artigo é confrontar o conceito da "barbaridade" durante o período da expansão portuguesa ultramarina, no exemplo do Brasil e do Japão seiscentista. Os portugueses chamaram os indígenas americanos dos "bárbaros" enquanto eles mesmos foram assim designados pelos japoneses. O principal tema da pesquisa é a compreensão da percepção  de "alteridade" no limiar do império multicontinental português.

The present study aims to present new archaeometric data from a wide typological rank of ceramics collected in Ksar Seghir (Morocco) and Ceuta (Spain), two different archaeological sites in the south bank of the Strait of Gibraltar occupied by the Portuguese from the 15th to the middle of the 16th centuries. We characterise and illustrate the most common ceramic fabrics and shapes found in these settlements, only possible by the intensive excavation of these two sites. Its mineralogical and chemical analyses confirm the idea that Seville and Lisbon were the most significant production centres in the Iberian Peninsula to supply the two Portuguese North African strongholds. These results reinforce the idea that Seville and Lisbon, besides being two great pottery workshops, played a complementary role as key cities in the logistics of the Iberian overseas expansion since its early beginning. The combination of the typological and archaeometrical studies will allow to better identify the centres of production of these ceramics, which were widely disseminated in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean during this period.

Em finais do século XVI, devido a obras de fortificação, os canais de navegação da barra do rio Tejo começaram a assorear, a estreitar e a apresentar uma profundidade menor, afetando fortemente a navegação, sobretudo dos navios da carreira da Índia, caracterizados pelas suas grandes dimensões. O maior problema verificou-se na carreira de
São Gião (São Julião), que é o canal Norte de navegação e o principal para os navios que se deslocavam para Lisboa, ficando mais sujeito a ser palco de encalhes e de naufrágios. Este estudo pretende contribuir para a discussão destes assuntos, tentando ao mesmo tempo compreender quando é que a carreira da Alcáçova, o canal Sul, terá começado a ser usada pela navegação para se entrar no Tejo e em que condições.

In late sixteenth century, due to fortification works, the navigation channels of the Tagus river rill began to silt, to narrow and to present a smaller depth, strongly affecting the shipping, especially carreira da India’s ships, themselves characterized by its large dimensions. The largest concern was the carreira de São Gião (São Julião), the northern
navigation channel, and the most important one for vessels on their way to Lisbon, which became more susceptible of being the stage of beaching and shipwrecks. This study aims to contribute to the discussion of these subjects, while attempting, at the same time, to
understand when the carreira de Alcáçova, in the South channel, started being used by navigation to enter the Tagus river, and under which conditions.

This article deals with the Portuguese attempt to settle Sri Lanka in the period between 1580–1630. It analyses, at first, the origin of the colonization project which was a product of the transformation of the character of the Portuguese influence on the island in the transition of 16th and 17th centuries. This character has been changed from commerce-oriented on conquest-oriented. At second, it tries to find the causes of decisive failure of Portuguese and their evaluation.
In Sri Lanka, the Portuguese traded since 1506 when they for the first time stood on its shore. During the 16th century, they have been still more involved in the local political situation on the part of the Kingdom of Kotte. Finally, during the 80‘s and 90‘s of the 16th century, they decided to control the whole island. In a very short time, they gained under their direct or indirect control all island territories, except the Sri Lankan central plateau on which the Sinhalese and Buddhist Kandyan Empire laid, which steadfastly resisted. Now, lacked only a little to the creation of some plan of organized and systematic settlement, which has been incited not only by positive results of the territorial expansion carried out hitherto, but also by the success in legal terms – the Portuguese Crown acquired through the donation of the last king of the Kingdom of Kotte claim of succession to the throne (1580–1583), applied in 1597.
The systematic Portuguese settlement should have been commenced, according to the ambitious royal project, in 1607–1608. In principle, Sri Lanka was to be colonized by Christian settlers and control over the production areas of local crops and minerals should be taken over. Revenues from land taxes were to replace the taxation of trade and the collection of the vassal tribute. The economic base of the island, which consisted of cultivation of cinnamon, was to be expanded by other types of spices, especially by increasing the production area of pepper and by the introduction of nutmeg. The king demanded that as much Portuguese, Luso-Asian or Indian colonists of the Christian faith as possible settle in Sri Lanka to contribute to the gradual evangelization and lusitanization of the local indigenous population and their integration into Portuguese colonial society.
Although it has been achieved several undoubted successes, especially in the formation of the thriving Luso-Sinhalese mestizo community, in the propagation of Christianity and in the establishment of the basic elements of Portuguese culture, the overall results evoke rather disillusion and disappointment in comparison with the original intention to transform Sri Lanka into a “new Portugal” in the tropics or into the “second Brazil”.
The causes of this setback can be divided into five levels: demographic, military, administrative, socio-cultural and religious. From a demographic point of view, it can be stated that the Portuguese did not have enough colonists or soldiers in Sri Lanka. The community of white and Luso-Sinhalese mestizo settlers was not numerous, and Christianized Indians did not show interest in settling in Sri Lanka.
The military cause of Portuguese failure must be found in the absence of a permanent army, the low numbers of soldiers of European origin, their poor discipline, their inadequate adaptation to combat in the Sri Lankan mountains and jungle, and their inability to introduce technological innovations. A key role was played by Portuguese inability to secure long-term lascarin loyalty.
In terms of administration, the Portuguese attempt to fully integrate Sri Lanka into the Iberian composite and polycentric empire was an unfortunate decision. In addition, the Portuguese activities were limited by the necessity of subsidize their administration, the result of the permanent nature of the war on the island.
At the cultural-social level, it is necessary to point out the Sinhalese fear of the destruction of local customs and traditions, threatened by the innovations brought by Lusitanization and Christianization.
From a religious point of view, the Portuguese failure was due to the exclusivist, intolerant and militant nature of post-tridentine Roman Catholic Christianity. The unpreparedness of Christian missionaries and the resulting superficial Christianization also played a significant role.
The Portuguese could have been successful only if they had accomplished to find compromise with the Kandyan king, changed their haughty attitude, did not scatter their meager resources and received a little more time. However, unable to any fundamental reform, they have been expulsed from Sri Lanka until 1658 as a result of the Dutch intervention in favour of the Kandyan Empire which caused the deflection of existing balance of power in the island.

O adail Lopo Barriga e a expedição contra o castelo de Amagor Como é de conhecimento geral, Nuno Fernandes de Ataíde, alcaide-mor de Alvor e capitão de Safim, foi dos maiores bellatores da História da Expansão Portuguesa, tendo a sua capitania correspondido ao apogeu da presença militar lusa em Marrocos. Não se pense, porém, que a criação do protectorado português no Norte de África foi exclusivamente possível graças ao labor político e militar de Ataíde. Na realidade, o sucesso da capitania do "nunca esta quedo" deve-se, em parte, ao grande valor dos homens que acompanharam Nuno Fernandes na gesta norte-africana e de entre os quais se destaca, desde logo, Lopo Barriga, o braço direito do célebre capitão de Safim. De facto, a figura deste cavaleiro tem atravessado os tempos envolta num misto de realidade e fantasia, adquirindo uma dimensão onde muitas vezes o factual se confunde com o lendário. Posto isto, convém esclarecermos quem foi efectivamente Lopo Barriga, antes de nos debruçarmos sobre uma das suas façanhas militares. Brasão de armas dos Barrigas em Tombo das armas dos reis e titulares e de todas as famílias nobres do reino de Portugal intitulado com o nome de Tesouro de nobreza.

The study proposes a new critical look at Portugal’s unsuccessful attempt, in 1437, to seize the Moroccan port of Tan­gier, on the south shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The model of the siege and of associated open field military encounters in the vicinity of the pre-modern fortified médina is embedded in a diachronic reconstruction of terrain, historical hydrography, and Tangier's fortifications. It improves on what was outlined in _Portu­guese Tangier_ in 2013. The core argument is that: (a) the standard narrative of the action is riddled with misconceptions, (b) the errors go in essence all the way back to 1868, (c) existing approaches to the topic are flawed on a very fundamental level, (d) the standard narrative is methodologically antiquated, (e) logistically and tactically the siege was a much more interesting episode of pre-1450 warfare than hitherto thought, (f) the warfighting philosophy behind the discernible tactics has been severely misconstrued, (g) the conduct of operations not only was not as profoundly incompetent as commonly stated but, on the contrary, it was quite professional and perhaps even in the upper tier of what might reasonably have been expected given circumstances, and (h) failure resulted from factors more complex than those that have been taken into consideration.

Four hundred years ago, the Dutch humanist and jurisconsult Hugo Grotius was commissioned by the United Netherlands’ East India Company (VOC) to write a defense of Admiral Jakob van Heemskerk’s seizure of a Portuguese merchant carrack in the Straits of Singapore (February 1603). At the time he was twenty-one years old. What Grotius produced between 1604 and 1606 is a comprehensive political and historical exposé on war. Today, this work is known as De Jure Praedae Commentarius, or “Commentary on Law of Prize and Booty”. Only part of this comprehensive manuscript was published during its author’s lifetime and is known as Mare Liberum or “The Free Sea” (1609).
Mare Liberum is essentially a propagandistic treatise and argues for Holland’s merchants to freely access emporia in Asia by unimpeded navigation across the high seas. The freedom of navigation forms a subset to the overarching arguments on the freedom of access and trade. This particular assessment of Mare Liberum stands in sharp contrast to past interpretations, insofar as these have placed the ‘freedom of the seas’ - and not the broader issues surrounding ‘free trade’ - at the forefront of scholarly attention. From this vantage point, Grotius was surprisingly consistent in his thinking on the broader issues of maritime trade and navigation.
During the first two decades of the seventeenth century, Grotius lent a helping hand in the process of forging political and commercial treaties between the VOC and Asian rulers. Far from championing peace and the freedom of navigation on the high seas for which the Dutch humanist is best remembered in modern times, Grotius should also assume a place among the intellectual fathers of Dutch colonial rule in Asia.""""

a cura di Simonetta Cavaciocchi Firenze University Press 2008 La fiscalità nell'economia europea secc. XIII-XVIII = Fiscal systems in the European economy from the 13th to the 18th centuries : atti della "Trentanovesima settimana di studi", 22-26 aprile 2007 / a cura di Simonetta Cavaciocchi. -Firenze : Firenze University Press, 2008. (Atti) http://digital.casalini.it/9788884537034 ISBN 978-88-8453-703-4 (online) ISBN 978-88-8453-702-7 (print) 343 (20 ed.) La Settimana di Studi è stata realizzata con il contributo di: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca

On this study we try to understand in which way was D. Álvaro de Castro involved in the challenges brought up by the Portuguese maritime expansion of the 15th century. Thus, although it is important to understand his involvement in the military campaigns in Morocco, as well as his internal military activity, it is also significant to try and explore his association with the vessel charter headed to Flanders and destined to the supply of Ceuta.

On this study we try to understand in which way was D. Álvaro de Castro involved in the challenges brought up by the Portuguese maritime expansion of the 15th century. Thus, although it is important to understand his involvement in the military campaigns in Morocco, as well as his internal military activity, it is also significant to try and explore his association
with the vessel charter headed to Flanders and destined to the supply of Ceuta.

Portugal in the Sea of Oman - Religion and Politics is an editorial achievement, which is unique in the Arab World. In cooperation with the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Oman, the University of Aachen and the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, the publishing house Philipp von Zabern releases all official documents that have been published during the Portuguese colonial period of the Oman. These documents are historical treasures that allow an undisguised view onto this era. The documents are presented as original scans. During the next years there will also be a transcription into Old Portuguese and a translation into English and Arabic. Thus, the sources become available for scien¡tist all over the world and a new scholarly dialogue about this essential colonial period can be opened.

In the first half of the sixteenth century, the spice trade between Portugal and India spiked the interest of different European realms, leading to overseas expeditions, thus making Portuguese ships from Asia a very desirable target for privateers and pirates, the French having particularly stood out in this timeframe. To face these perils, and in tandem with the mobilisation of armed forces to protect the Portuguese navigation, an espionage network was put in place in order to gather intelligence that could anticipate French movements, be them in regards to expeditions’ preparation, or naval attacks. In this study, we will delve deeper into the intricacies of this espionage network, so as to attempt to get a better understanding of how Portugal received intelligence that informed oftentimes contrasting policy objectives toward its carefully constructed spice trade route.

Keywords. Overseas expeditions, privateering, espionage, Portugal, France

The study discusses the key phase of the Portuguese‑Dutch conflict for a monopoly on commerce with Asia, which dates back to 1621–1669. Portugal, at that time, formed a personnel union with Spain – an Iberian union, whose resources were drained by the costly struggle on the European scene, where the Thirty Years War raged. As the Twelve Year’s Truce (1609–1621) expired, the United East Indian Company (VOC) took the initiative to get rid the Portuguese empire in Asia, called Estado da Índia, of maritime dominance. At the same time, it exploited the Portuguese inability to carry out fundamental structural reforms, as well as the Portuguese‑Spanish suspicions and rivalries, which prevented mutual effective cooperation. First, in 1621–1635, it asserted its complete superiority in Insulindia and the Far East, and, subsequently, between 1635 and 1669, it shattered the Portuguese power in the western Indian Ocean. The result was the collapse of Estado da Índia and the establishment of a Dutch monopoly for commerce in spices. Finally, the author seeks an overall assessment of the Portuguese-Dutch conflict and its effects on the Estado da Índia.

Karel Staněk, Ve službě Bohu a za čest krále: Portugalská expanze v Maroku (1415-1769) In God’s Service and for the Sake of King´s Glory: Portuguese Expansion to Morocco (1415-1769), Praha, Scriptorium 2018, ISBN 978-80-88013-65-5, 473 P., appendices, illustrations, bibliography, index, Prague PHIR 1/2019, s. 95-96

The article deals with the activities of the first Bohemian visitors to Brazil. They travelled there as soldiers in the service of the Dutch West Indies Company (WIC). The company strove to establish commercial bases and colonies in the period 1630–1654 in conflict with the Portuguese, but in the end it failed. The theme is placed in the wider context of Dutch expansion in the Atlantic region, which reached its peak in the second quarter of the 17th century.

This article looks at the main eating behavior in Portugal, since the 15th to the 16th century. The study focuses on the historical sources for the study of the food diet in the Portuguese Middle Age to the modernity and the importance of the overseas discoveries, namely after the arrival in India. (Published: Revista da UFP, nº 3, 1999, pp. 83-99.

This article approches the world of the first Portuguese travelers and sailors and their encounter with the exotic fauna of Africa from the 15th century to the beginning of the 18th century, ie. to the establishment of binomial nomenclature. It tries to describe their view of till then unseen animals and its subsequent placement in the world of thought of the people of that time. It tries also to describe the image of the African fauna as it was created by its first Portuguese observers. The first contacts were marked by ignorance of the different reality and limitations of one's own view of the world. Sometimes these contacts were amusing and often bizarre. The surprised Europeans tended to exaggerate the description of the unknown. At the same time, however, from a European point of view, this is the first realistic capture of an African animal.

The article deals with the activities of the first Bohemian visitors to Brazil. They travelled there as soldiers in the service of the Dutch West Indies Company (WIC). The company strove to establish commercial bases and colonies in the period 1630- 1654 in conflict with the Portuguese, but in the end it failed. The theme is placed in the wider context of Dutch expansion in the Atlantic region, which reached its peak in the second quarter of the 17th century.

The article deals with the activities of the first Bohemian visitors to Brazil. They travelled
there as soldiers in the service of the Dutch West Indies Company (WIC). The
company strove to establish commercial bases and colonies in the period 1630-
1654 in conflict with the Portuguese, but in the end it failed. The theme is placed
in the wider context of Dutch expansion in the Atlantic region, which reached its
peak in the second quarter of the 17th century.

The PSR has reopened a general call for research papers for the period 2022-2023. Thematic orientation is unrestricted, but we are also open to proposals for special Focus Issues or Edited Volumes, in which the proposing scholar or entity functions as a panel organizer and also as Guest Editor or outside editor.

Individual Submissions: (a) Language and Style: Submissions may be in Portuguese, English, French, or Spanish. Papers are expected to follow the PSR norms with respect to abstract, quotations, citation format, illustrations, tables and diagrams. Papers in Portuguese, French, and Spanish are expected to follow language-specific style and orthography. All papers are required to use footnotes, formatted in accordance with the PSR style. (b) Interest to publish: If you are interested in publishing a paper, please visit our website for further specifications and also email the PSR (• [e-mail link active on mouse-over; if you do not see it please enable JavaScript in your browser] • ). Papers should be submitted as attachment to e-mail (formats: .odt (OpenOffice) (preferred), .doc or .docx).

Focus Issue or Edited Volume Proposals: Fully worked out proposals for Focus Issues should be submitted no later than, respectively, 15 May 2022 and then, in the next round, 15 September 2022. Please contact the PSR (• [e-mail link active on mouse-over; if you do not see it please enable JavaScript in your browser] • ) with a tentative list of participants and of approximate titles of articles (or rough article concepts) before submitting your proposal. You will then receive the full proposal specifications. The possibility exists to launch either a Focus Issue (journal issue) or an Edited Volume (monograph).