Description
Book Synopsis Beyond the immeasurable political and economic changes it brought, colonial expansion exerted a powerful effect on Portuguese culture. And as this book demonstrates, the imperial culture that emerged over the course of four centuries was hardly a homogeneous whole, as triumphalist literature and other cultural forms mingled with recurrent doubts about the expansionist project. In a series of illuminating case studies, Ramada Curto follows the history and perception of major colonial initiatives while integrating the complex perspectives of participating agents to show how the empire’s life and culture were richly inflected by the operations of imperial expansion.
Trade Review “As all of the articles are very well researched and highly academic, this work will be of greatest interest to graduate students and scholars of advanced Portuguese colonial studies.” • Choice
“Professor Curto’s command of the literature is vast and truly impressive. As a result, beyond his multifaceted and complex objectives, this work is an important historiographic resource and guide. If a reader wanted to know the importance or background of a specific early modern work, this would be a good place to start.” • Bulletin of Spanish Studies
Table of Contents List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. Language, Literature and the Empire, 1415–1570
Chapter 1. The Africans in Portugal: Between Presentation and Methods of Communication
Chapter 2. The System of Slave-Interpreter and Alternative Means of Communication
Chapter 3. The Age of Zurara: Guidance, Chronicles and Reports of Voyages
Chapter 4. The Era of Da Gama: Printed Books and the Distribution of Manuscripts
Chapter 5. The 1550s and 1560s
Part II. Written Culture and Practices of Identity, 1570–1697
Chapter 6. The World Theatre and Imperial Thought
Chapter 7. The State of India: Between Zain Al-Din and the Tradition of the Décadas
Chapter 8. Remedies or Resolutions
Chapter 9. Forms of Christianity in the East
Chapter 10. Reports of Voyages to Goa and the State of India
Chapter 11. Brazil, or the Province of Santa Cruz
Chapter 12. The Dutch in Brazil: Conflict and Dialogue
Chapter 13. The Inhabitants of Maranhão, Expeditions, the Peruleiros and the Slaves
Chapter 14. Colonial Projects for West Africa
Part III. Enlightenment and the Written Word, 1697–1808
Chapter 15. Reports of Voyages, Histories and Translations of Enlightened Europe
Chapter 16. Heroes of the State of India, Scientists and Orientalists
Chapter 17. The Journey to the Far East of António de Albuquerque Coelho
Chapter 18. Public Ceremonies and Academies in Brazil
Chapter 19. Naturalization, Indigenism, Reforms and Voyage Reports
Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Places
Index of Subjects
