The Jerónimos Monastery there, a World Heritage site, is a stupendous example of the baroque style of Manueline architecture, a monument to the Portuguese maritime empire, inspired by and paid for by the spice voyages.

Go to the waterfront suburb of Belém to see the point of departure and return for ships sailing to the Indies. Lisbon, the start and end of all Portuguese voyaging, is a fantastic city to visit anyway. Paul Hyland: Backwards out of the Big World – Out of print but excellent travel book on Portugal itself, which sets the golden age of discovery within its wider history and culture.įor anyone interested in the Portuguese adventure, and who does not have time and energy to travel round the Indian Ocean, a visit to Lisbon is highly recommended. Sanjay Subrahmanyam: The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama – A detailed deconstruction of the life of Vasco da Gama, unpicking fact from fiction, and an Indian perspective on Portugal’s great hero. They are long out of print but can be found second hand. Indies Adventure is a biography of Afonso de Albuquerque, The Perfect Prince is about King João II of Portugal. He describes a now vanished way of life stretching back thousands of years.Įlaine Sanceau: Indies adventure and The Perfect Prince – Sanceau wrote a string of popular, well-researched books about this period. An absolutely wonderful account of a year that the Australian sailor Alan Villiers spent voyaging around the Indian Ocean on Arab dhows just before the Second World War. Nigel Cliff: The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyages of Vasco da Gama – A popular narrative account of Gama’s expeditions set within the larger framework of the contest between Islam and Christianity.Ībdul Sheriff: Dhow Cultures of the Indian Ocean – A fascinating account of the rich cultural and trading civilization that developed in the Indian Ocean until the coming of the Portuguese, and their impact on it.Īlan Villiers: Sons of Sindbad – not a book about the Portuguese at all, but one I read as background. Explains exactly how Portugal exploded beyond Europe in 150 years, Winius: Foundations of the Portuguese empire 1415-1580 – A serious but excellent history of the rise of the Portuguese. Martin Page: The First Global Village – A highly readable introduction to the history of Portugal and its influence on the world.īailey W. Here are a few not-too-specialist books in English. There has been remarkably little written in English, outside of academic circles, about the Portuguese and their exploration of the world. Conquerors: How Portugal seized the Indian Ocean and forged the First Global Empire

The first global village martin page