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A review by checkers09
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire by Roger Crowley
2.25
Conquerors: How Portugal forged the first global empire, tells the story of Portugal's thirty-year period between 1486-1515 where they kickstarted the 'age of discovery' and established extensive trade along the Indian and Arabian coast via conquest and diplomacy.
Finding a book on this subject is quite hard to come by, despite this being an extremely important point in history and a fascinating one at that it hasn't quite captured the public consciousness the way the Spanish invasions in South America have. Unfortunately, I don't think this book was a good attempt at reconciling that Crowley in my opinion was slighly biased in his approach to the Portuguese painting them as a backwater that committed atrocities again the natives without much regard for diplomacy and often lacking in discipline. I listened to some of the book on Audible and whenever the portugese spoke he put on this gruff cruel voice clearly signalling the portugese to be 'the bad guys' and tacking a neutral sounding tone for any other group of people. of course, whenever in history two cultures have come into conflict they have been violence perpetrated by both sides and just wish he had explained that more instead of constantly laying the blame on the Portuguese own cruelty and incompetence whenever something went wrong.
The book follows a linear format starting with Portugal's conflict with Morocco and their first forays into unexplored lands at the behest of John II. Portugal explored the African coast with many expeditions gradually moving further down the continent before finally reaching the south African cape which they hoped to circumnavigate to reach the spices of India. I would have liked Crowley to have given a more detailed explanation of the motives behind Portugal's persistence to find new trade routes to India such as the Ottoman and Mamluk Empires blocking of move easily accessible trade routes. after they reached east India they established forts and protectorates along the coast and over numerous voyages became a powerful force in east India taking control of trade via the conquest of territories such as Goa and Calicut. Although the expedition's primary aim was establishing trade routes to import spices king Manuel and religious leaders also had hopes of coming into contact with 'Prester John' a mythical Christan king in the East, they also sought to weaken the Mamluk sultanate and other Islamic nations which were mostly unsuccessful. The book ends with the death of Albuquerque in 1515 which also coincided with the beginning of a consolidation period and effectively a slowing down of expansion for the Portuguese empire.
As well as the military and economic benefits Crowley also shows the improvements in cartography and navigation brought on by the expansion and mapping of distant lands, the Portuguese maps became the most accurate in Europe and their sailors were known for their great navigational skills. in fact, the only way they were able to round the South African cape was due to their expertise in this area.
The reactions of other powers to the Portuguese explorations weren't explained very well other than some of the Italian states which were economically threatened by Portugal none of the main European states like France and Britain were mentioned. I also would have preferred if more of King Manuels and Albuquerque's letters were included as they sum up the story of the voyages quite well, he sometimes includes quotes from them but he could have simply added the letters to the text as their usually quite short and the quotes he uses sometimes lack context.
Overall I enjoyed some parts of the book like how the Portuguese rounded the cape and the intrigue between the Indian kingdoms but I felt a lot of context was missing and there was too much focus on individual characters instead of the political and economic results of the conquests.
Finding a book on this subject is quite hard to come by, despite this being an extremely important point in history and a fascinating one at that it hasn't quite captured the public consciousness the way the Spanish invasions in South America have. Unfortunately, I don't think this book was a good attempt at reconciling that Crowley in my opinion was slighly biased in his approach to the Portuguese painting them as a backwater that committed atrocities again the natives without much regard for diplomacy and often lacking in discipline. I listened to some of the book on Audible and whenever the portugese spoke he put on this gruff cruel voice clearly signalling the portugese to be 'the bad guys' and tacking a neutral sounding tone for any other group of people. of course, whenever in history two cultures have come into conflict they have been violence perpetrated by both sides and just wish he had explained that more instead of constantly laying the blame on the Portuguese own cruelty and incompetence whenever something went wrong.
The book follows a linear format starting with Portugal's conflict with Morocco and their first forays into unexplored lands at the behest of John II. Portugal explored the African coast with many expeditions gradually moving further down the continent before finally reaching the south African cape which they hoped to circumnavigate to reach the spices of India. I would have liked Crowley to have given a more detailed explanation of the motives behind Portugal's persistence to find new trade routes to India such as the Ottoman and Mamluk Empires blocking of move easily accessible trade routes. after they reached east India they established forts and protectorates along the coast and over numerous voyages became a powerful force in east India taking control of trade via the conquest of territories such as Goa and Calicut. Although the expedition's primary aim was establishing trade routes to import spices king Manuel and religious leaders also had hopes of coming into contact with 'Prester John' a mythical Christan king in the East, they also sought to weaken the Mamluk sultanate and other Islamic nations which were mostly unsuccessful. The book ends with the death of Albuquerque in 1515 which also coincided with the beginning of a consolidation period and effectively a slowing down of expansion for the Portuguese empire.
As well as the military and economic benefits Crowley also shows the improvements in cartography and navigation brought on by the expansion and mapping of distant lands, the Portuguese maps became the most accurate in Europe and their sailors were known for their great navigational skills. in fact, the only way they were able to round the South African cape was due to their expertise in this area.
The reactions of other powers to the Portuguese explorations weren't explained very well other than some of the Italian states which were economically threatened by Portugal none of the main European states like France and Britain were mentioned. I also would have preferred if more of King Manuels and Albuquerque's letters were included as they sum up the story of the voyages quite well, he sometimes includes quotes from them but he could have simply added the letters to the text as their usually quite short and the quotes he uses sometimes lack context.
Overall I enjoyed some parts of the book like how the Portuguese rounded the cape and the intrigue between the Indian kingdoms but I felt a lot of context was missing and there was too much focus on individual characters instead of the political and economic results of the conquests.