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Summary: An Empire in Transition
Review: Published about a decade back, the book represented a much needed contribution (in a book-form) to readers of the Portuguese empire. The last major book on the area appeared roughly three decades back -Diffie & Winius' Foundations of the Portuguese Empire. From the professional historian point of view, it is not that the field is stagnant; articles have continued to appear in specialist journals. Unriddled with footnotes (though references were included where merited), this work is ideal for the layman who wishes to gain an insight into the early modern world of which the Portuguese empire was spawned. Of great help in this sense is also the glossary at the end of the book.The main thrust of the book approached the history of the Portuguese empire from a serious attempt to understand the Asian world in its context and transformation. Hitherto, similar histories were more eurocentric and still is in certain quarters. Nor does it look at the empire in isolation from developments at home, a chapter was devoted to the Portuguese state and society (chapter 2) in which Subramanyam humbly asked for forgiveness for its presumptousness (being written by a non-native). The book was also holistic in the sense that it not only provides a flowing chronological narrative and analysis; but includes a static examination of the Portuguese colonial society in Asia Creating an Empire-Chapter 3
The Crisis-Chapter 4
Reorientations-Chapter 5
Empire in Retreat-Chapter 6
Staying On -Chapter 7 The Portuguese Asian Society -Official RealmChapter 8
The Portuguese Asian Society -The FrontierChapter 9 In the end, as Subramanyam's concluding chapter illustrates, history is about perspectives and far from dead. Seen from the Portuguese viewpoint, the empire might be "trapped" into decline, explained traditionally by corruption etc (undeniably though). Viewed from a background of transformation and geopolitics, the Portuguese empire was actually evolving whilst interacting with its surrounding. Whether the Europeans were bandits or nascent capitalists, this remains for the readers to discern themselves
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