Conquerors :How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
Conquerors :How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
paperback
Published:
4 August, 2016
Popular Books by Roger Crowley
View All Books by Roger Crowley
Description
'A rare gift . . . The story he has to tell may be a thrilling one but not every historian could tell it so thrillingly.' Financial Times
'Magnificently rip-roaring history . . . Bursting with colour and excitement.' Dominic Sandbrook
As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire. In an astonishing blitz of thirty years, a handful of visionary and utterly ruthless empire builders, with few resources but breathtaking ambition, attempted to seize the Indian Ocean, destroy Islam and take control of world trade.
Conquerors is narrative history at its most vivid - an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money and religious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality. Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts, Crowley brings to life the exploits of an extraordinary band of conquerors - men such as Afonso de Albuquerque, the first European since Alexander the Great to found an Asian empire - who set in motion five hundred years of European colonisation and unleashed the forces of globalisation.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780571290901 |
| ISBN10 | 0571290906 |
| Number Of Pages | 432 |
| Item Weight | 356 g |
| Product Dimensions | 129 x 198 x 26 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | Faber & Faber |
| Format | paperback |
| Edition | Main |
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Roger Crowley read English at Cambridge. He has had a varied career as a teacher and publisher and is the author of three books on the history of the Mediterranean. He lives in Gloucestershire and now writes full time. His website is www.rogercrowley.co.uk