Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire

by Roger Crowley

Overview

In Conquerors, New York Times bestselling author Roger Crowley gives us the epic story of the emergence of Portugal, a small, poor nation that enjoyed a century of maritime supremacy thanks to the daring and navigational skill of its explorers—a tactical advantage no other country could match. Portugal’s discovery of a sea route to India, campaign of imperial conquest over Muslim rulers, and domination of the spice trade would forever disrupt the Mediterranean and build the first global economy.

Crowley relies on letters and eyewitness testimony to tell the story of tiny Portugal’s rapid and breathtaking rise to power. Conquerors reveals the Império Português in all of its splendor and ferocity, bringing to life the personalities of the enterprising and fanatical house of Aviz. Figures such as King Manuel “the Fortunate,” João II “the Perfect Prince,” marauding governor Afonso de Albuquerque, and explorer Vasco da Gama juggled their private ambitions and the public aims of the empire, often suffering astonishing losses in pursuit of a global fortune. Also central to the story of Portugal’s ascent was its drive to eradicate Islamic culture and establish a Christian empire in the Indian Ocean. Portuguese explorers pushed deep into the African continent in search of the mythical Christian king Prester John, and they ruthlessly besieged Indian port cities in their attempts to monopolize trade.

The discovery of a route to India around the horn of Africa was not only a brilliant breakthrough in navigation but heralded a complete upset of the world order. For the next century, no European empire was more ambitious, no rulers more rapacious than the kings of Portugal. In the process they created the first long-range maritime empire and set in motion the forces of globalization that now shape our world. At Crowley’s hand, the complete story of the Portuguese empire and the human cost of its ambition can finally be told.

Praise for Conquerors

“Excellent . . . Crowley’s interpretations are nuanced and fair.”—The Christian Science Monitor

“In a riveting narrative, Crowley chronicles Portugal's horrifically violent trajectory from ‘impoverished, marginal’ nation to European power, vying with Spain and Venice to dominate the spice trade.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Brings to life the Portuguese explorers . . . perfect for anyone who likes a high seas tale.”—Publishers Weekly

“Readers of Crowley’s previous books will not be disappointed by this exciting tale of sea battles, land campaigns and shipwrecks. . . . Crowley makes a good case for reclaiming Portugal’s significance as forger of the first global empire.”—The Daily Telegraph

“Crowley has shown a rare gift for combining compelling narrative with lightly worn academic thoroughness as well as for balancing the human with the geopolitical—qualities on display here. The story he has to tell may be a thrilling one but not every historian could tell it so thrillingly.”—Michael Prodger, Financial Times

“A fast-moving and highly readable narrative . . . [Crowley’s] detailed reconstruction of events is based on a close reading of the works of the chroniclers, notably Barros and Correa, whose accounts were written in the tradition of the chronicles of chivalry.”—History Today

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812994001
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/01/2015
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	166,782
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Roger Crowley read English at Cambridge University and taught English in Istanbul. He has traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean basin over many years and has a wide-ranging interest in its past and culture, as well as in seafaring and eyewitness history. He is also the author of 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, and City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas. He lives in Gloucestershire, England.

Read an Excerpt

The India Plan
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Conquerors"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Roger Crowley.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Maps xiv

Prologue: The Prow of Europe xix

Part I Reconnaissance: The Route to the Indies

1 The India Plan 3

2 The Race 15

3 Vasco da Gama 30

4 "The Devil Take You!" 50

5 The Samudri 65

Part II Contest: Monopolies and Holy War

6 Cabral 85

7 The Fate of the Miri 100

8 Fury and Vengeance 110

9 Toeholds 119

10 The Kingdom of India 135

11 The Great Whore of Babylon 149

12 "The Terrible" 162

13 Three Days at Chaul 177

14 "The Wrath of the Franks" 193

15 Diu 201

Part III Conquest: The Lion of the Sea

16 The Doors of the Samudri 215

17 "What the Portuguese Win They Never Give Up" 226

18 Prisoners of the Rain 239

19 The Uses of Terror 249

20 To the Eye of the Sun 255

21 The Wax Bullet 272

22 'All the Riches of the World in Your Hands" 287

23 The Last Voyage 301

Epilogue: "They Never Stop in One Place" 318

Acknowledgments 325

Notes 327

Bibliography 347

Index 353

Editorial Reviews

…Roger Crowley tells the story with style. It is a classic ripping yarn, packed with excitement, violence and cliffhangers. Its larger-than-life characters are at once extraordinary and repulsive, at one moment imagining the world in entirely new ways and at the next braying with delight over massacring entire cities. Crowley's craftsmanship comes through most clearly in telling this story of relentless, one-sided slaughter without glutting the reader with gore…[He] handles this grim tale with aplomb, keeping a fast-moving narrative in the foreground while nodding just often enough toward bigger questions in the background.

The New York Times Book Review - Ian Morris

10/12/2015
Crowley (Empires of the Sea) charts how, beginning in 1415, Portugal diligently explored sea routes around Africa and India, intent on creating a new non-Mediterranean course for trade, which resulted in a complete upheaval of the multireligious and multicultural governance of the Indian Ocean’s trade routes. In a flowing narrative, he demonstrates kings João’s and Manuel’s high expectations of regional dominance, and brings to life the Portuguese explorers Vasco da Gama, Afonso de Albuquerque, and Francisco de Almeida. Detailed descriptions address the high mortality of seafaring, and Crowley documents the turmoil inflicted upon native cultures as the Portuguese refused to compromise or give credence to local customs or the rank of non-Christians, even as they indulged in a side quest for a near-mythical Ethiopian Christian king. Surprisingly, there’s no discussion of the Portuguese sailors’ attitude toward Muslims after centuries of Moorish invasions and war on the Iberian Peninsula. Perfect for anyone who likes a high seas tale, these “Portuguese pirates” prove that resilience and superior firepower—as well as “banning the construction of globes and the reproduction of charts” to keep knowledge from their trading rivals in Venice—established Portuguese dominance in a high-stakes, high-rewards game for power that permanently changed global relations and trade, all in 30 short years. Agent: Andrew Lownie Literary Agency (U.K.). (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Conquerors
 
“Excellent . . . [Roger] Crowley’s interpretations are nuanced and fair.”—The Christian Science Monitor
 
“In a riveting narrative, Crowley chronicles Portugal's horrifically violent trajectory from ‘impoverished, marginal’ nation to European power, vying with Spain and Venice to dominate the spice trade.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“Brings to life the Portuguese explorers . . . perfect for anyone who likes a high seas tale.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Readers of Crowley’s previous books will not be disappointed by this exciting tale of sea battles, land campaigns and shipwrecks. . . . Crowley makes a good case for reclaiming Portugal’s significance as forger of the first global empire.”—The Daily Telegraph
 
“In his previous studies of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century struggles between Christians and Ottomans for control of the Mediterranean, Crowley has shown a rare gift for combining compelling narrative with lightly worn academic thoroughness as well as for balancing the human with the geopolitical—qualities on display here. The story he has to tell may be a thrilling one but not every historian could tell it so thrillingly.”—Michael Prodger, Financial Times
 
“A fast-moving and highly readable narrative, which covers the voyages of Dias and da Gama and the battles and conquests of Almeida and Albuquerque . . . [Crowley’s] detailed reconstruction of events is based on a close reading of the works of the chroniclers, notably Barros and Correa, whose accounts were written in the tradition of the chronicles of chivalry.”—History Today

Praise for Roger Crowley’s Empires of the Sea
 
“Crowley has an astonishing gift for narration; his account is as exciting as any thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal
 
“Crowley’s page-turner history . . . deserves to be this [season’s] most recommended nonfiction book. . . . Rich in character, action, surprise, what transpired in those few desperate weeks is one of history’s best and most thrilling stories.”—The Dallas Morning News
 
“[Crowley] offers exquisitely delicate insights and undulating descriptive passages. Yet in his descriptions of the battles, his prose is so taut and tense, it is impossible not to be caught up in the harrowing action.”—The Christian Science Monitor
 
City of Fortune
 
“[Crowley] writes with a racy briskness that lifts sea battles and sieges off the page.”—The New York Times
 
“The rise and fall of Venice’s empire is an irresistible story, and Crowley, with his rousing descriptive gifts and scholarly attention to detail, is its perfect chronicler.”— Financial Times
 
“A pleasure to read . . . a gripping story.”—Washington Independent Review of Books

From the Publisher

10/15/2015
Crowley (Empires of the Sea) offers a play-by-play of how Portugal became the first European global power-empire. Starting in the late 15th century, this peripheral European country started amassing navigational knowledge that allowed its sailors to eventually round the tip of Africa and enter the cosmopolitan sea-trading area of the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese presence signaled the end of Muslim and Indian domination of the world's important sea-trade routes—and the beginning of European hegemony in it. Crowley's detailed investigation of how the country built up its empire follows the people and events that led to a shift in economic domination and hence, world power. The author explicitly shows the cultural misconceptions, miscommunications, technological superiority, and sheer hubris that resulted in a newcomer population dominating a majority one. Although aimed at those who enjoy their history filled with intricate details vs. overarching themes, this chronicle brims with larger-than-life figures and epic battles, both between men and nature. VERDICT This chronicle will be of interest to history buffs and a welcome read for those who appreciate accounts of naval battles, the European "Age of Discovery," and the history of marine travel and trade on the seas.—Laura Hiatt-Smith, Conifer, CO

Library Journal

★ 2015-08-16
Portugal's bloody, defiant imperial adventure. In a riveting narrative, Crowley (City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas, 2012, etc.) chronicles Portugal's horrifically violent trajectory from "impoverished, marginal" nation to European power, vying with Spain and Venice to dominate the spice trade. The story begins in 1479, when Spanish and Portuguese delegates met in Tordesillas, Spain, "to bargain for the world." The rival countries, intent on finding a sea route to the Indies, "simply cut the globe in two with a vertical line through the Atlantic Ocean." With Isabella and Ferdinand funding explorers such as the "unreliable fabulist" Columbus, King Manuel of Portugal made his own grand plans. "Manuel," writes the author, "was incapable of distinguishing men of true merit from the inept, the corrupt, and the self-interested." Among the worst was the ferocious Vasco da Gama, angry, short-tempered, and a fanatical hater of Muslims. He became the face of Portugal for sultans, villagers, and seamen as his fleet pillaged, threatened, murdered, and dismembered in their assault on Africa and India. Crowley describes in gory detail Portugal's collision with "a polyethnic world…more deeply layered and complex" than they could understand, a world that fueled the "deeply rooted idea of holy war as a Portuguese vocation." The author also vividly re-creates the dire conditions endured by explorers and their crews. Food deteriorated, and worms devoured biscuits and meat as well as the boards of ships; drinking water became increasingly foul, and scurvy could wipe out an entire crew in 111 days. The Portuguese project came to be overseen by Afonso de Albuquerque, a "highly intelligent, tortured man" who applied the nation's technological expertise to a flexible strategy of defensible forts, a network of bases, and "the necessity for exemplary violence" against Muslims. An impressive history of global clashes, religious zealotry, and economic triumph.

Kirkus Reviews