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Cover image of Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640
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Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640

James C. Boyajian

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This fascinating history reassesses the consequences of Portugal's flourishing private trade with Asia, including increased tensions between the growing urban merchant class and the still-dominant landed aristocracy. James C. Boyajian shows how Portuguese-Asian commerce formed part of a global trading network that linked not only Europe and Asia but also—for the first time—Asia, West Africa, Brazil, and Spanish America. He also argues that, contrary to previous scholarly opinion, nearly half of the Portuguese-Asian trade was controlled by New Christians—descendants of Iberian Jews forcibly...

This fascinating history reassesses the consequences of Portugal's flourishing private trade with Asia, including increased tensions between the growing urban merchant class and the still-dominant landed aristocracy. James C. Boyajian shows how Portuguese-Asian commerce formed part of a global trading network that linked not only Europe and Asia but also—for the first time—Asia, West Africa, Brazil, and Spanish America. He also argues that, contrary to previous scholarly opinion, nearly half of the Portuguese-Asian trade was controlled by New Christians—descendants of Iberian Jews forcibly converted to Christianity in the 1490s.

Reviews

Reviews

In a superbly researched work, rich in provocative and revisionist interpretations, whose sources, ideas, and references will be mined by many scholars, Boyajian adopts a comparative approach to study Portuguese commercial links to Asia, reassess crown involvement in trade vis á vis private participation, place the Cape trade within the context of global trade, and throw new light on Portuguese merchant families.

Concentrates on the flourishing Portuguese private trade with Asia during the period of Spanish rule... A new turn in the historiography of European expansion.

Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs illuminates complex trade and social networks within an emerging global system. It is essential reading for those concerned with the interplay of state goals and private enterprise, as well as the influence of the Inquisition on global trade in the early modern era.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
360
ISBN
9780801887543
Illustration Description
2 halftones, 4 maps
Table of Contents

List of Tables
Preface
A Note on Spelling, Usage, and Currency
Introduction: Portugal's Asian Enterprise to 1580
Chapter 1. The "Prudent" King as Merchant-King, 1580-1598
Chapter 2. The Private Trade of

List of Tables
Preface
A Note on Spelling, Usage, and Currency
Introduction: Portugal's Asian Enterprise to 1580
Chapter 1. The "Prudent" King as Merchant-King, 1580-1598
Chapter 2. The Private Trade of the Carreira da Índia, 1580-1598
Chapter 3. A Complex Relationship: Carreira and Casado Trade, 1580-1598
Chapter 4. The Royal Monopoly and the Advent of European Competition on the Cape Route, 1599-1619
Chapter 5. Private and Company Trade
Chapter 6. The Zenith of the Carreira Trade, 1599-1619
Chapter 7. The Struggle for Asian Trade, 1599-1619
Chapter 8. Trade, Inquisition, and Economic Growth and Stagnation in Portugal
Chapter 9. War and Experimentation with the Cape Monopoly, 1620-1640
Chapter 10. Crisis of the Carreira da Índia, 1620-1640
Chapter 11. Private Trade in Asia: New Pressures, New Alternatives, 1620-1640
Conclusion: Portugal's Asian Enterprise in 1640
Appendix
Abbreviations
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Author Bio
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James C. Boyajian

James C. Boyajian is the author of Portuguese Bankers at the Court of Spain, 1626–1650.