Famous history of Portuguese explorations in the Muslim world and beyond

Osório de Fonseca, Jerónimo. Histoire de Portugal, contenant les entreprises, navigations et gestes memorables des Portugallois.

€ 6.500,00

Well-printed French edition of Osório's famous history of the Portuguese explorations, expeditions and campaigns under King Manuel I (1495-1521). During Manuel's reign, Vasco da Gama discovered a maritime route to India, and admiral Alfonso de Albuquerque established a monopoly on the maritime trade route to the Arabian Gulf. In order to gain control over the spice trade, Albuquerque conquered Goa (1510) and Malacca (1511), but was defeated by the Islamic Mamluks at Aden; it was only in 1515 that he managed to conquer Hormuz, after which he sought allies among Gulf States to obtain a balance of power.

Written by the Portuguese theologian Jerónimo Osório de Fonseca (1506-80) in elegant Latin and here translated into French by the humanist Simon Goulard (1543-1628), the work particularly criticizes the conduct of the Portuguese in Asia, which led to Osório falling out of favour at the Portuguese court. Still, Osório was highly regarded as an historian among his contemporaries: indeed, Michel de Montaigne described him as the "best Latin historian of our century".