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Thread: Portugal - Faction Thread.

  1. #161
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    Expansion and Arts, Brazil, II

    The church of the Third Order of St Francis has the most surprising façade in Salvador.
    It is a two-story structure crowned by an elaborate, fancy scroll pediment. The two entablatures are supported by anthropomorphic Ionic pilasters taken from Wendel Ditterlin´s Architectura of 1568 and by heavy quartelões (console pilasters used by cabinetmakers) with the statues of four human figures.
    The façade is related to the Flemish mannerist tradition and particularly to the ephemeral architecture of the, also Flemish, joyeuses entrées.
    Indeed, a plausible model for it could be the Arch of the Flemish Nation.





    Azulejos of blue and white, typical colors of the 18th century,were also used. They were manafactured in Portugal in the atelier of Bartolomeu Antunes (1688-1753) Sometimes azulejos are the most important decorative elements of churchs interiors:

    Olinda, Pernambuco:



    St Francis:













    In the chapel of the Third Order of Penitencia in Rio, the impression is that the beholder finds himself inside a gigantic gold reliquary. In Rio, the walls were changed into sheets of gold.

    This impressive interior, one of the most stylistically homogeneous of its kind in the Lusitanian world, is the work od the Portuguese artists Manuel de Brito and Francisco Xavier de Brito and was dome between 1726 and 1743:











    One of the most fascinating topics in the history of arts of the Americas is the creation of a school of late baroque architecture in the hinterland of Minas Gerais.
    The discovery at the end of the 17th century of gold and diamond mines in the Minas Gerais district had caused a gold rush into the area. Towns appeared over night, replacing mining camps. Since the crown had prohibited the establishement of religious orders in the area, lay brotherhoods took a very important place in shaping the social and religious life of this places. On the other hand, not restricted by conservative monastic patterns, patrons were more receptive to novelties; indeed, novelties were required by the dynamic of rival brotherhoods:

    St Francis of Assis, 1774, Minas Gerais





    Rococo art, interior





    Source and text references 1-The Expansion and the Arts, L.M. Sobral ; Portuguese Oceanic Expansion,1400-1800. F. Bethencourt & D.R. Curto.
    Last edited by Ludicus; November 15, 2008 at 03:56 PM.

  2. #162
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    The Baroque and the Colonialism.
    The Age of the Baroque in Portugal


    Though the tendency has been to see Baroque architecture as a European phenomenon, one must not forget that it coincided with—and is integrally enmeshed with—the rise of European colonialism.

    Gilded woodcarving in Portugal is, along with the tile, one of its most original and rich artistic expressions. It is usually used in the internal decoration of churches and cathedrals, but also as part of the decoration of noble halls in palaces and large public buildings, there existing an impressive collection of altarpieces in Portuguese churches.
    The Baroque is the most monumental phase of the woodwork in Portugal and Brazil. The examples are numerous and of high quality on both sides of the Atlantic (previous posts)

    It is not in vain that King D. João V is called the Magnificent.
    The discovery of the Brazilian gold and diamonds generated fabulous wealth to the Portuguese crown during the 18th century and part of the next, allowing for the full development of the international Baroque art in all forms. Gilded woodcarving is no exception.
    A reference to the guild woodcarving pomp carriages of the king, among which are the three baroque carriages of the embassy from D. João V to the Pope Clement XI (1716) now in the National Carriages Museum. It’s a set of three carriages full of fantasy, like a baroque ideal vision. These vehicles are unique in the world, and are perfect examples of the “Carrozza Romana de Aparato”, where the open bodies are combined with imponentes sculpture compositions on the rear and front panels, allusive to the Portuguese Discoveries and Empire.


    The Lisbon Coronation

    It comprised part of the group of five thematic coaches and ten accompanying coaches that were in the procession of the Embassy sent to the Pope in 1716 by King João V.
    It alludes to the theme of the coronation of Lisbon, capital of the Empire, victorious in the defence of the Christian Faith.
    It has an open body, in the so-called Roman style, lined with red silk and decorated with gilt, carved wood statues in Baroque style.
    On the front part is an allegory in which a spirit seems to be driving the vehicle with figures symbolizing Heroism and Immortality at its side.
    On the tailpiece the figure of Lisbon is being crowned by Fame and on the other side is Abundance, who is holding an elegant cornucopia of flowers and fruits. At Lisbon’s feet, a winged dragon, symbol of the Royal House, breaks the Moslem crescent before the figures of two shackled slaves representing Africa and Asia.





    Of the Ambassador

    The decoration glorified the King of Portugal, Lord of Navigation and the ambassador Rodrigo Anes de Sá Menezes, Marquis of Fontes, rode in it
    It has an open body, in the so-called Roman style, covered with gold canvas.
    It has gilt, carved wood sculptures in Baroque style with symbols portraying, among others, Navigation and Conquest, the two aspects of the discoveries.
    The interior is lined with gold canvas and the floor is inlaid with ebony and ivory. The front part has the figure of Silenus between Minerva and Hope.
    On the rear Thetis, the “Navigation”, draws routes on a globe while a Triton that emerges from the water holds a mariner’s compass. In the lower centre is the figure of Adamastor recalling the dangers through which the Portuguese had to go.








    Of the Oceans

    It has an open body in the so-called Roman style that is covered with red silk velvet. The interior is lined with gold brocade.
    The rear sculptural group represents the connection of the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, discovered by Portuguese navigators in 15th Century, an episode in Portuguese maritime history glorified by Apollo.
    On each side of him are figures of Spring and Summer, while at his feet are two Old Men who, in a gesture of great beauty, shake hands, symbolizing the connection by sea between the two worlds at the Cape of Good Hope.





    The court of John V favoured Roman baroque models, as attested by the work of royal architect Ludovice, a German who designed the Royal Palace of Mafra, built after 1715.
    This vast complex is among the most sumptuous Baroque buildings in Portugal.

    The palace was built in consequence of a vow made by the king in 1711, who promised to build a convent if his wife, the Queen Mary Anne of Austria, gave him descendants.
    The birth of his first daughter, the princess Barbara of Braganza, made the king initiate the construction of the palace.
    The palace was built symmetrically from a central axis, occupied by the basilica, and continues lengthwise through the main façade until two major towers. The structures of the convent are located behind the main façade.
    The construction lasted 13 years and mobilized a vast army of workers from the entire country (a daily average of 15,000 but at the end climbing to 30,000 and a maximum of 45,000), under the command of António Ludovice, the son of the architect. In addition 7,000 soldiers were assigned to preserve order at the construction site. They used 400 kg of gunpowder to blast through the rocks for the laying of foundations.

    Memorial do Convento, by José Saramago, describes the suffering and the death of the Portuguese forced labourers, as though they were the equivalent to the Egyptian slaves who had built the pyramids.
    With a imposing façade of 220 m the complex seems gigantic and offers superlatives: the whole complex covers 37,790 m² with about 1,200 rooms, more than 4,700 doors and windows, and 156 stairways. It has the longest corridor of any palace in Europe, including Versailles.
    At each end of the façade stands a square tower with a bulbous dome. The church, built in white marble, is located in the centre of the main façade, symmetrically flanked on both sides by the royal palace.
    The two immense church towers (68 m high) are inspired by the towers of Sant'Agnese in Agone (by the Roman Baroque architect Francesco Borromini).







    Their two carillons contain a total of 92 church bells, founded in Antwerp. The story goes that the Flemish bell-founders were so astonished by the size of their commission, that they asked to be paid in advance. The king retorted by doubling the offered amount. These carillons constitute the largest historical collection in the world.



    Pipe Organ:



    The Rococo library, situated at the back of the second floor, is truly the highlight of this palace, rivalling the grandeur of the library of the Melk Abbey in Austria. Built by Manuel Caetano de Sousa, this library is 88 m long, 9.5 m wide and 13 m high. The magnificent floor is covered with tiles of rose, grey and white marble. The wooden bookshelves in Rococo style are situated on the sidewalls in two rows, separated by a balcony with a wooden railing.

    They contain over 35,000 leather-bound volumes, attesting of the extent of western knowledge from the 14th to the 19th century.





    The Mafra School of Sculpture was founded during the reign of king Joseph I of Portugal, successor of king John V. As the Mafra National Palace had a great need for sculptors, local and from abroad, it became the location of a sculpture academy headed by the Italian Alessandro Giusti (1715-1799). Among the teachers were several important sculptors, such as José de Almeida (1709-1769), Claude de Laprade (1682-1738) and Giovanni Antonio da Padova (who created most of the statues for the cathedral of Évora). The academy was awarded many commissions by the Augustinians from the monastery, resulting in the many marble statues and retables in marble and jasper in the basilica.

    Bas-relief by the School of Mafra:



    Cupola of the Basilica




    Sources: 1- National Coach Museum
    2 : History of Portuguese Expansion, F. Bethencourt;K. Chaudiri.
    Last edited by Ludicus; November 15, 2008 at 03:31 PM.

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    Historicians and the Atlantic World as historical concept

    Historians traces the concept of the Atlantic world to an editorial published by journalist Walter Lippman in 1917. The alliance of the United States and Great Britain in World War II, and the subsequent creation of NATO, heightened historians' interest in the history of interaction between societies on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

    In American and British universities, Atlantic world history is supplementing (and possibly supplanting) the study of specific European colonial societies in the Americas, e.g. British North America or Spanish America. Atlantic world history differs from traditional approaches to the history of colonization in its emphasis on inter-regional and international comparisons and its attention to events and trends that transcended national borders. Atlantic world history also emphasizes colonization's impact on Africa and Europe.

    Atlantic history is a newly and rapidly developing field of historical study. Bringing together elements of early modern European, African, and American history--their common, comparative, and interactive aspects--Atlantic history embraces essentials of Western civilization, from the first contacts of Europe with the Western Hemisphere to the independence movements. Yet, according to Norman Fiering, Founder of the Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction: “The organization of the study and teaching of history in the United States has in the past one hundred years been biased toward the history of the “great powers” of the past two centuries: England, France, Germany, and Russia”.

    Now, here is an interesting review of of Bernard Baylin´s recent book: “Atlantic History: Concept and Contours” (2005)

    This piece does what good book reviews should do: interest you in the review as much as it interests you in the book:

    Professor Bailyn, a distinguished historian of colonial America at Harvard University, has written an eloquent and succinct overview of his vision of the Atlantic world. After organizing and directing a series of seminars on Atlantic history, Professor Bailyn pauses to look back, first, at the general concept of Atlantic history (what that phrase has meant to various people over time), and second, at the Atlantic’s contours, or, how the Atlantic world has changed over the centuries. The work is a stimulating essay and the product of many years of reflection. It is also a work that will interest undergraduates as well as scholars working in this field.

    The Atlantic history seminars directed by Professor Bailyn were, in their first years, limited in scope to those regions that would later become part of the United States. Professor Bailyn’s Atlantic is thus profoundly British, and very northern. In a nutshell, this is the work’s major problem.

    While expressly stating that Atlantic history is greater than the sum of its parts, “as much Spanish as British, as much Dutch as Portuguese, as much African as American”, (p. 60) Professor Bailyn really focuses on one, British or Anglo-American dimension, over the course of the eighteenth century. Whenever he gives examples, he turns to British North America, occasionally mentioning Spain and its empire.

    Unfortunately, the work does not have a bibliography, just a very unsatisfactory listing of sources in its endnotes. Looking through these, the reader can clearly see Professor Bailyn’s preference for the eighteenth century in general, and British North America in particular.

    The sources listed are overwhelmingly in English, with a couple of French and Spanish works cited as well. Notably absent in a work of this scope are any Portuguese-language sources. It should not come as a surprise to the reader that the Portuguese presence in Professor Bailyn’s Atlantic World is minimal, if not altogether absent. The Dutch (and for that matter the Luso-Dutch struggles of the1600s) are equally neglected. The French presence is only marginally greater in this very British World.

    If Professor Bailyn were more familiar with the literature of Portuguese expansion and interactions in the Atlantic, his would have been a very different work. Even if we limit the reading list to works in English and French, there exists a sufficient enough number of studies on the Portuguese in the Atlantic to help fill the huge gaps in Professor Bailyn’s Atlantic overview. Let me begin by asking a fundamental question not addressed in this work: who created this Atlantic World and when? I suggest that part of the answer to this question can be found in works by Zurara, Pereira, and Cadamosto, entitled, respectively, Chronicle of the Discovery of Guinea, Esmeraldo de SituOrbus, 1506-1508, and The Voyages of Cadamosto and other Documents on Western Africa in the Second Half of the Fifteenth Century, and all usefully translated into English by the London-based Haklyut Society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
    These individuals, working for the Portuguese crown in the fifteenth century, began the process of creating an Atlantic World. The Azores, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands, São Tomé, Guiné and Angola, the territories that made up this Portuguese Atlantic, are not mentioned in Professor Bailyn’s work.

    And because Professor Bailyn has overlooked Brazil as an important component of the Atlantic, he has also missed links between the Atlantic and central and southern Africa.

    Each time he mentions Africa, it is West Africa. Angola, the famous black mother of Brazil, is totally absent. These criticisms mean only that the work does not live up to its title.

    Regardless, Atlantic History: Concepts and Contours is an engaging and sweeping view of much of the available literature in English about a mostly British North America. It would have been more accurate to label the book The British Atlantic in the Eighteenth Century

    Review:
    Timothy Coates, History Department,
    The College of Charleston
    Last edited by Ludicus; October 27, 2008 at 02:30 PM.

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    Slavery and the Economy of São Paulo, Brazil

    For U.S. historians, the history of slavery in Brazil continues to shake loose one preconception after another about the nature of new world slave economies.
    As youngsters we were assured that slavery was incompatible with urban life, only to discover that at the height of the slave trade Rio de Janeiro was a bustling metropolis with a diversified economy with slavery at its core.
    We were told that slavery encouraged a stifling monoculture, only to learn that Brazilian slaves produced not only sugar and coffee, but corn, grains, and livestock; they dug the gold from inland mines and manned the docks of Brazilian ports. In large numbers Brazilian slaves were sailors, soldiers, and factory workers.

    Source:Francisco Vidal Luna and Herbert S. Klein, Slavery and the Economy of Sao Paulo, 1750-1850

    http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/1069
    Last edited by Empress Meg; November 15, 2008 at 12:07 PM. Reason: Removed article from another website.

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    Teaching: North and South America - A Comparative Approach

    "…The notion of doing a comparative history of North and South America—as opposed to an "Ibero-" and "Anglo-" America approach—suggested itself as I wrestled with the problem of how to "historicize" the Native American experience.

    Mid-20th-century proponents of a comparative history of the hemisphere focus on how similar global phenomena affected the whole of the Americas. The result is a rich literature that can be drawn upon in a comparison of North and South America.

    Excerpts:
    Teaching: North and South America - A Comparative Approach
    (History Course)
    Richard Sigwalt

    http://www.historians.org/perspectiv...4/0804tea2.cfm
    Last edited by Empress Meg; November 15, 2008 at 12:06 PM. Reason: Reason: Removed article from another website.

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    Brazil
    Frontier Expansion that shaped Brazil

    http://countrystudies.us/brazil/5.htm


    Spanish, British, Dutch and French military incursions into Brazil (red arrows)
    Portuguese fortresses, red squares





    Sources:
    1-Brazil a country study
    2-History of Portuguese Expansion, Kirti Chaudiri, F. Bethencourt
    Last edited by Empress Meg; November 15, 2008 at 11:20 AM. Reason: Removed article from another website.

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    Extremely insightfull as always Ludicus, these latest posts have been even more interesting.

    The number of resources available to you concerning the Portuguese Empire historical background is impressive.

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    Thank you, my good friend.
    Paraphrasing Professor Russel-Wood, the unfailing attraction which the history of Portugal holds for me lies in the unceasing ebb and flow of people, commodities, flora and fauna, ideas, and influences, with the globe as their stage.
    Last edited by Ludicus; October 31, 2008 at 12:35 PM.

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    After the world-wide wonders, the voting for the "7 Wonders of Portuguese Origin in the World" appears now.The voting is available in this site. Portugal, according to the organization, is “the country that left more patrimonium with bigger geographic diversity, having 22 monuments of Portuguese origin spread by the globe, classified as UNESCO World Heritage"

    Unesco´s World Heritage with Portuguese presence


    Fasil Ghebbi

    In the 16th and 17th centuries, the fortress-city of Fasil Ghebbi was the residence of the Ethiopian emperor Fasilides and his successors. Surrounded by a 900-m-long wall, the city contains palaces, churches, monasteries and unique public and private buildings marked by Hindu and Arab influences, subsequently transformed by the Baroque style brought to Gondar by the Jesuit missionaries:






    James Island

    The location plaid a great role in the history of the trans-Atlantic slave . According to UNESCO, Gambia's James Island presents "a testimony to the main periods and facets of the encounter between Africa and Europe along the River Gambia, a continuum that stretched from pre-colonial and pre-slavery times to independence." :







    Accra Strongholds and Castles

    In 1471 the Portuguese built the Elmina Castle to protect Portuguese trade from European competitors and hostile Africans. Elmina Castle became the largest slave trading post in the world and still stands today:







    Portuguese city of El Jadida, Mazagão

    Was built as a fortified colony on the Atlantic coast in the early 16th century. It was taken over by the Moroccans in 1769. The fortification with its bastions and ramparts is an early example of Renaissance military design. The surviving Portuguese buildings include the cistern and the Church of the Assumption, built in the Manueline style of late Gothic.
    The Portuguese City of Mazagan is an outstanding example of the interchange of influences between European and Moroccan cultures, well reflected in architecture, technology, and town planning:






    Mozambique Island

    The fortified city of Mozambique is located on this island, a former Portuguese trading-post on the route to India. Its remarkable architectural unity is due to the consistent use, since the 16th century, of the same building techniques, building materials (stone or macuti) and decorative principles:





    Goreia Island


    The island of Goreia lies off the coast of Senegal, opposite Dakar. From the 15th to the 19th century, it was the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast. Ruled in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French, its architecture is characterized by the contrast between the grim slave-quarters and the elegant houses of the slave traders. Today it continues to serve as a reminder of human exploitation and as a sanctuary for reconciliation:





    Kilwa e de Songo Mnara / Fort Ruins


    The remains of two great East African ports. The merchants of Kilwa dealt in gold, silver, pearls, perfumes, Arabian crockery, Persian earthenware and Chinese porcelain; much of the trade in the Indian Ocean thus passed through their hands:






    São Miguel Guarani Jesuit Missions, Brazil


    The missions gave rise to an extraordinary cultural and social problem: between 1610 and 1767 many thousands of Indian Guaranis built dozens of villages and created an economy that led to outstanding cultural development.
    Of all religious orders, the Jesuits worked hardest to collect scientific information about the American continents in the 17th and 18th centuries. In order to gain a grasp of the situation of this region today, it is vital to understand the complex process of its management, evolution and decadence following the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, and finally the wayward drift of this culture due to the frontier wars of the 19th century:








    São Luís Historic Centre

    The late 17th-century core of this historic town has preserved the original rectangular street plan in its entirety. Thanks to a period of economic stagnation in the early 20th century, an exceptional number of fine historic buildings have survived, making this an outstanding example of a Portuguese colonial town:






    São Salvador Historic centre


    CentreAs the first capital of Brazil, from 1549 to 1763, Salvador de Bahia witnessed the blending of European, African and Amerindian cultures. It was also, from 1558, the first slave market in the New World, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations. The city has managed to preserve many outstanding Renaissance buildings (images, previous post).A special feature of the old town are the brightly coloured houses, often decorated with fine stucco-work:






    Diamantina Historic centre


    Diamantina, a colonial village set like a jewel in a necklace of inhospitable rocky mountains, recalls the exploits of diamond prospectors in the 18th century and testifies to the triumph of human cultural and artistic endeavour over the environment. The urban and architectural group of Diamantina, perfectly integrated into a wild landscape, is a fine example of an adventurous spirit combined with a quest for refinement so typical of human nature:







    Goiás Historic Centre


    Goiás testifies to the occupation and colonization of the lands of central Brazil in the 18th and 19th centuries. In its layout and architecture the historic town of Goiás is an outstanding example of a European town admirably adapted to the climatic, geographical and cultural constraints of central South America. Goiás represents the evolution of a form of urban structure and architecture characteristic of the colonial settlement of South America, making full use of local materials and techniques and conserving its exceptional setting:







    Olinda Historic Centre


    the town’s history is linked to the sugar-cane industry. Rebuilt after being looted by the Dutch, its basic urban fabric dates from the 18th century. The harmonious balance between the buildings, gardens, 20 Baroque churches, convents and numerous small passos (chapels) all contribute to Olinda’s particular charm:






    Ouro Preto Historic Centre


    Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto (Black Gold) was the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil’s golden age in the 18th century. With the exhaustion of the gold mines in the 19th century, the city’s influence declined but many churches, bridges and fountains remain as a testimony to its past prosperity and the exceptional talent of the Baroque sculptor Aleijadinho:





    Sanctuary of Bom Jesus Cangonhas


    This sanctuary in Minais Gerais, south of Belo Horizonte was built in the second half of the 18th century. It consists of a church with a magnificent Rococo interior of Italian inspiration; an outdoor stairway decorated with statues of the prophets; and seven chapels illustrating the Stations of the Cross, in which the polychrome sculptures by Aleijadinho are masterpieces of a highly original, moving, expressive form of Baroque art.










    Trinidad do Paraná and Jesus de Tavaranque Jesuit Missions

    In addition to their artistic interest, these missions are a reminder of the Jesuits' Christianization of the Río de la Plata basin in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the accompanying social and economic initiatives:






    Historic quarter of the City of Colony of Sacramento, Uruguay.


    Founded by the Portuguese in 1680 on the Río de la Plata, the city was of strategic importance in resisting the Spanish. Built in Portuguese style of houses and cobblestoned streets, the historic portion of Colonia is reminiscent of old Lisbon. Winding streets and colorful houses are laid out in a pattern different from Spanish colonial cities, and a delight to explore:






    Qal at al-Bahrain Archaeological Site

    Qal’at al-Bahrain is a typical tell – an artificial mound created by many successive layers of human occupation. The strata of the 300 × 600 m tell testify to continuous human presence from about 2300 BC to the 16th century AD.
    On the top of the 12 m mound there is the impressive Portuguese fort, which gave the whole site its name, qal’a (fort):




    Macau Historic Centre

    Macao, a lucrative port of strategic importance in the development of international trade, was under Portuguese administration from the mid-16th century until 1999, when it came under Chinese sovereignty. With its historic street, residential, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings, the historic centre of Macao provides a unique testimony to the meeting of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological influences from East and West. The site also contains a fortress and a lighthouse, the oldest in China. It bears witness to one of the earliest and longest-lasting encounters between China and the West, based on the vibrancy of international trade:





    Churches and Convents of Goa

    The churches and convents of Goa, the former capital of the Portuguese Indies – particularly the Church of Bom Jesus, which contains the tomb of St Francis-Xavier – illustrate the evangelization of Asia. These monuments were influential in spreading forms of Manueline, Mannerist and Baroque art in all the countries of Asia where missions were established:







    Sri Lanka, Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications

    Founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese. It is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in South and South-East Asia, showing the interaction between European architectural styles and South Asian traditions:







    Malaca Historic Centre

    The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns with a specific multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible. With its government buildings, churches, squares and fortifications, Melaka demonstrates the early stages of this history originating in the 15th-century Malay sultanate and the Portuguese and Dutch periods beginning in the early 16th century:




    Last edited by Ludicus; October 31, 2008 at 07:34 PM.

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    Brazil - The Military Role in Society and Government

    Throughout the colonial era, the Portuguese used military forces to defend their vast claims in South America.

    The typical practice was to depend on local fighters and on expeditionary forces sent to deal with particular crises.Such forces usually were led by nobles and large landowners who recruited, often forcibly, unemployed men for the ranks. In addition, the Portuguese long made use of mercenaries from various nationalities, a practice that would continue into the early nineteenth century.
    Colonial warfare against the French, and especially the Dutch, the continuous wars and slave-raiding expeditions against the native peoples, and the famous bandeirante expeditions produced a vibrant body of military traditions.
    Thanks to the reforms of Marquês de Pombal, in the mid-eighteenth century, more Brazilian-born men were drawn into colonial administration--more so than was the case in either the Spanish or the British colonies--including military affairs.

    By the late eighteenth century, the officers of the regiments in Bahia were 60 percent Brazilian-born, but their attitudes, interests, and values were identical with the rest of the colonial elites; they were part of the Portuguese empire, not officers in a budding Brazilian army. Their identification was more with their local region or the greater Portuguese empire than with what is now Brazil.

    The colonial units were segregated by color. Militia units called Henriques were composed of free blacks, while those of mixed African-European ancestry, called Pardos, had their own organizations and officers.

    Local bosses, then called Mestres de Campo (country masters), and later known as Coronéis, organized the white elite and their hangers-on into urban and rural militia units. In the countryside, such units were really private armies that reinforced the power of the local elites. With royal authority behind them, the Mestres and Coronéis chased criminals and runaway slaves, kept track of who passed through their territories and how much their neighbors produced, and meted out justice as they saw fit.
    Lieutenant Colonel Henrique Oscar Wiederspahn observed that "the Brazilian Armed Forces have their origins in those [forces] that Dom João VI left us on returning with his Court to Lisbon”

    Source, excerpt: The Military Role in Society and Government
    Last edited by Ludicus; November 15, 2008 at 04:01 PM.

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    Education in Colonial Brazil (part I)

    Coimbra University began receiving Brazilian students during the 16th century, when the enrollment of students born in Brazil numbered 363. In the 17th century there were 1, 749 Brazilian students enrolled either at Coimbra University or Montpellier Medical School in France.
    At the end of the 18th century, municipalities in Minas Gerais asked the Portuguese government to help educate less-well-to do Brazilian students in the field of engineering, topography, medicine and accounting at Coimbra University with the understanding that these students would return to Brazil upon finishing their courses.

    While Brazilian woman had to wait until the 17th century to have access to educational opportunities, and even then they could only read and write, it was possible for Brazilian men to be educated in schools and religious seminaries, such as those of the Jesuits as early as 1549; at home the education of males was a priority. Not until the 17th century were higher education classes offered in Brazilian territory. In 1699, classes in military engineering were offered to prepare army military personnel for subsequent service in military units; those enrolled learn to build fortifications. These classes were held in Rio de Janeiro, where later the same institution would offer classes to members of armed forces in geometry, arithmetic, French, drawing and even elementary instruction as needed.

    It should be noted that there is a pre- 17th century reference to higher education in Bahia, Salvador. In the then capital of general government the Jesuits founded a establishment in 1550 that taught only read and writing. In 1553, students were also able to study math, science grammar and literature, when this Jesuit school started to offer classes in the arts and theology. The four year long theology course offered the graduates the title of “Doctor”, while the three year long art course included logic, physics, math, ethics and metaphysics.

    In the 18th century, a Jesuit school called “Colégio da Bahia” created an undergraduate course in math. Many religious orders had establishments in Brazil working with education: the Benedictines in Rio, São Paulo and Salvador; the Franciscans in Pernambuco, Maranhão and Rio de Janeiro; the Carmelites in Pernambuco, Pará and Rio de Janeiro; and the “ Mercedarios” in Pará and Amazonas. Yet the Jesuits were the most important and largest religious order; they established institutions throughout the vast Brazilian territory, all well organized and ruled by the Ratio Studiorium, a document published in 1599 determining the curricula and method of study. The Jesuits were the most significant religious order responsible for primary education in colonial Brazil.

    Source: Excerpt: Access to higher education in Brazil, Center for International Studies of Ohio University, Helen Tomlin
    Last edited by Ludicus; November 15, 2008 at 04:01 PM.

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    WOW that is super!!!
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    Education in Colonial Brazil (part II)


    Since 1564, the Jesuits had received subsides from the Portuguese crown; 10% of all taxes collected in the colony were designed to maintain Jesuit schools. An ordinance signed by the Portuguese King on September 7, 1564 instructed the captain of Bahia province to financially support the Jesuit school,”Colégio da Bahia” by collecting an income tax, and to this day the “Colégio da Bahia” is officially recognized as the first public school in Brazil.
    The Jesuit schools were highly respected and at certain times, the demand for instruction became greater than their capacity to receive students.
    In 1689 an ordinance obliged the Jesuits to accept into their schools Indian and mixed children whose freedom had been secured.
    The Jesuits helped with Portuguese colonization because the catholic faith and the Portuguese language taught to the Indians would adapt them to European culture and make them more gentle and willing to work for the Portuguese colonizers instead of rebelling against the territorial invasion of the Portuguese.
    In 1609, the Jesuits began establishing missions in less populated areas of the Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso regions to receive orphans, Indians and peasants to instruct them in Portuguese language and faith.

    The Jesuits had a curricular plan designed for students in basis of different origin and future.
    At the beginning, the students would learn Portuguese and Christian doctrine. Later, they could adopt to continue their studies in agricultural techniques or in improving grammar and preparing to study in Europe. The students of wealthy family origin would be enrolled in a European University.
    Since exclusively wealthy whites could have their European studies financed by their families, the last option was more suitable to upper class students. Indians and ethnically mixed students would take the agriculture course.
    This plan was used only until 1570; from 1570 to 1759 the curricula followed the ordr described in the Ratio Studiorum. The Ratio Studiorum changed the former curricula removing both first years of Portuguese classes and vocational courses, which in 1570 were only courses of agriculture. This change in the curricula prevented poor children from having access to any level of education, unless the educational institutions needed them to supply labor demand within the schools, and then they could receive some instruction in exchange for internal school services.
    Students from wealthy families could learn to read and write at home with paid tutors and later enrol in a Jesuit seminary to continue studying Portuguese Grammar, Latin, and Introduction to Theology and Philosophy in the Humanities, Philosophy and Theology courses. Upon completion of studies in the seminary, there would be a study trip to Europe.
    In addition to seminary courses, there were also schools that taught only reading, writing, and arithmetic, which were more appropriate to the needs of Indians and the sons of destitute peasants.

    Sons of the elite were prepared for intellectual work: would become priests, lawyers, or Physicians. By the 17th century, the academic degrees obtained in the Jesuit schools or seminaries were, beside the property of land and slaves, important criteria in determining social position. A diploma and its related prestige would determine one’s social position.

    In 1759 the Jesuits were expelled from Brazil, their schools closed and their buildings and libraries either confiscated by the government or sacked.

    Pombal, who was a minister of King D. José I in 1750, was opposed to the popularity of the Church. Pombal saw Jesuit influence as a threat to the King’s power and thus, convinced the King to expel them because they might oppose the changes in public administration that were applied under the banner of modernization. Justified by modernization of instruction in colony, studies were simplified with less Latin and Greek giving more importance to the use of Portuguese language. Math and sciences were taught as isolated classes called “Aulas Régias” to which teachers were named by the government. The “subsidio literário” was a taxe over the commerce of wine, meat, vinegar and cachaça created for the payment of those teachers.

    The “Seminário de Olinda” was founded in 1800 at the city of Olinda, Pernambuco.
    The seminary was the most remarkable educational endeavour in the colony after the expulsion of Jesuits. Academic content was more modern than in the curricula of the Jesuits.
    In Latin grammar class, understanding the language was used more than the Jesuit method of memorization, and the structure of Portuguese grammar was also an important theme.
    In rhetoric classes, geography and history were developed along with arguments in favour of international commerce. Philosophy class divided its program to include: the classical masters of philosophy, logical practice, chemistry and natural History. Geometry teachers also had to develop arithmetic, trigonometry and algebra principles.
    As in Jesuit seminaries, there was a predominance of wealthy students.The Olinda Seminary was highly respected because of the quality of its faculty, chosen and recruited directly from European Universities. Orphans, blacks, people of mixed races and those considered to be of illegitimate birth were forbidden from taking classes at Seminary.

    The French Army invaded Portugal in 1808 forcing the King D. João and his court to move to Brazil. At the time, the Portuguese court in Rio de Janeiro was important because it encouraged the development of many cultural activities.

    In 1810, books were transferred from the National Library in Portugal to Brazil, initiating the installation of the Royal Library, later named the Brazilian National Library.
    It preserves a collection of approximately 9 million items, including books, stamps, illustrations, manuscripts, maps and audiovisual materials.
    The National Library of Brazil traces its origins to the library created by Dom José I, King of Portugal, to replace the Royal Library destroyed in the fire that followed the great Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755.
    Fleeing from the invading French armies, then prince regent Dom João VI, Queen Maria I, the rest of the royal family, and most of the Portuguese nobility left Lisbon for Brazil in November 1807. They brought with them the Royal Library, which at the time consisted of approximately 60,000 items, including books, manuscripts, prints, maps, coins, and medals.

    The Library contains the biggest documentary collection in Latin America and is one of the ten largest national libraries in the world (8th according to Unesco)








    Many bookstores were opened and the first newspapers and magazines began to circulate. During this period, classes in anatomy, surgery and obstetric proceedings were started in Salvador and Rio. These classes were established by Royal decrees, one in 1808 for those in Salvador and one in 1813 for the classes in Rio de Janeiro. The decrees specified content and identified the teachers. These classes later evolved in Medical courses four or five years long, operating at the Royal Military Hospital in Rio de Janeiro and in Salvador, were the Portuguese crown financially supported teacher’s salaries and hospital maintenance.

    The first military school in America was established in 1792
    In 1810, King D. João ordered the commencement of engineering classes to be offered at the Royal Military Academy. Later, these classes constituted an engineering course.

    The Real Academia de Artilharia- was established in 1792 by Vice-Roy José Luís de Castro.
    It was the first military school in Americas (West Point was established by Thomas Jefferson in 1802):





    In 1808, Brazil inaugurated international commerce with the liberalization of international trade from Brazilian ports. In the same year, King D João determined the creation of classes in economics.
    On September 7, 1822, Pedro I, son of King D João, declared Brazil independent nation and assumed its governance as Emperor of Brazil.


    Source: Access to higher education in Brazil, Center for International Studies of Ohio University, Helen Tomlin
    Last edited by Ludicus; November 07, 2008 at 02:20 PM.

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    Nice, but that is long!
    No heroes, no villains, only conflicting perspectives with regards to a specific object.




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    Quote Originally Posted by Magno View Post
    Nice, but that is long!
    Oops, I am sorry...

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    Making Connections

    In 1700, by the end of two centuries of discovery and expansion, the globe had not only been encompassed, but a good deal of it had been carved up into empires by the major Western European powers.

    In Asia, the Portuguese found a complex trading system already in existence upon their arrival. First, they ruthlessly defeated the Arab traders and Muslim states that hitherto had dominated the oceanic trade with their naval might. Then, they disrupted the traditional Levantine trade through the Red Sea and the Persian Golf using this same military superiority, and reoriented the spice trade around the Cape of Good Hope to Lisbon. In the process, Portugal obtained wealth and power far in excess of what the country’s size and resources would have portended in 1500. In Asia, however, the Portuguese also confronted the powerful land empires of Persia, Mughal India, Japan, and China, states that Portugal’s relatively paltry armies could never hope to defeat. Thus, from the beginning to the end of these centuries (1500-1700) the Portuguese had been restricted to coastal enclaves from which they sought to dominate the oceanic trade.

    In the Americas, on the other hand, the Portuguese and the Spaniards obtained colonies where their military technology and the ravages of Old World diseases gave them the ability to expand inland, which they willingly did in search of gold and other resources.

    Into these overseas empires, the Portuguese and the Spaniards exported the dominant features of their societies. Administratively, viceroys, captains-general, and the councils dominated by the nobility and clergy ruled for the king.
    Economically, a monarchical monopolism was established that sought to extract precious metals, customs revenues, and profits from mercantile exchange for the Crown. The king claimed ultimate power over all this overseas trade, just as he claimed authority over his kingdom, but he was willing to share it with nobles, merchants, bankers, and even the New Christians, if the price was right and necessity demanded. Socially, the dominance of the nobility was also entrenched thanks to huge lands grants and the need for military service. But loyal, if humble-born soldiers could also share in this bounty overseas, something that was much more difficult to obtain at home.

    With regard to religion, the Catholic faith was spread throughout these empires and the power of the Roman Church, as in Portugal and Spain, was formidable.
    Mass conversions were made, while Inquisition was exported as well, as a means of religious and social control. The clergy, however, found itself in an ambiguous position between perpetuating the dominant culture and religious dogma of Iberia while increasingly drawn to the spiritual and material needs of indigenous converts. As defenders of their flocks, these priests were frequently the targets of derision and resentment by landowning colonists. Finally, in the Atlantic empires of Portugal and Spain, slavery constituted a vital component of the imperial system, which by definition resulted in suffering and death for millions of Africans during these two centuries. As had traditionally been the case in Medieval Europe, the wealth and power of the imperial elite was produced by the forced labor of the exploited masses.

    The entrance of the Protestant powers of the Netherlands and England into this imperial competition has traditionally been viewed as constituting a definitive break with the Iberian Century of 1500-1600.

    But upon closer examination, especially in Asia, the view that the entrepreneurial structures of the protestant trading companies gave them inherent and insurmountable advantages in their struggle with the monarchical monopolism of the Portuguese crown has been overstated.
    The attempt to portray the VOC and the EIC as vanguards for pristine proto-capitalist structures, while attractive, is flawed.

    One fundamental problem with advancing the strict dichotomy of proto-capitalist versus monarchical monopolism, which lies at the base of this model for the commercial struggle between the Atlantic economies (and Asian companies) of these Protestant and Catholic powers, is that it assumes largely static and unchanging structures and priorities for these rivals during the course of the entire 17th century. This was far from the case, as Dutch policies in Indonesia, India, and Ceylon well illustrate.
    At the time of the amalgamation of by the States-General of the United Company there was general agreement in the Netherlands that this new company entity should at all cost avoid what was perceived as the fatal error of the Portuguese in Asia: unnecessary and prohibitively territorial expansion, in favour of pursuing a profitable trade that would avoid burdensome military expenses. Yet, from the time of Coen onward, this pristine entrepreneurialism, if indeed it ever existed, was jettisoned in favour of a quest for monopoly that by definition entailed huge military and administrative expenses.
    The Dutch built and maintained fortresses, kept large numbers of troops both European and Asian on the payroll, and adopted the pass system of the Portuguese wherever possible. In Asia, the Dutch system became a virtual mirror of the Estado da India more than a capitalist rejection of it. Proto-capitalism had been abandoned for what might be called “vulturine” mercantilism. As a result, warfare was endemic for the remainder of the 17th century.
    By the mid-1670s the far-flung empire of the Dutch was firmly wedded to the warfare and military expenses that initially characterized the Estado da India. Decisions in Amsterdam and Batavia were adopted based not on the transparency of markets, but by their relationship to the geopolitical equation of power politics.
    These policies placed the VOC on the verge of overextending its resources as it prepared to defend its widely dispersed possessions against Asian and European rivals.
    These rivals were either bent on revenge (like the reforming Estado da India), committed to winning a larger share of the trade (like the French and the English), or merely defending themselves against Dutch territorial intrusions (like Rajah Sinha II).

    Rather than avoiding the costly mistakes of the Portuguese, the Dutch had come to embrace them: overextension, huge military and administrative costs, almost constant warfare, an obsessive desire to monopolize key commodities in the trade, and a growing primacy of imperial geopolitical priorities over sound proto-capitalist practices.

    In the end, however, whether this overseas rivalry conformed to the strict dichotomy of proto-capitalist versus monarchical monopolies or a more symbiotic model whereby all of the imperial powers gradually come to resemble and adopt the tactics and methods of their rivals, the key factor is that the construction of these overseas global empires constituted a fundamental revolution in the history of humankind.
    The interchange of trading goods, disease pools, and ideologies that took place from the 1500 to 1700 created the foundations for the world we inhabit today.

    That said, there are still many questions to ponder about this cross-cultural process from ca.1500 to 1700.
    How was it that a small, and relatively poor country like Portugal manage to create the first global empire and not her powerful rivals?
    How did the strategy of the Protestant Dutch and English differ from that of Iberians? And did religious differences among the Europeans really matter in this process of empire-building around the globe?
    To what degree did the Europeans have an impact on and even change the structures they encountered, and to what degree were they changed by them?
    Where was life more markedly different in 1700 than it had been in 1450: Lisbon, Seville, London, Amsterdam, or Aden, Agra, Melaka, and Bantam?
    What was the major impact of the Europeans on Amerindian and Asian cultures during this period? In the New World, were the Europeans assisted more by their technological advantages or their diseases? In Asia and Africa, why was it only in the 18th and 19th centuries that Europeans were able to create large land empires? When, during this period did the Atlantic World and global empires of the Europeans become more important to them than their position in the Asian trade?

    Source, excerpts: Glenn J. Ames, The Globe Encompassed, Key themes in World History.



    India, circa 1700 - European possessions.
    H: Dutch
    I: British
    F: France
    P: Portugal
    and Tranguebar, Denmark



    Source : History of Portuguese Expansion, F. Bethencourt
    Last edited by Ludicus; November 15, 2008 at 04:51 PM.

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    Default Re: Portugal - Faction Thread.

    Do not post large sections of text from books or online articles. This includes images. Please remember that this is illegal and disrespectful to the author and the site hosting the article. Post a small amount of text and a link to the source at all times. Not only is this in the ToS but has also been posted as a general warning in this section of the forum.


    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=126499

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    Default Re: Portugal - Faction Thread.

    Do not post large sections of text from books or ...

    Understood. Certainly!
    Please feel free to delete them all, if necessary (and posted during the last year, since Set 2007...)
    P.S. You are quite right - but without images and excerpts from textbooks, its not easy to participate in an historical thread. My collaboration has come to an end.
    Last edited by Ludicus; November 15, 2008 at 04:49 PM.

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    To bad, I enjoyed reading your posts
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jopel View Post
    To bad, I enjoyed reading your posts
    Thank you very much.

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