Asremarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history ofPortuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal'snavigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched theexpedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spicekingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-rangemaritime empire. In an astonishing blitz of thirty years, a handful ofvisionary and utterly ruthless empire builders, with few resources butbreathtaking ambition, attempted to seize the Indian Ocean, destroyIslam and take control of world trade. Told with RogerCrowley's customary skill and verve, this is narrative history at itsmost vivid - an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money andreligious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles andshipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality. Drawing onextensive first-hand accounts, it brings to life the exploits of anextraordinary 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 andunleashed the forces of globalisation.
