The Portuguese Empire: Centres and Peripheries (15th-18th Century)
Code
722051289
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
História
Credits
10.0
Teacher in charge
Susana Münch Miranda
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Português
Objectives
Students are expected to:
a) Understand the changing configuration of the Portuguese Empire as well as the interaction of its different spheres of power, between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries;
b) Identify the different nature of the Portuguese presence the areas and territories that were part of the Portuguese Empire during the period under review;
c) Recognize and reflect critically on the existence of different models of political and administrative organization within the Portuguese Empire;
d) Acquire knowledge of the most influential historiographical approaches of the studied subjects;
e) Apply knowledge critically and be able to present both in writing and orally the results of an investigation based on primary sources.
Prerequisites
None
Subject matter
I. A heterogeneous empire: territorial acquisition and legal status of populations.
II. The administrative extensions of the Empire: fortresses, factories / warehouses / customs; municipal councils
III. The organization of the central government. The capitals of the Empire: Goa and Salvador.
IV. The communication center / periphery. Monitoring instruments.
V. The coordinating center. The crown and the political decision-making bodies. Managing the overseas business.
VI. Informal Powers.
Bibliography
Bethencourt, Francisco e CURTO, Diogo Ramada (co-editor), The Portuguese Oceanic Expansion, 1400-1800, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Hespanha, António Manuel, «A Constituição do Império Português. Revisão de alguns enviesamentos correntes» in João Fragoso, Maria Fernanda Bicalho e Maria de Fátima Gouvêa (eds.), O Antigo Regime nos Trópicos. A dinâmica imperial portuguesa (séculos XVI-XVIII), Rio de Janeiro, Civilização Brasileira, 2001, pp. 163-188.
Miranda, Susana Münch, «Centre and periphery in the administration of the royal exchequer of Estado da India (1517-1640)», e-Journal of Portuguese History, Volume 7, number 2, Winter 2009.
Saldanha, António Vasconcelos de, As capitanias do Brasil. Antecedentes, desenvolvimento e extinção de um fenómeno atlântico, Lisboa, CNCDP, 2001.
SANTOS, Catarina Madeira, “Goa é a chave de toda a Índia”. Perfil político da capital do Estado da Índia (1505-1570), Lisboa, CNCDP, 1999.
Teaching method
Lectures play an important role in this course, though not exclusively. Students will be asked to engage actively during classes and encouraged to debate topics of the course or to comment texts or primary sources.
Evaluation method
The structure of marks and the nature of assignments is the following: a research paper, where students will be expected to explore primary sources (12-5 pages long; counts for 60% of the final grade), an essay on secondary sources (3-4 pages; counts for 20% of the final grade). The oral participation of students will also be taken in account of the final grade (20%).