Conquerors. How the Portuguese Built the First Global Empire

The book by British historian Roger Crowley is dedicated to the era of great conquests and geographical discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. In less than thirty years of King Manuel I's reign, Portuguese sailors managed to tame the winds of the Atlantic, conquer the oceans, and establish themselves in unexplored lands — Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India, Pedro Cabral reached the shores of South America, Fransisco de Almeida became the first viceroy of India, and Afonso de Albuquerque founded colonies in the Persian Gulf and Malacca. The author vividly and colorfully describes the lives and deeds of these fearless navigators, shipwrecks, naval battles, and other harsh trials that befell the founders of the first global empire. Roger Crowley also discusses navigation and shipbuilding, trade, diplomacy, and the development of science during the period of Portuguese expansion, which marked the beginning of the Modern Age.