Filhos Da Terra - (European Expansion and Indigenous Response) by António Manuel Hespanha (Hardcover)

About the Book

Filhos da Terra narrates the history over time of the so-called 'Portuguese communities' living outside the boundaries of the Portuguese Empire but identified locally and by other European empires as 'Portuguese'. António Manuel Hespanha sets the stage to analyse a process of creolization between 1415 and 1800 that warrants future critical and comparative considerations.

Book Synopsis

Filhos da Terra narrates the history over time of the so-called 'Portuguese communities' living outside the boundaries of the Portuguese Empire but identified locally and by other European empires as 'Portuguese'. Concepts such as 'tribe', 'diaspora', and 'society of métissage' have been widely used to define these groups.

In Filhos da Terra, António Manuel Hespanha sets the stage to analyse a process of creolization that followed the Portuguese maritime expansion and consequent colonial buildup after 1415 and until 1800. This translated edition of his work opens up the possibility for future critical scholarly and public comparative discussions about diversity, identities, and identifications in the context of European empire building.

Contributors are: Cátia Antunes, Zoltan Biedermann, Tamar Herzog, Noelle Richardson, Sophie Rose, and Ângela Barreto Xavier.

About the Author

António Manuel Hespanha was Professor of Legal History and Theory of Law at the Faculty of Law, Nova University of Lisbon. His major work As Vésperas do Leviathan (1986) was groundbreaking in establishing a new history of the political institutions and of the nature of the State in Portugal in the Early Modern period. A prolific writer, he was guest professor at Yale University, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, University of Macau and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris). He was also the General Commissioner for the Commemoration of the Portuguese Discoveries Committee (1995-1998). For all his academic, intellectual, and political contributions, he was awarded the honor of Grand Official of the Military Order of Sant'Iago da Espada (2000) by the President of the Republic of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio.

Cátia Antunes, Ph.D. (2004), Leiden University, is Professor of Global Economic Networks: Merchants, Entrepreneurs and Empires at that university. She has published on the comparative history of empires, merchant culture(s), and entrepreneurship and empire, including Merchant Cultures: A Global Approach to Spaces, Representations and Worlds of Trade, 1500-1800, edited with Francisco Bethencourt (Brill, 2022).

Noelle Richardson, Ph.D. (2019), European University Institute, is currently a researcher at Leiden University. Her work focuses on the history of empire and the global economy in Asia through questions of subjecthood and citizenship, issues of race, gender and caste identities, and the social and economic history of the Indian Ocean. Her recent publications include "Managing Diversity in the Eighteenth-Century Portuguese Estado da Índia", e-Journal of Portuguese History 20 (1): 40-66.