A Brief History of Italy

Author: Jeremy Black
Publisher: Robinson
ISBN: 1472140885
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
'Jeremy Black skilfully sketches social, cultural and political trends' - Christina Hardyment, Times audiobook of the week 'A remarkable mixture of cold history, wide culture and personal experience' Ciro Paoletti, Secretary General of the Italian Commission of Military History Despite the Roman Empire's famous 500-year reign over Europe, parts of Africa and the Middle East, Italy does not have the same long national history as states such as France or England. Divided for much of its history, Italy's regions have been, at various times, parts of bigger, often antagonistic empires, notably those of Spain and Austria. In addition, its challenging and varied terrain made consolidation of political control all the more difficult. This concise history covers, in very readable fashion, the formative events in Italy's past from the rise of Rome, through a unified country in thrall to fascism in the first half of the twentieth century right up to today. The birthplace of the Renaissance and the place where the Baroque was born, Italy has always been a hotbed of culture. Within modern Italy country there is fierce regional pride in the cultures and identities that mark out Tuscany, Rome, Sicily and Venice to name just a few of Italy's many famous regions. Jeremy Black draws on the diaries, memoirs and letters of historic travellers to Italy to gain insight into the passions of its people, first chronologically then regionally. In telling Italy's story, Black examines what it is that has given Italians such cultural clout - from food and drink, music and fashion, to art and architecture - and explores the causes and effects of political events, and the divisions that still exist today.

A Concise History of Portugal

Author: David Birmingham
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521830041
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
This concise, illustrated history of Portugal presents an introduction to the people and culture of the country and its search for economic modernization, political stability and international partnership. The first single-volume account of Portugal's history since the days of dictatorship and colonization, this updated second edition also covers the state of historical writing on Portugal at the turn of the millennium. First Edition Hb (1993): 0-521-43308-8 First Edition Pb (1993): 0-521-43880-2 David Birmingham is a Professor of Modern History at the University of Kent, Canterbury. He has written extensively on Portugal and Africa including, among others, The Decolonization of Africa (UCL Press, 1995), History of Central Africa, Volume Three (Longman, 1998), and Portugal and Africa (Macmillan, 1999) and, more recently, a survey of Trade and Empire in the Atlantic, 1400-1600 (Routledge, 2000).

Portugal in European and World History

Author: Malyn Newitt
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1861897014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
Despite its modest size, Portugal has played a major part in the development of Europe and the modern world. In Portugal in European and World History Malyn Newitt offers a fresh appraisal of Portuguese history and its role in the world—from early Moorish times to the English Alliance of 1650–1900 and through the country’s liberal revolution in 1974. Newitt specifically examines episodes where Portugal was a key player or innovator in history. Chapters focus on such topics as Moorish Portugal, describing the cultural impact of contact with the Moors—one of the oldest points of contact between Western Europe and Islam; the opening up of trade with western Africa; and the explorations of Vasco de Gama and the evolution of Portugal as the first commercial empire of modern times. Newitt also examines Portugal’s role in the Counter-reformation, in Spain’s wars in Europe, and in the Anglo-Portuguese alliance. Finally, Newitt analyzes the fall of fascism and the Portuguese decolonization within the context of larger global empires and movements. This new account of a country with a rich historyshows how Portugal has moved from being the last colonial power to one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the modern European ideal.

The Portuguese

Author: Barry Hatton
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1908493399
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Book Description
Portugal is an established member of the European Union, one of the founders of the euro currency and a founder member of NATO. Yet it is an inconspicuous and largely overlooked country on the continent's south-west rim. In the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Age of Discovery the Portuguese led Europe out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic and they brought Asia and Europe together. Evidence of their one-time four-continent empire can still be felt, not least in the Portuguese language which is spoken by more than 220 million people from Brazil, across parts of Africa to Asia. Analyzing present-day society and culture, The Portuguese also considers the nation's often tumultuous past. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake was one of Europe’s greatest natural disasters, strongly influencing continental thought and heralding Portugal’s extended decline. The Portuguese also weathered Europe’s longest dictatorship under twentieth-century ruler António Salazar. A 1974 military coup, called the Carnation Revolution, placed the Portuguese at the centre of Cold War attentions. Portugal’s quirky relationship with Spain, and with its oldest ally England, is also scrutinized. Portugal, which claims Europe’s oldest fixed borders, measures just 561 by 218 kilometres . Within that space, however, it offers a patchwork of widely differing and beautiful landscapes. With an easygoing and seductive lifestyle expressed most fully in their love of food, the Portuguese also have an anarchical streak evident in many facets of contemporary life. A veteran journalist and commentator on Portugal, the author paints an intimate portrait of a fascinating and at times contradictory country and its people.

A Short History of Mozambique

Author: Malyn Newitt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190911166
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
This comprehensive overview traces the evolution of modern Mozambique, from its early modern origins in the Indian Ocean trading system and the Portuguese maritime empire to the fifteen-year civil war that followed independence and its continued after-effects. Though peace was achieved in 1992 through international mediation, Mozambique's remarkable recovery has shown signs of stalling. Malyn Newitt explores the historical roots of Mozambican disunity and hampered development, beginning with the divisive effects of the slave trade, the drawing of colonial frontiers in the 1890s and the lasting particularities of the north, centre and south, inherited from the compartmentalized approach of concession companies. Following the nationalist guerrillas' victory against the Portuguese in 1975, these regional divisions resurfaced in a civil war pitting the south against the north and centre, over attempts at far-reaching socioeconomic change. The settlement of the early 1990s is now under threat from a revived insurgency, and the ghosts of the past remain. This book seeks to distill this complex history, and to understand why, twenty-five years after the Peace Accord, Mozambicans still remain among the poorest people in the world.

Portugal

Author: José H. Saraiva
Publisher: Carcanet Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Book Description
An illustrated brief history of Portugal written for non-specialist foreign readers. Also included in the book is a historical gazetteer, short biographies, chronological tables and maps.

A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire

Author: Anthony R. Disney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521843189
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 387

Book Description
A comprehensive overview and reinterpretation of Portugal's formation and history up to 1807 and of its wide-flung maritime empire.

A History of Spain and Portugal

Author: Stanley G. Payne
Publisher: [Madison] : University of Wisconsin Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 412

Book Description

A Traveller's History of Portugal

Author: Ian Robertson
Publisher: Interlink Books
ISBN: 9781566564403
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A definitive concise history of Portugal, from its earliest beginnings right up to the politics and life of the present day. It was not until the twelfth century that Portugal became a country in its own right, having been a Roman colony and then having suffered both Barbarian and Islamic invasions. The golden age of discoveries, the reign and foresight of Henry the Navigator, and great seamen such as Vasco da Gama led to the founding of Portugal’s empire and wealth. Troubled times followed: in 1755 Lisbon was virtually leveled by the “Great Earthquake,” and the country had hardly recovered its former prosperity when it was overrun by Napoleon’s troops at the start of the Peninsular War, to be followed not long after by the Miguelite civil war. The middle decades of the nineteenth century saw the Port Wine trade flourishing, and further expansion into Africa. During the last quarter of the twentieth century, ever since the bloodless revolution of 1974 overthrew the rightwing dictatorship of Salazar, the country has regained its stability, and now takes its rightful place in the European Community. Illustrated with maps and line drawings, the book has a full Historical Gazetteer cross-referenced to the main text that concentrates on the historic sites in a country that has retained its individuality and thus its appeal to the individual traveler.

A History of Spain & Portugal

Author: William Christopher Atkinson
Publisher: [Harmondsworth, Middlesex ; Baltimore] : Penguin Books
ISBN:
Category : Portugal
Languages : en
Pages : 390

Book Description
Attempts to show as a whole the Peninsula made up of Spain and Portugal, with the slow unfolding of a pattern of society and an attitude to life still subtly distinct from those north of the Pyrenees. The successive occupations of Roman, Visigoth and Muslim span between them more than a thousand years. The Peninsula's great contribution to the modern age was the opening up of the New World in the west by Spain, and of new routes to the east by Portugal. Over the last century and a half the history of both peoples provides a case-study in the esential relativity of forms of government.