Sanjay Subrahmanyam is Professor and Chair of Indian History at UCLA, and has earlier taught in Delhi, Paris, and Oxford. His publications include The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama (1997) and Three Ways to be Alien (2011).

"This masterful history of Europe's first great Early Modern maritime empire goes well beyond the limits of traditional nationalistic and Eurocentric interpretations. Integrating European and Asian sources, Subrahmanyam's new edition is a synthetic, interpretative and at times speculative book that sets the Portuguese Indian Ocean empire in the context of Asian and World history. There is no book in English that provides a better introduction to this topic."  (Expofairs.com, 23 October 2013)

• Abbreviations x Maps xiTables xiiAcknowledgments xivPreface to the Second Edition xvPreface to the First Edition xviiIntroduction: The Mythical Faces of Portuguese Asia 11 Early Modern Asia: Geopolitics and Economic Change 11Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century States 13The Circulation of Elites 22Towards a Taxonomy 27Long-term Trends 302 Portuguese State and Society, 1200-1500 33Crown and Nobility 33In Search of a Bourgeoisie 40Mercantilism and Messianism 48Summing Up 553 Two Patterns and Their Logic: Creating an Empire, 1498-1540 59The Early Expeditions 60From Almeida to Albuquerque: Defining the First Pattern 67The Second Pattern: East of Cape Comorin 74The Logic at Work: Portuguese Asia, 1525–40 78Towards the "Crisis" 83Notes 854 The Mid-Sixteenth-century "Crisis" 87The Dilemmas of Joanine Policy 88S´as, Sousas, and Castros: Portuguese Asian Officialdom in the Crisis 96The Mid-century Debate 104The Far Eastern Solution 107The Estado in 1570 113Notes 1145 Between Land-bound and Sea-borne: Reorientations, 1570-1610 115Trade and Conquest: The Spanish View 116Spain, Portugal, and the Atlantic Turning 120Girdling the Globe 124The “Land” Question 130The Maritime Challenge 141Concessions and Captains-Major 145The Beginnings of Decline? 1506 Empire in Retreat, 1610-1665 153Political Reconsolidation in Asia, 1570-1610 154Syriam and Hurmuz: The Beginnings of Retreat 160Reform and Its Consequences 167The Decade of Disasters: Portuguese Asia in the 1630s 172Restoration, Truce, and Failure, 1640-52 181The Retreat Completed, 1652-65 186Asians, Europeans, and the Retreat 188Notes 1897 Niches and Networks: Staying On, 1665-1700 191The Cape Route and the Bahia Trade 192The Vicissitudes of the Estado: The View from Goa 198Mozambique, Munhumutapa, and Prazo Creation 206The Portuguese of the Bay of Bengal 211Survival in the Far East: Macau and Timor 217The Portuguese, Dutch, and English: A Comparison 2228 Portuguese Asian Society I: The Official Realm 227The Problem of Numbers 228The World of the Casado 236Networks, Fortunes, and Patronage 243"Portuguese" and "Foreigner" 250Rise of the Solteiro 253The Impact on Portugal 2579 Portuguese Asian Society II: The Frontier and Beyond 261Renegades and Rebels 262Mercenaries, Firearms, and Fifth Columnists 269Converts and Client Communities 274A Luso–Asian Diaspora? 27910 Conclusion: Between Banditry and Capitalism 285Glossary 295A Note on Quantitative Data 303Bibliography 307Maps 323Index 333