A world on the move

This is the story of the first and one of the greatest colonial empires: its birth, apotheosis and decline. 'The unfailing attraction which the history of Portugal holds for me lies in the unceasing ebb and flow of people, commodities, flora and fauna, ideas, and influences with the globe as their stage,' writes A.J.R. Russell-Wood, introducing this narrative of four centuries' events on four continents. This is not specialist political, imperial, economic or religious history. 'These aspects,' Russell-Wood says, 'have been ably covered by others.' What fascinates him is movement. 'Taking movement as my underlying and unifying theme has freed me to cross oceans, to move form one continent to another, and escape within reason the tyranny of chronology. The themes of transportation, people, commodities, flora and fauna, and ideas, to illustrate this world on the move reflect the diversity, breadth, and balance between competing interests and priorities. By treating the Portuguese from a global perspective, I hope to counterbalance the scholarly proclivity to compartmentalize their activities into discrete geographical regions.'