The Hispano-Portuguese Empire and the Persian Gulf

PRE PUBLICATION OFFER - valid until 15 July 2007
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Willem Floor and Farhad Hakimzadeh
The Hispano-Portuguese Empire and its contacts with Safavid Persia, the Kingdom of Hormuz and Yarubid Oman from 1489 to 1720. A bibliography of printed publications 1508 to 2007.
ISBN 978-90-429-1952-5, XXVI-540 pages, 52 illustrations

Peeters Publishers in association with the Iran Heritage Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution - Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

August 2007

Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center

The Portuguese were not the first Europeans to come to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman but they were the first European maritime power to come to those parts and to establish control over the sea lanes and strategic choke points to control trade flows. Through the documents, accounts, pamphlets and letters of Portuguese officials and other Portuguese or non-Portuguese persons (travelers, merchants, missionaries, etc.) we have a record not only of the Portuguese enterprise, the 'Estado da India', but as, if not more, important, of the local states and peoples that the Portuguese per force had to deal with. There already exist bibliographies on the activities of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and the Golf of Oman, but these are all substantially more limited in scope than this bibliography.

An extraordinarily impressive feat: This is the most comprehensive and now most indispensable bibliography ever compiled around what is certainly one of the most significant - but still sadly neglected - cultural encounters in the entire history of the world: Between the sea-borne Portuguese, the true forerunners of Western global expansion into Asia, and the great traditional powers of Persia and India, at the fateful turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and well into the seventeenth.
Dr. Michael Barry, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University

This painstaking work, exhaustively covering primary and secondary sources in several languages for five centuries, is an essential tool of research for anyone interested in the field of Portuguese - Persian Gulf historical relations.
Prof. Jorge Flores, Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, Brown University

A labor of love as well as scholarly dedication, this bibliography brings together the totality of writings published in the last 500 years on every single aspect of Portuguese-Persian relations in a multitude of Western and non-Western languages. It will be a very useful reference work for scholars as well as librarians and those engaged in the antiquarian book trade.
Prof. Rudi Mathee, Department of History, University of Delaware

The bibliography is aimed at scholars, librarians, antiquarian booksellers and those among the general public who want to know more about this part of the world during the sixteenth and seventeenth century and about the activities of the Portuguese and Spanish. It facilitates the work of those who are interested in the study of the history of Persia, the countries adjacent to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman in general and of the role of the Portuguese in that area between 1489, when Pero de Corvilha visited the Persian Gulf, and 1720, when the Portuguese left the area. A time period that fortuitously coincides with the period of the reign by the Safavid dynasty (1501-1736) in Persia. This period also overlaps with the joint rule of Spain and Portugal by the Spanish kings from 1580 to 1640, making it difficult to distinguish between Spanish and Portuguese interests in the region. The bibliography therefore also includes all Spanish accounts related to the region in the late sixteenth and the seventeenth century.

• All primary sources as well as all the secondary literature.
• Over 2700 publications each with full bibliographic details and collations, for every edition of every book and article ever published on the subject matter in more than 10 languages.
• Alphabetical listing by names of authors and titles of publications with extensive cross referencing.
• Maps showing shifting territorial control during the 16th and 17th centuries.
• Chronological and genealogical tables for the Kings of Portugal; Kings of Spain; Popes of the Catholic Church; Safavid Kings of Persia; Kings of Hormuz; Yarubid Imams of Oman; Governors of Basra; Portuguese Viceroys and Governors and Governing Committees of India; Portuguese Captains of Hormuz and Portuguese Captains of Muscat.
• 10,000 word introduction and historical context.

Pre-publication special offer of 65 Euros including postage and packing worldwide (approx. 80 US Dollars or 40 Pound Sterling). Price after publication is 80 Euros plus postage and packing. Pre-publication offer valid until 15 July 2007.

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This book is being published in conjunction with the 'Encompassing the globe: Portugal and the world in the 16th and 17th centuries' exhibition (24 June - 16 September 2007) and 'Portugal, the Persian Gulf and Safavid Persia' conference (8-9 September 2007), both at the Smithsonian Institution - Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington DC.