Sails and shadows : how the Portuguese opened the Atlantic and launched the slave trade / Patricia Seed.
| Author/creator | Seed, Patricia author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2026] |
| Copyright Date | ©2026 |
| Description | vii, 247 pages : black and white illustrations, maps ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Portion of title | How the Portuguese opened the Atlantic and launched the slave trade |
| Spine title | Sails & shadows |
| Contents | Introduction -- Nature intervenes -- Around the Bulge : Bojador, 1434 -- From mistaken expectations to conquest : the Sahara, 1434-1444 -- How trading replaced conquest, 1444-1460 -- Language : how enslaved interpreters established trade -- A painted ship upon a painted ocean, 1460-1470 -- Gold at last : the route to Mina, 1470-1480 -- A star to steer her by -- The deepest river and the oldest desert, 1480-1486 -- A first glimpse of the Indian Ocean, 1486-1488 -- Crisscrossing the Atlantic, 1497 -- Encounters along the African coast and in India -- A dreadful mistake : the return from India -- The salty tears of the Atlantic. |
| Abstract | "The Portuguese conquered the challenges of sailing the unforgiving Atlantic Ocean, extending their colonial empire along Africa's western shores. With their dedication to developing new sailing techniques and a groundbreaking new understanding of weather patterns and ocean currents, the Portuguese set the tone for the Age of Exploration. But their navigational achievements had horrific consequences for the people of western Africa: subjugation to the slave trade. Patricia Seed examines the historical and climatic odds that Portuguese seafarers had to overcome to be the first Europeans to tame the Atlantic. Using scientific tools from fields ranging from oceanography to ethnography, she recounts how the Portuguese rapidly innovated and developed profound new understandings of the ocean and sailing. At the same time, she foregrounds the reality that these same innovations enabled them to inflict unimaginable cruelty as, against sometimes violent resistance, they forged what became their spoils of empire: the historic trade in human cargo that enslaved millions across Africa and beyond. 'Sails and shadows' is a history of incredible innovation outweighed and overshadowed by the horrors it wrought."-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-237) and index. |
| Issued in other form | Online version: Seed, Patricia. Sails and shadows Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2026] 9780520415881 |
| LCCN | 2025015773 |
| ISBN | 9780520415874 (hardback) |
| ISBN | 0520415876 (hardback) |
| ISBN | (electronic book) |
| Standard identifier# | CIPO000317104 |