Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. THE PORTUGUESE CONQUEST At the time of the Portuguese arrival in the Asian seas, Malacca thanks to its strategic position on the strait bearing the same name, was a remarkable trading center for the trade and shunting of spices. At that time, Malacca was ruled by a Muslim Sultan. The ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. On 14 January 1641 the Dutch took possession from the Portuguese of the fortress of Malacca with the help of their ally the Sultan of Johore. The Dutch had treaties with the Johore Sultans to get rid of the Portuguese. The Malays were confident of a victory with the help ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. On this page I want to write about an interesting book that has just been published. The book tells the story of the spice islands and focuses on the fortifications that Europeans built on these islands to control their trade. The story narrated in Simon Pratt’s book begins with the first contacts with Europeans and reaches ...

Written by Randy Shaw. General Luis José de Orbegoso y Moncada, scion of an aristocratic criollo family from Trujillo, in northern Peru, was Provisional President of the country between 1833 and 1834, and was named in 1837-1838 President of the short-lived Republic of North Peru, set up by the Peru-Bolivia Confederacy after the invasion of the country by Bolivian strongman ...

Written by Randy Shaw Several years ago General Jose Ramon Pizarro who was many times over the great grandson of the Spanish Chronicler and Conquistador Pedro Pizarro passed away in Lima Peru his widow contacted a mutual friend to discuss an item that had descended down through the family of Pedro Pizarro. So on my next trip to Lima my ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Dirk Holtschlag. Tangalle is a small coastal town located a few kilometers east of the city of Matara, in the extreme south of the island of Ceylon. At the time of the Dutch occupation of Ceylon, Tangalle, thanks to its natural harbor, was used by them as an important anchorage. Here, around 1775, the Dutch ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Prof. Rahul Basu. Tangasseri or Thangassery / Kollam is a city located along the coast of the ancient Malabar, in the Indian state of Kerala in southern India. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in this port of Malabar, they landed there in 1502. In the following years Tangasseri or Thangassery / Kollam that the Portuguese called ...

Written by Prof. Stefan Halikowski Smith, Dept. of History, Swansea University. The Bengal mission was one of the most Christian successful mission-fields in the Orient in early modern times, despite relatively small numbers of active missionaries. However, the mission, despite its successes in ‘harvesting souls’, encountered bitter political vituperation between the two orders active here, the Augustinians and Jesuits, who ...

Photos by João Sarmento. Written by Marco Ramerini. The Cidade Velha (Old Town) of the island of Santiago in Cape Verde islands is located 15 kilometers west of the city of Praia, along the Santiago island coast. It constitutes the first city built by Europeans in the tropics and the first capital of the Cape Verde archipelago. The settlement was originally named ...

Photos by João Sarmento. Written by Marco Ramerini. The Portuguese Fort São Sebastião, São Tomé, São Tomé e Príncipe. The fort was built in 1575. The fort was occupied by the Dutch on 16 Oct. 1641. The Portuguese recaptured the fort on 15 December 1644. The Fort São Sebastião is square-shaped with bastions at each corner and now houses the São Tomé and Príncipe National Museum.

Photos by João Sarmento. Written by Marco Ramerini. Some pictures of what remains of forts built by the Portuguese in Morocco in the 15th and 16th century. Here are presented photos of Azamor (Azemmour), Safim (Safi) and Mazagão (El Jadida) taken by João Sarmento. The fort of Azamor (Azemmour) was under Portuguese control between 3 September 1513 and October 1541. The fort of Safim (Safi) called by ...

Adriaan van Berkel’s Travels in Guyana – The Voyages of Adriaan van Berkel to Guiana Reissue of the original Dutch 1695 publication with a new English translation, and annotated and introduced by Lodewijk Hulsman, Martijn van den Bel and Lodewijk Wagenaar The Dutch presence in the Guianas and the Amazon River goes back to the end of the 16th century. ...