‘A Modest Arsenal: Gunpowder Weapons in Sri Lanka 1500 – 1820’ by Channa Wickremesekera published by TAP publishers in Colombo. This is the first in-depth look at the history of gunpowder weapons in Sri Lanka and fills void in the historiography of the region. The book can be purchased online from https://slbooks.lk/
Paper edition book of my research “The History of Trincomalee during Portuguese and Dutch rule”. The bay, called by the Portuguese “Baia dos Arcos”, where is situated the city of Trincomalee on the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) has always been considered as one of the best ports of the world. Its highly strategic position […]
A splendid book dedicated to the spice islands was published in April 2022. The book describes in detail the fortifications of the two islands of Ternate and Tidore in the Moluccas, the famous Spice Islands. The text of the book is bilingual in Spanish and English. From the book cover: “This book offers a precise […]
On the occasion of the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Ferdinando Magellano’s first trip around the world. A new book about the Spice Islands has just been published by the Spanish publishing house Desperta-Ferro, specialized in Spanish military history. It is a large format book (384 pages, 189 x 246 mm), and includes old […]
The Spaniards in the Moluccas: 1606-1663/1671-1677. The history of the Spanish presence in the spice islands Written by Marco Ramerini. 2005-2020/23 INTRODUCTION In the early 2000s I had started researching the Spanish presence in the Spice Islands. Some of my research was published during those years. The largest, however, remained unfinished in the files on […]
The Spaniards in the Moluccas: 1606-1663/1671-1677. The history of the Spanish presence in the spice islands Written by Marco Ramerini. 2005-2020/23 CHAPTER TWO: THE CONQUEST OF TERNATE THE PREPARATION OF THE EXPEDITION BY D. PEDRO DE ACUÑA The Spanish response, this time, was not long in coming. The governor of the Philippines, D. Pedro de […]
Written by Marco Ramerini, 2005 (English edition: 2023) In this text I describe the information I have gathered over the years regarding the Spanish outposts in the peripheral islands of the Moluccas, therefore excluding the islands of Ternate and Tidore. Spanish control, in fact, was not limited only to the two main islands of Tidore […]
Written by: Francisco Soarez Patifransisco78@gmail.com One of the three reasons why the Portuguese survived in Flores and its surroundings for 347 years (1512-1859) even though the region did not have cloves, nutmeg and others like Molucas was because of the many volcanoes in Flores from the east end to the center. Volcanoes or what they […]
When the fifth centenary of the first trip around the world (1519-1522) is commemorated, the ultimate goal of which was to reach the Moluccas Islands and obtain access to the spices of these islands for the Spanish crown, the documentary The Odyssey of the Spices is presented. This historical documentary, off approximately 55 minutes, is […]
Written by : Fransisco Soarez Pati, S.H Email: fransisco78@gmail.com O Arbiru is the name of a Portuguese flagged cargo ship with a deadweight of 400 tons. In the 1973 period when the Timor Leste was still an Overseas Province (Ultramarinas Provincia) under the rule of the Portuguese colonial government, this overseas province was led by […]
Written by : Francisco Soarez Pati, S.H Email: fransisco78@gmail.com Photos by Fransisco Soarez Pati, S.H The Portuguese was the first Europeans country to conquer a number of areas in the Nusantara. The territory that was conquered by the Portuguese was then captured by the Dutch by war, negotiation, deceit, fighting and buying and selling under […]
Written by Fransisco Soarez Pati, S.H Email: fransisco78@gmail.com Photos by Fransisco Soarez Pati, S.H Paga is a sub district in Sikka district, Flores island on East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. This area is still included in the Lio ethnic area, which borders with Ende District in the west part. The local mythology tells that Paga […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The fortress of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios is the most important fortification of the entire defensive system built on the island of Fernando de Noronha (Brazil) by the Portuguese in the eighteenth century and is located on a hill between the Bay of Santo António […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Situated on the Arguin island (today Mauritania), this was the first fort the Portuguese built in Africa. The fort remained under Portuguese control between 1445 and 1633. The Arguin area was explored by the Portuguese around the years 1442-1444 by Gonçalo de Sintra (1442), Dinis Dias (1442), […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Fernando de Noronha was discovered by the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci in 1503. In 1504 the Crown granted the archipelago as a “capitania hereditária” to a Portuguese lord, Fernão de Noronha, from whom it takes its name. The archipelago was occupied by two other European nations […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 / […]
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, […]
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 […]