Power and Corruption in the Early Modern Portuguese World

Encompassing numerous territories across four different continents, Portugal's early modern empire depended upon a vast and complex bureaucracy, yet colonial power did not reside solely in the centralized state. In a masterful reconceptualization of the functioning of empire, Erik Lars Myrup's Power and Corruption in the Early Modern Portuguese World argues that beneath the surface of formal government, an intricate web of interpersonal relationships played a key role in binding together the Por