{"product_id":"sails-and-shadows-how-the-portuguese-opened-the-atlantic-and-launched-the-slave-trade-9780520415874","title":"Sails and Shadows: How the Portuguese Opened the Atlantic and Launched the Slave Trade","description":"\u003cb\u003eKirkus Best Book of 2025\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow the early Portuguese Empire facilitated the modern slave trade.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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 groundbreaking new knowledge of weather patterns and ocean currents, Portuguese mariners set the tone for the Age of Exploration. But their navigational achievements had horrific consequences for the people of western Africa: subjection to the slave trade. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Patricia Seed examines the historical and climatic odds that Portuguese seafarers overcame to be the first Europeans to tame the Atlantic. Using insights from fields ranging from oceanography to ethnography, she recounts how the Portuguese rapidly innovated and achieved profound new understandings of the ocean and sailing. At the same time, she foregrounds the reality that these innovations enabled them to inflict unimaginable cruelty as, against sometimes violent resistance, they forged what became their spoils of empire: the lucrative trade in human cargo that enslaved millions across Africa and beyond. \u003ci\u003eSails and Shadows\u003c\/i\u003e is a history of incredible ingenuity outweighed and overshadowed by the horrors it wrought.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Patricia Seed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of California Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/20\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.05lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780520415874\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePatricia Seed\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. She is the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eTo Love, Honor, and Obey in Colonial Mexico\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eAmerican Pentimento: The Invention of Indians and the Pursuit of Riches\u003c\/i\u003e; and\u003ci\u003e Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Patricia Seed \/ Hardcover \/ English","offer_id":47598616314013,"sku":"9780520415874","price":59.11,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_3fc92cad-8dc7-4151-98ac-6e29be48d41b.jpg?v=1769516776","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/sails-and-shadows-how-the-portuguese-opened-the-atlantic-and-launched-the-slave-trade-9780520415874","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}