The economic consequences of empire: Portugal (1415-1822)

Abstract

This paper begins arguing for the advantages of a comparative analysis, and in this light it goes on to stress the peculiarities of the Portuguese empire: its precocious character and the fact that it developed part consecutive, part concurrent, modes of organization which worked in different geographical settings. The paper then examines the major economic consequences of the empire. It shows how it fostered economic integration (without significantly increasing productivity) and how it promoted state building, migration and the concentration of the population in Lisbon. It also reveals the limited impact it had on agriculture and industry, although in the closing stages of the Portuguese Atlantic empire, there were significant exports of industrial goods to Brazil. Nevertheless, this was never as important as the position Portugal enjoyed as an entrepôt between Brazil and the other European nations. This is one of the reasons why the empire displayed severe limitations as an engine of growth, others being the costs of maintaining the empire itself and the patterns of public expenditure. Moreover, a large share of the revenues produced by the Portuguese colonial trade accrued to foreigners (who supplied capital, skills and commodities essential to the development of the empire). In fact, the paper concludes, that a small country, with restricted means, could build an empire which encompassed the world may well only be explained by its ability to captivate the energy of others.