v. 1. Hunter-gathers to Iron Age farmers -- The Roman experience -- The Germanic kingdoms -- Gharb al- Andalus -- The medieval kingdom -- The fourteenth century -- The making of avis Portugal -- The golden age -- The tarnished age -- Habsburg Portugal -- Restoration and reconstruction -- The age of gold and baroque splendour -- The age of Pombal -- The late eighteenth century: finale of the old regime.

v. 2. North Africa -- Exploring the coasts of Atlantic Africa -- Engaging with Atlantic Africa -- The Atlantic islands and fisheries -- Breakthrough to maritime Asia -- Empire in the east -- Informal presence in the east -- Brazil: seizing and keeping possession -- Formation of colonial Brazil -- Late colonial Brazil -- Holding on in India: the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries -- Eastern empire in the colonial era: peripheries.