Images

An early 17th-century illustration of Kollam (Quilon) in southern India which became a colony of the Portuguese empire in 1505. Part of the Portuguese Estado da India, a fort was built at Kollam in 1515.

A c. 1540 illustration of Portuguese nobleman and his entourage in India. The Portuguese had many coastal colonies in India, part of the Estado da India. From the Códice Casanatense (Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome)

A c. 1540 illustration of Portuguese nobles in India. The Portuguese had many coastal colonies in India, part of the Estado da India. From the Códice Casanatense (Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome)

Stained glass window from St Alphonsus church in Windsor, Ontario.

A map illustrating the expansion of the warrior nomad Scythians between the 7th and 3rd century BCE across Asia and Europe. Special thanks to Patrick Scott Smith for his research and input.

Villa Freya, Asolo, Italy. The grounds once belonged to Freya Stark (1893-1993), English explorer and author.

Shibam, Yemen, the oldest skyscraper city in the world.

Ruins at Shabwa, Yemen.

A drawing showing Portuguese Malacca in Malaysia. The colony was Portuguese from 1511 until 1641. (From The Life of Ferdinand Magellan and the First Circumnavigation of the Globe : 1480-1521, by Guillemard, F. H. H. et al, published in 1891...

A map showing the Strait of Malacca in Malaysia which links the Indian Ocean (the Andaman Sea) to the South China Sea. The strait was a particularly important maritime route for the Spice Trade from the 15th century and was controlled by...