The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal : curse or myth?

Two historiographical currents have debated whether early modern Portugal was cursed by an excessive dependence on foreign food imports as a result of being unable to feed its population, or not. In this short paper, the first long-run systematic quantitative study of this question, we show that the former view is a myth and therefore could not be a curse. Throughout the entire period, a certain amount of grain was in fact imported but cereal purchases abroad never represented more than a diminutive percentage of total food consumption. More importantly, the country carried out a diversified trade in foodstuffs which was seldom seriously out of balance. Portuguese agriculture showed itself consistently capable of specializing in different foodstuffs for export. It was thus not hopelessly inefficient and succeeded reasonably well in meeting the basic nutritional needs of the population.

Whistler's pastels and other modern profiles,

Reprinted in part from Art and progress and the International studio.

How to read, write, and speak modern German,

Mode of access: Internet.

Story, essay, and verse : modern prose and poetry selected from the Atlantic monthly /

Mode of access: Internet.

The history of the Jews : from the earliest period down to modern times /

Mode of access: Internet.

The history of the Jews : from the earliest period down to modern times /

Original in the Princeton Theological Seminary.

A short and easy modern Greek grammar ; with grammatical and conversational exercises, idiomatic, proverbial phrases, and full vocabulary, after the German of Carl Wied /

Mode of access: Internet.

Interpreters of life and the modern spirit,

Partly reprinted from various periodicals.

Science, technology, and the modern navy : thirtieth anniversary, 1946-1976 /

Includes bibliographical references.

The olden and modern times, with other poems.

Mode of access: Internet.

A history of education during the middle ages and the transition to modern times,

Mode of access: Internet.

History of the St. Louis fire department, with a review of great fires, and sidelights upon the methods of fire-fighting from ancient to modern times, from the lesson of the vast importance of having efficient firemen may by drawn.

Mode of access: Internet.

A brief history of entomology, including time of Demosthenes and Aristotle to modern times, with over five hundred portraits.

Mode of access: Internet.

Brief selections on worship and prayer : from the writings of several members of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers. Taken from works approved by the Society, and at different times published to the world.

Mode of access: Internet.

The atonement and the modern mind,

Mode of access: Internet.