Black Legend of Portuguese India: Diogo do Couto, His Contemporaries and The Soldado Pratico

George Winius, an American historian teaching in the Netherlands, first examines the contemporary testimony in its historical context and then asks the questions: what really was corruption in that age Can it be compared to what we consider corruption in our own time Was it the consequence of Portugal's failure to build a system of civilian government Or was it the result of the European patronage system transported to a location where there was plenty of extra money to be obtained Dr. Winius examines all these questions and attends to another two raised by his colleagues a Leiden University: Were the exposes written by men who resented their exclusion from the system? And was this system itself European or Indian in nature.